Legendary civil rights activist Diane Nash visited the emergency department at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on April 20 to acknowledge the naming of a physician team in her honor.
After Erik Hess, MD, MSc, arrived as professor and the new chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine in the summer of 2020, the department was reorganized into teams to streamline communication between the physicians and nurses who care for some of VUMC’s most critically ill patients.
Joseph Sikon, MD, and Jennifer Hess, MD, assistant professors of Emergency Medicine, suggested the four teams be named for key figures in Nashville’s civil rights movement — the Rev. James Lawson Jr., the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, and Nash — and for country music icon and philanthropist Dolly Parton.
“It just seemed right,” Hess said of the naming. “We take care of everyone, regardless of their background or ability to pay. We do everything we can to treat each patient with dignity, the way we would wish to be treated ourselves in a time of emergency.”
Nash, 85, was in Nashville on April 20 for the dedication of the Diane Nash Plaza in front of the Historic Metro Courthouse. The plaza was renamed in her honor in 2021.
On April 19, 1960, Nash, who was attending Fisk University, marched with a group of students to protest the segregation of “whites only” lunch counters in Nashville’s downtown department stores.
When the students reached the courthouse steps, Nashville Mayor Ben West was waiting for them. Nash asked West if he felt it was wrong to discriminate against people because of their race, and he admitted that he did. Three weeks later, Nashville’s lunch counters opened to Black customers.
Nash later joined the Freedom Riders to protest the segregation of interstate buses and facilities throughout the South, and she marched for voting rights in Alabama in early 1965. A resident of Chicago, she continues to speak out on matters of social justice, including fair housing.
After a luncheon at Fisk University, Nash arrived at VUMC with an entourage of family members and supporters including Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Metro Council Member at Large Zulfat Suara, who organized the emergency department visit.
Dorris Powell-Alexander, MD, assistant professor of Emergency Medicine, introduced Nash to the department, and Hess presented her with a gift basket.
“Our central theme is patient care first,” Powell-Alexander said. “This emergency department sees roughly 77,000 people a year. We are a Level I trauma center. We are a stroke center. We are a transplant center, and we do lots of critical care.”
As for a team being named for her, Nash said, “I love the idea. I can’t think of a more worthy institution that I’d like my name on. Your work is critical.”
“We stand on the shoulders of giants,” Powell-Alexander replied. “I would not be here if not for you.”
Nash smiled. “And thousands of others,” she added.