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Inductee Category: <span>Civil Rights</span>

Dr. William Harbour

William Harbour, a Tennessee State University alumnus, was a leader of the Nashville student sit-ins. He later became a lawyer and remained a public…

Dr. Ernest R. Patton

Ernest Patton, a Tennessee State University alumnus, was arrested as a Nashville sit-in student and later became a public speaker on the movement. He…

Bynard Rustin

Bayard Rustin, a Cheyney alumnus, organized the 1963 March on Washington and advised Martin Luther King Jr. on nonviolence. An openly gay strategist, he…

Joy Reagon Leonard

Joy Reagon Leonard, a Tennessee State University alumna, was among the Nashville movement students inducted in 2011. She later worked in education and civic…

Dr. Charles E. Steele, Jr.

Charles Steele Jr., a Mississippi Valley State University alumnus, is president and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. A former Alabama senator, he…

Carolyn Reed-Bush

Tennessee State University

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.

Benjamin Chavis, a Howard University alumnus, was a Wilmington Ten defendant, later executive director of the NAACP, and a longtime environmental-justice organizer. He coined…

Dr. Etta Simpson-Ray

Etta Simpson-Ray, a Tennessee State University alumna, took part in the Nashville student sit-ins. She later worked as an educator.

Rev. Dr. William Barber II

William J. Barber II, a North Carolina Central University graduate, rebuilt a Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina and later led Repairers of the…

Dr. Mary J. Smith

Mary J. Smith, a Tennessee State University alumna, was part of the Nashville student sit-in generation. She later worked in education and community life.