Frederick Leonard

Frederick Leonard is an American activist who was involved in the civil rights movement.

Involvement in the civil rights movement

Leonard participated in the Nashville sit-ins in 1960 while attending Tennessee State University. He also participated in a Freedom Ride that started on May 17, 1961, and travelled from Nashville to Birmingham. but the Freedom Riders felt at ease because they were being escorted by police. As soon as they reached the terminal in Birmingham, he noticed the police had suddenly vanished and the terminal looked deserted and eerie. He said that after he noticed the police were gone, "all of a sudden, just like, whoosh, magic, white people, sticks and bricks [appeared]".

TSU Freedom Riders honorary degrees In 2008, Frederick Leonard and fourteen other Freedom Riders were honored by Tougaloo College (TSU) who had asked fourteen of the Freedom Riders to come to the college and receive honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees for choosing expulsion to patriation in Freedom Riders and fighting for the freedom of the black community in 1961.

The TSU spoke to the Freedom Riders and expressed their gratitude to the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) for exemplifying the courage to "right this unforgivable wrong".