NASHVILLE, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Tennessee State University has given honorary degrees to 14 former students expelled for taking part in the Freedom Rides that helped integrate the South.
The school gave honorary degrees to 10 ex-students this week and four others to family members representing deceased Freedom Riders, who were jailed and expelled in 1961, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported Saturday.
Pauline Knight-Ofosu was one of those honored for riding buses through the South to protest segregation.
"I grew up on this campus," she said. "I grew up with an appreciation of the arts. ... At the time that I grew up, this might have been one of the few places that we could go and we could appreciate the arts and not be in a segregated area.
"All of this is just so fantastic. I don't know how I can stand it," she said of Thursday's ceremony.
The Tennessee Board of Regents initially refused to grant the honorary degrees. President Melvin Johnson said the former students' "extraordinary achievements" were worthy of recognition.
"These degrees serve to remind this generation of a time when young people were willing to risk their reputations, careers, freedom and lives for a higher cause," Johnson said.
