BATON ROUGE - The Southern community is celebrating the life of an alumna and celebrated public servant.

Dr. Janette Hoston Harris passed away Friday morning at her home in Washington D.C. 

“The Southern University family expresses our deepest sympathies to the loved ones of Dr. Harris,” said Ray L. Belton, president of the Southern University System and chancellor of the Baton Rouge campus. “While a student here, she bravely participated in one of the most prolific sit-ins here in Baton Rouge as part of this nation's Civil Rights Movement. For this and her many contributions nationally, we will always salute her.”

Harris was one of six Southern students arrested in 1960 for attempting to desegregate an all-white lunch counter in Baton Rouge. The group was subsequently expelled from the university and by order of the governor, prohibited from attending any college in Louisiana.

She later graduated from Central State, then went on to receive her master's degree and Ph.D. from Howard University.