Shadows of Youth by Andrew B. Lewis focuses on both the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950’s to the present and SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. SNCC began in the 1960’s and can be argued as one of the most important organizations of the Civil Rights Movement. SNCC would not have been successful however without the contributions of Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Bob Moses, Bob Zellner, Julian Bond, Marion Barry, and John Lewis to name a few. After completing Lewis’s book many individuals are often intrigued by Diane Nash and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement.
Diane Nash was born May 15, 1938 to “Leon & Dorothy Nash who were catholic middle class African-Americans residing in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, a World War II veteran, and her mother a keypunch operator at the time were constantly busy with work and the war which left Diane in the care of her grandmother.” Her grandmother always instilled that Diane know “her worth and value” despite her race because of the world she was growing up in. Had it not been for her grandmother, many argue Nash would not have joined SNCC and been such an active member of the Civil Rights Movement. Following her years of schooling in Catholic schools, Nash elected to attend Howard University for college, a historically African-American college located in Washington, D.C.. After completing her freshman year however, Nash realized Howard was not the school for her and she decided to transfer to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee where she would major in English. After moving to Tennessee, which is farther south than D.C., Nash had her first encounter with the Jim Crow Laws. Nash states she never knew how “unjustly limited she was by not being able to go downtown with a girlfriend and have lunch, even at someplace like Woolworth’s or Walgreens, and not being able to attend a movie theater.” This is where Nash’s involvement in both the Civil Rights Movement and SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee would begin.
Nash recounts on her first interaction with the Jim Crow Laws which was when she attended the “Tennessee State Fair and was forced to used the “Colored Women” restroom.” This was the first time Nash had to deal with segregation because of her race. This outraged her but instead of just being angry, she decided to take action and became an advocate and leader for Civil Rights. At Fisk, Nash started to search for a way to combat segregation, so she began attending non-violent civil disobedience workshops offered at her college. Inspired by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or the SCLC created by Ella Baker, students at local universities decided to come together and create the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC. SNCC’s goal was to be a “separate entity independent of all other existing adult committees to show that college students cared about what was occurring and to raise awareness to get other students involved.” SNCC would utilize non-violent methods such as sit ins, boycotts, and protests for their voices to be heard.
SNCC’s first event would be the February 1, 1960 sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina. African American at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College would be the individuals. These males decided they would go the night before to Woolworth’s and purchase some small things, and then they would sit down at the lunch counter reserved for whites. The first day, the sat there for one hour until closing and received little to no reaction. After realizing they needed to have more individuals present to get a reaction they began recruiting members rapidly. The next day they had close to thirty students present and remained there for two hours. This was the first time they gained attention and it was that of local news reporters. As awareness raised, so did the amount of members. They now had every seat at the counter occupied and all eyes were on them. The success of this sit in inspired many more throughout the state and the southern region as a whole. In just two short months, at least one sit in had occurred in every southern state and more than 50,000 college students joined the movement.
Nash was always a woman who action without any input from others, she would frequently organize sit ins as well as encourage boycotts. Originally, Nash feared being put into jail for her actions, but as time progressed she soon realized it was the only way to make a change. Nash was even arrested in 1961 for protesting segregation. Nash and many other SNCC members would deny the chance for bail in order to prove a point. By doing so, they raised awareness of the fight for racial justice. This action became known as the "jail, no bail" method and served as a way of protest while behind bars. Due to this protest against segregation, Nash spent thirty days in jail. Her time behind bars would not end there however. In 1962, while she was 4 months pregnant, Nash was arrested again for encouraging college students to become “freedom riders”and participate in the bus boycott. Originally sentenced to “two years in jail, Nash would only be behind bars for ten days, and was soon back to doing what she did best.”
In conclusion, many individuals, especially women were intrigued by Diane Nash because she was one of the few women that participated in these efforts, as well as being the only woman to make such a large impact. Even though it seems Nash was only praised for her efforts she received much backlash as well, being that many individuals do not agree with the methods she used to promote the changes. Diane Nash played a huge role in the creation of SNCC as well as the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. Following her efforts in regards to the sit-ins and boycotts, Nash continues to be involved in civil rights efforts to ensure equality amongst all individuals. To this day, she remains committed to her non-violence belief because those actions led to accomplishment and made her the woman she is today. Now, at 79 years old Nash continues to educate others on the importance of SNCC and the Civil Rights Movement and regularly discusses her contributions to the issue at hand.