It took 47 years, but today Tennessee State University granted honorary doctoral degrees to students expelled in 1961. For some of the 14 Freedom Riders, it’s the only college degree they’ll ever have.
The young students were jailed in Mississippi for more than a month after riding a bus across state lines with white students. When they were released, TSU expelled them because of a Board of Regents policy.
The Reverend C.T. Vivian, a friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and activist in Nashville’s civil rights movement, says the reunion is sweet.
“It is good to see those who reject you come to honor you, not because you hated them, but because you turned to a method that allowed you to love them in spite of them.”
Three Freedom Riders were granted the degrees posthumously. Another’s whereabouts is unknown. Some of the activists went on to other universities. Frederick Leonard, who lives in Nashville, turned to violent protests. After being arrested for possessing a Molotov cocktail, he fled to Detroit. He says the degree, while ceremonial, is an honor and better late than never.
“The state of Tennessee should be penalized for delay of game because this is long, long overdue.”
The Freedom Riders nearly didn’t get their degrees. The Board of Regents voted earlier this year to honor the former students, but without degrees. Letters flooded in from critics, urging the board to reconsider, which it did.
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