[7 July 2022] Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
She attended Howard University (Washington DC) and Fisk University (Nashville).
Co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and leader of the 1960 Nashville sit-ins and of the 1961 Freedom Ride from Nashville to Birmingham, Alabama.
Participated in the first Freedom Ride in Spring 1961.