Shes famous for being arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age . Even her mother beat her when she saw two white boys trying to make fun of Colvin. Claudette Colvin was an important figure in the civil rights movement. [32], In 2005, Colvin told the Montgomery Advertiser that she would not have changed her decision to remain seated on the bus: "I feel very, very proud of what I did," she said. Coretta Scott King was an American civil rights activist and the wife of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Ruby Bridges was the first African American child to integrate an all-white public elementary school in the South. } Claudette Colvin. "There was no assault", Price said. The daughter of Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin, she was born Claudette Austin. Due to this, her actions were broadly overlooked when compared to contemporary activists like Rosa Parks. Her dad made money mowing lawns, and her mother was a handmaid. On March 2, 1955, Colvin sat on a city bus to make her way home from school, when the bus driver asked her to give up her seat for a white passenger. Growing up in Montgomery, Alabama, a neighborhood famous for drug addicts and segregation, Claudette had first-hand experiences of oppression. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People briefly considered using Colvin's case to challenge the segregation laws, but they decided against it because of her age. Colvin was asked by the driver to give up her seat on the crowded bus for a white passenger who had just boarded; she refused. She later became a civil rights activist. Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. [2] She was also a member of the NAACP Youth Council, where she formed a close relationship with her mentor, Rosa Parks. Claudette Colvin, who at 15 refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, deserves our gratitude. Claudette Colvin: her birthday, what she did before fame, her family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more. Colvin was one of five plaintiffs in the first federal court case filed by civil rights attorneyFred Grayon February 1, 1956, asBrowder v. Gayle, to challenge bus segregation in the city. Her parents were Mary Jane Gadson and C.P. [16] Referring to the segregation on the bus and the white woman: "She couldn't sit in the same row as us because that would mean we were as good as her". Civil Rights Leader #10. clearInterval(fbl_interval); Claudette Colvin Husband - Married - Son Information about his personal life is still unknown however, she has two sons. [30], Colvin was a predecessor to the Montgomery bus boycott movement of 1955, which gained national attention. She was forcibly removed from the bus and arrested by the two policemen, Thomas J. She studied hard at Booker T. Washington High School and received . On May 6, 1955, Colvins case was moved to the Montgomery Circuit Court, where two of the three charges against her were dropped, but the charge of assaulting the arresting police officers remained. She retired in 2004. Jeanetta Reese later resigned from the case. function fbl_init(){ Amazon.com: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice: 9780374313227: Hoose, Phillip M: Books . "[21] Colvin recalled, "History kept me stuck to my seat. Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. try{ BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. On March 2, 1955, Colvin was riding home on a city bus after school when a bus driver told her to give up her seat to a white passenger. Colvin is a civil rights activist and pioneer of the 1950s U.S. civil rights movement. The area also had a bad reputation for being a drug addict's haven. [16][19], When Colvin refused to get up, she was thinking about a school paper she had written that day about the local customs that prohibited blacks from using the dressing rooms in order to try on clothes in department stores. Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939. My biological father's name is C. P. Austin, and my birth mother's name is Mary Jane Gadson. Colvin, great aunt and uncle to Mary Jane Gadson. Virgo Civil Rights Leader #2. The 1930s were called the Great Depression (1929-1939). [28], The Montgomery bus boycott was able to unify the people of Montgomery, regardless of educational background or class. among numerous honors. In fact, she attended segregated schoolsand rode segregated busesin Montgomery, Alabama. Claudette Colvin is an important civil rights activist who made a notable impact on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Joseph Rembert said, "If nobody did anything for Claudette Colvin in the past why don't we do something for her right now?" Such was the case on that day, when Colvin was returning home. Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939. She was adopted by C.P. This was partially a product of the outward face the NAACP was trying to broadcast and partially a product of the women fearing losing their jobs, which were often in the public school system. Colvin, a studious child, was determined to get the best education possible, become a lawyer, and fight for civil rights. Colvin helps overturn bus segregation laws in Alabama. The once-quiet student was branded a troublemaker by some, and she had to drop out of college. In 1955, she was the first person arrested for resisting bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, preceding the better known Rosa Parks incident by nine months. Claudette Colvin was an important figure in the civil rights movement. She was an unmarried teenager at the time and was reportedly raped by a married man soon after the incident, from which she became pregnant. She was brutally beaten for helping to lead a 1965 civil rights march, which became known as Bloody Sunday. [16], Through the trial Colvin was represented by Fred Gray, a lawyer for the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), which was organizing civil rights actions. And before both Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, there was Irene Morgan Kirkaldy. Historically, however, the case of Rosa Parks has received much more attention and support. In a United States district court, she testified before the three-judge panel that heard the case. Claudette Colvin is best known as Civil Rights Leader who has born on September 05, 1939 in Alabama. She attended Booker T. Washington High School from 1949 to 1956 but . When both women still refused to move, two policemen came to the scene and rearranged some seats so that Mrs. Hamilton could be seated. All Rights Reserved. Although she grew up in a poor neighborhood, Claudette Colvin had big dreams to make it out and become a lawyer. In response to Colvins conviction, some local community members initiated a boycott of the local bus system. NPR's Margot Adler has said that black organizations believed that Rosa Parks would be a better figure for a test case for integration because she was an adult, had a job, and had a middle-class appearance. Colvin was a scholar and aimed to one day become President. Enjoy the best Claudette Colvin Quotes at BrainyQuote. She knew that in 1955 she would be arrested for protesting segregation laws but she did anyway and helped pave the way for the overturning of segregation laws in Alabama. She retired in 2004. State and local officials appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court. However, her story is often silenced. When the Montgomery Bus Boycott began in December of 1955, the NAACP and MIA filed a lawsuit on behalf of Colvin, and four other women, including Mary Louise Smith, who had been involved in earlier acts of civil disobedience on the Montgomery buses. 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