UIS Speaker Series explores the 1960s civil rights movement and social justice today

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series will host civil rights and peace activist Diane Nash as part of a presentation exploring the 1960s civil rights movement and social justice today.

WHEN: Thursday, September 13, 2018, at 6 p.m.

WHERE: UIS Student Union, 2251 Richard Wright Drive, Springfield

DETAILS: Diane Nash was prominently involved in some the most consequential campaigns in nonviolent civil rights movements. Nash will relate her experience at the center of the U.S. civil rights struggle, the grassroots movements that powered social change and the relevance of those lessons for a nation facing renewed challenges.

In 1960, Nash became the chairperson of the student sit-in movement in Nashville - the first southern city to desegregate its lunch counters - as well as one of the founding students of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee. She coordinated the Freedom Ride from Birmingham, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi in 1961. Her arrests for civil rights activities culminated in Nash being imprisoned for 30 days in 1961, while she was pregnant with her first child. Undeterred, she went on to join a national committee—to which she was appointed by President John F. Kennedy—that promoted passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Nash later became active in the peace movement that worked to end the Vietnam War, and became an instructor in the philosophy and strategy of non-violence as developed by Mohandas Gandhi.

This event is co-sponsored by the UIS Student Government Association, Capital Scholars Honors Program, Residence Life, Leadership for Life, Students Transitioning for Academic Retention and Success, Necessary Steps Mentoring Program and the Nursing Pathways Living Learning Community.

Individuals with disabilities who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217/206-8507 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance. For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events, visit www.uis.edu/speakerseries/.