When examining the Civil Rights Movements, certain names spring to mind: Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers. But these leaders could not have achieved as much without the work of others behind the scenes and on the front lines, people with their own accomplishments but not the recognition.
On Feb. 4, Diane Nash spoke at Ohio Wesleyan University. In February 1960, as a 21-year-old college student, she began a student movement challenging the city's segregation by staging sit-ins at downtown lunch counters.
She not only led this movement, she organized "freedom rides" throughout the South, founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and helped develop strategy for the Selma, Al., right-to-vote movement, according to OWU News Media online.
She also worked as a "Field staff person, organizer, strategist, race relations staff person and workshop instructor for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)" during the sixties, according to an email from members of Ohio Wesleyan's President's Commission on Racial and Cultural Diversity.
A few weeks later, a petition to nominate Nash for an honorary degree circulated through the email system of Ohio Wesleyan. Ohio Wesleyan President Rock Jones said Nash is a strong candidate for an honorary degree.
"She certainly fits the criteria in an extraordinary way," Jones said.
Terree Stevenson, director of Multicultural Student Affairs, said she's not surprised Nash isn't well known. She said was one of the workers who would go into cities ahead of King and other prominent leaders to lay the groundwork for action.
"I consider her a foot soldier," Stevenson said. "She is an unsung hero. A lot of women in the Civil Rights Movement are." Women such as Jo Ann Robinson, who hand-cranked a copy machine to ensure the distribution of 50,000 leaflets a week; Rosa Parks, whose story is limited to the bus but includes much more; and Fannie Lou Hamer, another voting rights activist.
Senior Shade Fakunle, president of Student Union on Black Awareness (SUBA), helped promote the petition to nominate Nash for honorary degree. She said 70 to 75 people signed it before it was submitted.
"There were a lot of people who did stuff, but only a select few were made heroes in the media," Fakunle said. "If you don't make people see why they're relevant, then people don't care."
Mary Howard, chairperson of sociology-anthropology and member of the faculty Honorary Degrees Committee, said the petition seemed like a good idea, and that's why she signed it.
Howard compared Nash to Mary King, an OWU graduate who also was a Civil Rights activist in the 1960s with Martin Luther King and wrote the book "Freedom Song."
"Part of what (Nash) shares with Mary is the role of women in a time when women had barriers to political activism," Howard said. "I think what was courageous about Diane is she looked beyond gender restrictions. She was a real mover and shaker."
Karen Poremski, professor of English, said she was inspired by Nash.
"Looking at what she's achieved and honoring her is another way to see that you have to put you knowledge into action," Poremski said.
Michael Flamm, professor of history, said he was given money as a Sagan Fellow to bring in a speaker for his class on the 1960s, and with this past February being the 50th anniversary of Nash's sit-in, he said it felt like a perfect fit.
"I have long admired Diane Nash and recognized her historical contributions," Flamm said. He said he's read about her, seen her in documentaries and thought her message was tremendously important for students to hear.
"Deciding with other students, at a very young age," Flamm said, "she was literally risking her life, her education, her future by standing up for what she believed in."
Vernita Johnson, '95, did not attend Nash's speech but said she read about her in the Ohio Wesleyan magazine.
"It was inspiring," Johnson said. "For her to be so young, to lead like that, it shows that people don't have to wait to graduate from college to make an impact. They can make an impact now."
Stevenson said she admired Nash for the risks she took.
"She could have been killed, and the people who could have killed her faced the possibility of never being punished," Stevenson said. "She took that risk as a student. She was young. She had vision."
Many people have said the work of Nash and other Civil Rights workers is not complete. Flamm said while tremendous change took place in a short period of time, inequalities still exist.
"I like to consider the Civil Rights movement an unfinished revolution," Flamm said. "(It) was the most important social movement in the 20th century."
Poremski said while she thought it was amazing to have the Barack Obama as president, she was troubled it took South Africa much less time than the United States to reach the point of having a black president.
Junior Monique Cherry said by getting a college education, she is taking advantage of the opportunities others fought for.
"Obviously, racism still exists," Cherry said. "I don't know what else we can do, but having more African Americans succeed in life, that's the greatest reward we get."
Freshman Carlos Rogers said he thinks the nation is going in the right direction.
"We need compliance from everyone, not just Caucasians," Rogers said. "We need to change our mindset that it's a white man's world. Get that out of mind, and go for it."
Dan Sturkey, '85 and a social worker in Columbus since 1987, said a country as young as America couldn't hope to have solved issues of inequality when so many other countries with much longer histories haven't, but a lot of people just want to move one from the Civil Rights Movement.
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