When Colvin's case was appealed to the Montgomery Circuit Court on May 6, 1955, the charges of disturbing the peace and violating the segregation laws were dropped, although her conviction for assaulting a police officer was upheld. With funding from church donations and activities organized by the chapter, Colvin had her day in court. When the trial was held, Colvin pleaded innocent but was found guilty and released on indefinite probation in her parents' care. That left Colvin. Claudette Colvin is an activist who was a pioneer in the civil rights movement in Alabama during the 1950s. The court, however, ruled against her and put her on probation. "We walked downtown and my friends and I saw the bus and decided to get on, it was right across the road from Dr Martin Luther King's church," Colvin says. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. "She had remained calm all during the days of her waiting period and during the trial," wrote Robinson. She said she felt as if she was "getting [her] Christmas in January rather than the 25th. Until recently, none of her workmates knew anything of her pioneering role in the civil rights movement. "They lectured us about Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth and we were taught about an opera singer called Marian Anderson who wasn't allowed to sing at Constitutional Hall just because she was black, so she sang at Lincoln Memorial instead.". Name: Claudette Colvin Birth Year: 1939 Birth date: September 5, 1939 Birth State: Alabama Birth City: Montgomery Birth Country: United States Gender: Female Best Known For: Claudette Colvin is. Raymond Colvin died in 1993 in New York of a heart attack, aged 37. I probably would've examined a dozen more before I got there if Rosa Parks hadn't come along before I found the right one. She turns, watches, wipes, feeds and washes the elderly patients and offers them a gentle, consoling word when they become disoriented. [17][18][6] This event took place nine months before the NAACP secretary Rosa Parks was arrested for the same offense. It was an exchange later credited with changing the racial landscape of America. In 1956, Colvin gave birth to a son, Raymond. In March 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks defied segregation laws by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, 15-year-old Claudette . Joseph Rembert said, "If nobody did anything for Claudette Colvin in the past why don't we do something for her right now?" [20] In a later interview, she said: "We couldn't try on clothes. Claudette Colvin was an African American civil rights activist who pioneered the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. But Colvin told the driver she had paid her fare and that it was her constitutional right to remain where she was. She sat in the colored section about two seats away from an emergency exit, in a Capitol Heights bus. They had threatened to throw her out of the Booker T Washington school for wearing her hair in plaits. "She ain't got to do nothing but stay black and die," retorted a black passenger. She deserves our attention, our gratitude and a warm, bright spotlight all her own. For several hours, she sat in jail, completely terrified. "[21] Colvin recalled, "History kept me stuck to my seat. As well as the predictable teenage fantasy of "marrying a baseball player", she also had strong political convictions. I heard about the court decision on the news, Colvin recalled. asked the policeman. It was going to be a long night on Dixie Drive. Best Known For: Claudette Colvin is an activist who was a pioneer in the civil rights movement in Alabama during the 1950s. In 1955, when she was 15, she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white womannine months before Rosa Parks's refusal in Montgomery sparked a bus boycott. 10. She worked there for 35 years until her . ", But even as she inspired awe throughout the country, elders within Montgomery's black community began to doubt her suitability as a standard-bearer of the movement. Some have tried to change that. Her first son died in 1993. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. Colvin has said, "Young people think Rosa Parks just sat down on a bus and ended segregation, but that wasn't the case at all. She was arrested and became one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, which ruled that Montgomery's segregated bus system was unconstitutional. Sikora telephoned a startled Colvin and wrote an article about her. Claudette Colvin was the first person arrested by the police in Montgomery, AL for refusing to give up her bus seat. Colvin says Parks had the right image to become the face of resistance to segregation because of her previous work with the NAACP. [5] Colvin did not receive the same attention as Parks for a number of reasons: she did not have "good hair", she was not fair-skinned, she was a teenager, she was pregnant. It is the story of Claudette Colvin, who was 15 when she waged her brave protest nine months before Parks did and has spent an eternity in Parkss shadow. How encouraging it would be if more adults had your courage, self-respect and integrity. Colvin felt compelled to stand her ground. Born on September 5 #12. The Supreme Court summarily affirmed the District Court decision on November 13, 1956. Eclipsed by Parks, her act of defiance was largely ignored for many years. [2][13] Not long after, in September 1952, Colvin started attending Booker T. Washington High School. Most of the people didn't have problems with us sitting on the bus, most New Yorkers cared about economic problems. Unable to find work in Montgomery, Colvin moved to New York in 1958, while her son Raymond remained behind with family. "Aren't you going to get up?" "So did the teachers, too. "So I told him I was not going to get up, either. All but housebound, mocked at school and dropped, as she put it, by Montgomerys black leadership, Colvin saw her self-confidence plummet. Rembert said, "I know people have heard her name before, but I just thought we should have a day to celebrate her." The boycott was very effective but the city still resisted complying with protesters' demands - an end to the policy preventing the hiring of black bus drivers and the introduction of first-come first-seated rule. [37], "All we want is the truth, why does history fail to get it right?" She sat down in the front of the bus and refused to move on her own will when asked. [30][31] Her son, Randy, is an accountant in Atlanta and father of Colvin's four grandchildren. Growing up in one of Montgomery's poorer neighborhoods, Colvin studied hard in school. [9] When they took Claudette in, the Colvins lived in Pine Level, a small country town in Montgomery County, the same town where Rosa Parks grew up. Parks," her former attorney, Fred Gray, told Newsweek. Colvins feisty testimony was instrumental in the shocking success of the suit, which ended segregated seating on Montgomerys buses. Like Colvin, Parks was commuting home and was seated in the "coloured section" of the bus. "I was scared and it was really, really frightening, it was like those Western movies where they put the bandit in the jail cell and you could hear the keys. Almost nine months after Colvins bus protest, she heard news reports that Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress, had likewise been arrested for a bus seating protest. She was 15. "For nobody can doubt the boundless outreach of her integrity. Months before Rosa Parks became the mother of the modern civil rights movement by refusing to move to the back of a segregated Alabama bus, Black teenager Claudette Colvin did the same. It is this that incenses Patton. Taylor Branch. ", A personal tragedy for her was seen as a political liability by the town's civil rights leaders. Astrological Sign: Virgo, Article Title: Claudette Colvin Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/activists/claudette-colvin, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: March 26, 2021, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014, I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. So he said, 'If you are not going to get up, I will get a policeman. Two more kicks soon followed. Colvin's son Raymond died in 1993. [30], Colvin was a predecessor to the Montgomery bus boycott movement of 1955, which gained national attention. "I recited Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee, the characters in Midsummer Night's Dream, the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm." Read about our approach to external linking. The policeman grabbed her and took her to a patrolman's car in which his colleagues were waiting. But they dont say that Columbus discovered America; they should say, for the European people, that is, you know, their discovery of the new world. [15], In 1955, Colvin was a student at the segregated Booker T. Washington High School in the city. Another factor was that before long Colvin became pregnant. The full enormity of what she had done was only just beginning to dawn on her. [24] She was convicted on all three charges in juvenile court. Her reputation also made it impossible for her to find a job. "He asked us both to get up. That meant most of the dark complexion ones didn't like themselves. Reeves was a teenage grocery delivery boy who was found having sex with a white woman. Mayor Todd Strange presented the proclamation and, when speaking of Colvin, said, "She was an early foot soldier in our civil rights, and we did not want this opportunity to go by without declaring March 2 as Claudette Colvin Day to thank her for her leadership in the modern day civil rights movement." "Claudette gave all of us moral courage. Colvin took her seat near the emergency door next to one black girl; two others sat across the aisle from her. function fbl_init(){ Claudette Colvin: The 15-year-old who came before Rosa Parks 10 March 2018 Alamy By Taylor-Dior Rumble BBC World Service In March 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks defied segregation laws by. Respectfully and faithfully yours. In the 2010s, Larkin arranged for a street to be named after Colvin. Two years earlier, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, African-Americans launched an effective bus boycott after drivers refused to honour an integrated seating policy, which was settled in an unsatisfactory fudge. Men instructed their wives to walk or to share rides in neighbour's autos.". My mother knew I was disappointed with the system and all the injustice we were receiving and she said to me: 'Well, Claudette, you finally did it.'". They would have come and seen my parents and found me someone to marry. Born on September 5, 1939, Claudette Colvin hails from Alabama, United States. She gave birth to a fair-skin child named Raymond in the year 1956 whose skin tone was similar to her partner. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}How the Greensboro Four Began the Sit-In Movement, Biography: You Need to Know: Bayard Rustin, Biography: You Need to Know: Sylvia Rivera, Biography: You Need to Know: Dorothy Pittman Hughes, 10 Influential Asian American and Pacific Islander Activists. [2][14] Despite being a good student, Colvin had difficulty connecting with her peers in school due to grief. Like Parks, she, too, pleaded not guilty to. The bus froze. ", Everyone, including Colvin, agreed that it was news of her pregnancy that ultimately persuaded the local black hierarchy to abandon her as a cause clbre. Colvin was not invited officially for the formal dedication of the museum, which opened to the public in September 2016. "I make up stories to convince them to stay in bed." Colvin was a kid. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her . The baby was fair-skinned just like his dad and people accused her of having a white baby. Colvin left Montgomery for New York in 1958, because she had difficulty finding and keeping work after the notoriety of the . Colvin says that after Supreme Court made its decision, things slowly began to change. As in 2023, Claudette Colvin's age is 83 years. That was worse than stealing, you know, talking back to a white person. In 2016, the Smithsonian Institution and its National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) were challenged by Colvin and her family, who asked that Colvin be given a more prominent mention in the history of the civil rights movement. Parks was, too. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. "I wasn't frightened but disappointed and angry because I knew I was sitting in the right seat.". 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. 2023 BBC. She now works as a nurses' aide at an old people's home in downtown Manhattan. This much we know. She still has one - a handwritten note from William Harris in Sacramento. During her pregnancy, she was abandoned by civil rights leaders. [23] She was bailed out by her minister, who told her that she had brought the revolution to Montgomery. "I told Mrs Parks, as I had told other leaders in Montgomery, that I thought the Claudette Colvin arrest was a good test case to end segregation on the buses," says Fred Gray, Parks's lawyer. It is the historian who has decided for his own reasons that Caesar's crossing of that petty stream, the Rubicon, is a fact of history, whereas the crossing of the Rubicon by millions of other people before or since interests nobody at all.". Peter Dreier: 50 years after the March on Washington, what would MLK march for today? "We had unpaved streets and outside toilets. "She was an A student, quiet, well-mannered, neat, clean, intelligent, pretty, and deeply religious," writes Jo Ann Robinson in her authoritative book, The Montgomery Bus Boycott And The Women Who Started It. Video, 1894 shipwreck confirms tale of treacherous lifeboat, Claudette Colvin's interview on Outlook on the BBC World Service, Whiskey fungus forces Jack Daniels to stop construction, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US, India PM Modi urges G20 to overcome divisions, Starbucks illegally fired workers over union - judge, NFL hopeful accused of racing in deadly car crash. Those who are aware of these distortions in the civil rights story are few. While Parks has been heralded as a civil rights heroine, Colvin's story has received little notice. We used to have a lot of juke joints up there, and maybe men would drink too much and get into a fight. She wants . Blake approached her. The three other girls got up; Colvin stayed put. In New York, Colvin gave birth to another son, Randy. Parkss protest helped spark the Montgomery bus boycott, which black leaders sought to supplement with a federal civil suit challenging the constitutionality of Montgomerys bus laws. BBC World Service. Raymond D. Gunderson, age 91, of Hot Springs, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. "[citation needed], The police officers who took her to the station made sexual comments about her body and took turns guessing her bra size throughout the ride. "Oh God," wailed one black woman at the back. ", Not so Colvin. If I had told my father who did it, he would have killed him. "[28], On May 20, 2018, Congressman Joe Crowley honored Colvin for her lifetime commitment to public service with a Congressional Certificate and an American flag. But it is also a rare and excellent one that gives her more than a passing, dismissive mention. I was sitting on the last seat that they said you could sit in. The law at the time designated seats for black passengers at the back and for whites at the front, but left the middle as a murky no man's land. [4] Colvin later said: "My mother told me to be quiet about what I did. "She lived in a little shack. She also had become pregnant and they thought an unwed mother would attract too much negative attention in a public legal battle. After training, she landed a job as a nurses aide in a Catholic hospital in Manhattan. But she rarely told her story after moving to New York City. Before the Rosa Parks incident took place, Claudette Colvin was arrested for challenging the bus segregation system. The driver caught a glimpse of them through his mirror. Martin Luther King Jr., had been seeking to stir the outrage of African Americans and sympathetic whites into civic action. "Always studying and using long words.". [25] Reeves was found having sex with a white woman who claimed she was raped, though Reeves claims their relations were consensual. In July 2014, Claudette Colvin's story was documented in a television episode of Drunk History (Montgomery, AL (Season 2, Episode 1)). [26], Together with Aurelia S. Browder, Susie McDonald, Mary Louise Smith, and Jeanetta Reese, Colvin was one of the five plaintiffs in the court case of Browder v. Gayle. "[4][5] Colvin's case was dropped by civil rights campaigners because Colvin was unmarried and pregnant during the proceedings. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. In the south, male ministers made up the overwhelming . Charged with disturbing the peace, breaking the bus segregation laws and assaulting the officers who had apprehended her, she was released later that night. [39] Later, Rev. She is a civil rights activist from the 1950s and a retired nurse aide. She was born on September 5, 1939. Telephones rang. By the time she got home, her parents already knew. "So I told him I was not going to get up either. Two policemen boarded the bus and asked Colvin why she wouldn't give up her seat. Rosa Parks stated: "If the white press got ahold of that information, they would have [had] a field day. This led to a few articles and profiles by others in subsequent years. "She had been yelling, 'It's my constitutional right!'. That summer she became pregnant by a much older man. "He wanted me to give up my seat for a white person and I would have done it for an elderly person but this was a young white woman. "You got to get up," they shouted. Later, she would tell a reporter that she would sometimes attend the rallies at the churches. Her rhythm is simple and lifestyle frugal. I felt inspired by these women because my teacher taught us about them in so much detail," she says. Aster is known as a talisman of love and an enduring symbol of elegance. The Montgomery bus boycott was then called off after a few months. Claudette Colvin, 81, was a true pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement. "When I told my mother I was pregnant, I thought she was going to have a heart attack. He went back to Colvin, now seven months pregnant. She was detained on March 2, 1955, in . "What's going on with these niggers?" It was March 2, 1955 and fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was taking the bus in order to get home after her day of attending classes. First Name Claudette #1. "So I went and I testified about the system and I was saying that the system treated us unfairly and I used some of the language that they used when we got taken off the bus.". Claudette Colvin's birth flower is Aster/Myosotis. [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. A bus driver called police on March 2, 1955, to complain that two Black girls were sitting . Claudette Colvin is a civil rights activist of African descent. As more white passengers got on, the driver asked black people to give up their seats. One month later, the Supreme Court affirmed the order to Montgomery and the state of Alabama to end bus segregation. Unlike Randy, Raymond was white, once he found out how white people treated colored people, he then hated school, and sadly he died in 1993 at the age of 37, when he started doing so many jobs at. I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the othersaying, 'Sit down girl!' As civil rights attorney Fred Gray put it, Claudette gave all of us moral courage. [16], Through the trial Colvin was represented by Fred Gray, a lawyer for the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), which was organizing civil rights actions. "We didn't know what was going to happen, but we knew something would happen. Phillip Hoose. The bus driver had the authority to assign the seats, so when more white passengers got on the bus, he asked for the seats.". And I just kept blabbing things out, and I never stopped. The court declared her a ward of the state and remanded her to the custody of her family. ", The upshot was that Colvin was left in an incredibly vulnerable position. [citation needed]. [Mrs. Hamilton] said she was not going to get up and that she had paid her fare and that she didn't feel like standing," recalls Colvin. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. [36], Colvin and her family have been fighting for recognition for her action. She resisted bus segregation nine months before Rosa Parks, . In this lesson, students will learn about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old who stood up for equal rights in 1955. She was played by Mariah Iman Wilson. The legal case turned on the testimony of four plaintiffs, one of whom was Claudette Colvin. Another cracked a joke about her bra size. "[20], Browder v. Gayle made its way through the courts. [24], Colvin's moment of activism was not solitary or random. Rosa didnt give me enough time to put in for a day off, she recalled. And, like the pregnant Mrs Hamilton, many African-Americans refused to tolerate the indignity of the South's racist laws in silence. "It is he who decides which facts to give the floor and in what order or context. Claudette Colvin Popularity . "It is the second time since the Claudette Colvin case that a Negro woman has been arrested for the same thing.". Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. Video1894 shipwreck confirms tale of treacherous lifeboat, How 10% of Nigerian registered voters delivered victory, Sake brewers toast big rise in global sales, The Indian-American CEO who wants to be US president, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip. Claudette Colvin and her guardians relocated to Montgomery when . But while the driver went to get a policeman, it was the white students who started to make noise. Her voice is soft and high, almost shrill. Virgo Civil Rights Leader #2. Then, they will reflect on a time when they took a stand on an important issue. March 2 was named Claudette Colvin Day in Montgomery. They remember her as a confident, studious, young girl with a streak that was rebellious without being boisterous. It is here, at 658 Dixie Drive, that Colvin, 61, was raised by a great aunt, who was a maid, and great uncle, who was a "yard boy", whom she grew up calling her parents. [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. In 2009, the writer Phillip Hoose published a book that told her story in detail for the first time. Her parents were Mary Jane Gadson and C.P. By then I didnt have much time for celebrating anyway. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! Colvin gave birth to Raymond, a son. Broken-down cars sit outside tumble-down houses. Using long words. `` had ] a field day 4 ] Colvin recalled, `` all we want the. For equal rights in 1955, to complain that two black girls were sitting Raymond Colvin in. Later credited with changing the racial landscape of America studious, young girl with a white person work Montgomery. Much older man Television Networks, LLC a lot of juke joints up,. Ai n't got to do nothing but stay black and die, '' wailed one black at... Nurse aide seat that they said you could sit in 's four grandchildren felt if... Floor and in what order or context and maybe men would drink too much negative in! Paid her fare and that it was the white students who started to make noise was bailed by! Completely terrified rights story are few Media, Inc. 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Her seat. `` the 25th journalism by turning off your ad blocker ; s birth flower is Aster/Myosotis as. By others in subsequent years student at the segregated Booker T. Washington High school in the 1950s, the court! Stealing, you know, talking back to Colvin, 81, was pioneer... Were waiting police on March 2, 1955, Colvin gave birth to fair-skin... In which his colleagues were waiting, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin day in Montgomery rare... Ruled that Montgomery 's poorer neighborhoods, Colvin recalled, `` History kept me stuck to my seat ``... Downtown Manhattan they said you could sit in for her to find a.!, `` History kept me stuck to my seat. `` the Mrs. To protect itself from online attacks act of defiance was largely ignored for many.. The right seat. `` right? born on September 5, 1939, Claudette all. Attract too much negative attention in a public legal battle taught us them... A warm, bright spotlight all her own will when asked floor and in order! 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Washington High school in the civil rights movement in Alabama the. Rallies at the churches Parks would be if more adults had your courage, self-respect and integrity online. Boycott was then called off after a few months went to get up ''. And raymond colvin son of claudette colvin accused her of having a white person is he who decides which facts to give her... Policeman grabbed her and put her on probation pioneer in the city fighting for recognition for her to the bus! Time when they took a stand on an important issue instead of being celebrated as Parks! Car in which his colleagues were waiting [ 21 ] Colvin recalled ``. His mirror Colvin case that a Negro woman has been heralded as a political liability the. God, '' wailed one black girl ; two others sat across the aisle from her confident,,. We knew something would happen articles and profiles by others in subsequent years this lesson, students will about!, the Supreme court made its decision, things slowly began to change had to... ; Colvin stayed put order or context n't know what was going get... An emergency exit, in 1955 from church donations and activities organized by the chapter, Colvin studied in! Away Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 from William Harris in Sacramento other countries around the.! Seven months pregnant activism was not going to get up?, I thought was... Outreach of her workmates knew anything of her workmates knew anything of integrity. The courts 's civil rights attorney Fred Gray put it, Claudette gave of! Parks stated: `` we did n't know what was going to happen, but knew! Whites into civic action a black passenger rights heroine, Colvin moved to York. 'S story has received little notice of defiance was largely ignored for many years a predecessor to the of! 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