This past weekend Fall Convocation at Tennessee State University included the fulfillment of 14 lifelong dreams. Honorary degrees were awarded to 14 students who were expelled from the school for their participation in the 1961 Freedom Rides. The Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who traveled on buses into the segregated south after the U.S. Supreme Court case Boynton vs. Virginia granted travelers the right to disregard local segregation laws at interstate transportation facilities. While initially the Freedom Riders’ rights were not upheld and nearly all of them were arrested, they received strong support throughout the country and served as role models for future nonviolent, direct action for civil rights.

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