TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Jul 7, 2022

Civil rights icons Diane Nash and Fred Gray were this afternoon awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden, the Tennessean reports. The nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom is awarded to people who made significant contributions in the U.S. or internationally in politics, philanthropy, science, sports, the arts and other arenas. Gray, a civil rights attorney and global icon for Black American jurists, and Nash, a civil rights activist, were among 15 who received the award. "Fred’s legal brilliance and strategy desegregated schools and secured the right to vote," Biden said of Gray during the ceremony. The president also praised Nash’s "unshakeable courage," during the Civil Rights Movement.