Diane Nash to receive National Freedom Award

Diane Nash, one of the heroes of the civil rights movement, will receive the National Freedom Award Oct. 20:

In April 1960 Nash helped to found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in 1961, she took over responsibility for the Freedom Rides from Birmingham, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi. Nash also designed the strategy used by the SNCC in the Selma, Alabama "Right to Vote" campaign, and was an important organizer for the 1963 campaign in Birmingham. She spent 30 days in a South Carolina jail after protesting segregation in Rock Hill in February 1961. President John F. Kennedy, appointed her to a national committee that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.