Claudette Colvin
Teenage civil rights pioneer who challenged bus segregation before Rosa Parks
Nine months before Rosa Parks' historic protest, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin (b. 1939) refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama on March 2, 1955. This act of defiance made Colvin:
- The first person arrested for resisting bus segregation
- A key plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle (1956)
- An unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement
Despite facing criminal charges and community ostracization, Colvin testified in the landmark case that ultimately ended Alabama's bus segregation. Civil rights leaders initially hesitated to promote her story because:
| • She came from a poor family | • She later became pregnant |
| • Darker skin complexion | • Youthful outspokenness |
In a 2021 interview with the Guardian, Colvin recalled:
'I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman on the other.'
Her legacy includes:
- Inspiring Rosa Parks' subsequent protest
- Providing legal precedent for the Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Challenging respectability politics in activism
Despite minimal recognition for decades, Colvin's case demonstrates how youth and marginalized voices shaped civil rights history. Recent efforts to clear her arrest record (2021) highlight her enduring impact.
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