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 Colvin did exactly Claudette Colvin is an American woman who was arrested as a teenager in 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white woman. Her protest was one of several by Black women challenging segregation on buses in the months before Rosa Parks’s more famous act. "The Other Rosa Parks: Now 73, Claudette Colvin Was First to Refuse Giving Up Seat on Montgomery Bus." Democracy Now, March 29, 2013. Adler, Margot. "Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin." National Public Radio, March 15, 2009. Kitchen, Sebastian. "Claudette Colvin." The Montgomery Bus Boycott. Mechanic, Michael. Her name was Claudette Colvin. But the world was not yet ready to hear her name. Claudette’s story has long been overshadowed by the more famous act of defiance performed by Rosa Parks later that year. Parks, with her carefully curated image as a quiet, respectable, middle-aged woman, became the face of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Most people know about Rosa Parks and the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. Nine months earlier, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on the same bus system. O n March 2, 1955, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was sitting on a totally full bus in Montgomery, Ala., when the driver asked her and three black schoolmates give up the whole row so that a white History remembers the bold.Alexander the Great, Marie Curie and Neil Armstrong are all remembered for their audacity, discoveries and exploration. But sometimes, a figure slips through the cracks.While Rosa Parks is celebrated for her refusal to give up her bus seat, Claudette Colvin’s identical act of defiance in the same city nine months earlier has been all but forgotten. Nine months after Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat, Rosa Parks became the “right person” on 1 December. On the night of Parks’ arrest, the Women’s Political Council (WPC), a group of Black women working for civil rights, began circulating flyers calling for a boycott of the bus system. In the chronicles of the Civil Rights Movement, one name remains regrettably shrouded by the obscurity of history – Claudette Colvin. Aged just 15, this fiery teenager, imbued with the spirit of resistance, defied the oppressive conventions of a racially segregated Montgomery, Alabama, a full nine months before the more famous act of defiance by Rosa Parks. On March 2, 1955, Claudette stood Parks’ detention set off an array of boycotts in the city, mainly ones concerned with the city’s public transit, lasting over a year. This series of events sparked the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. Nine months prior to the imprisonment of Rosa Parks, fifteen year old Claudette Colvin was Rosa Parks and white ally Virginia Durr began fundraising for young Colvin’s case, and more than one hundred letters and a stack of donations streamed into Parks’ apartment. Parks was hopeful that the young woman’s arrest would embolden other young people to action and spark interest in the NAACP youth meetings. Similarly, although Rosa Parks is the most noted figure in the Alabama bus boycotts, there were many hidden figures, such as Claudette Colvin, who played equally important roles both before and after Rosa Parks’ headline event. There were actually four main plaintiffs -- Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Mary Louise Smith, and Susie McDonald Claudette Colvin: I knew why they chose Rosa. They thought I would have been too militant for them. They wanted someone mild and gentile like Rosa. They didn’t want to use a teenager. Fred Gray: I represented Claudette Colvin in 1955 and also Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King. And what you have to realize is there are literally hundreds and And even fewer know that the seeds of the statewide bus boycott were first planted by a teenager named Claudette Colvin, who was arrested on similar charges months earlier. Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin inspired a nation, showing how positive change can start with a single defiant act. Comparison: Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks Similarities both African-American women both refused to give up seat on a segregated bus both arrested on segregated buses both started a spark that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott both arrested in 1955 Claudette and Rosa Claudette “The Other Rosa Parks: Now 73, Claudette Colvin Was First to Refuse Giving Up Seat on Montgomery Bus.” Democracy Now, March 29, 2013. Adler, Margot. “Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin.” National Public Radio, March 15, 2009. Kitchen, Sebastian. “Claudette Colvin.” The Montgomery Bus Boycott. Mechanic, Michael. 8) Claudette Colvin said, “When I heard on the news that it was Rosa Parks, I had several feelings: I was glad an adult had finally stood up to the system, but I felt left out. I was thinking, Hey, I did that months ago and everybody dropped me.” (HC: p.61 / TP: p. 67) She goes on to share some ideas about why she thinks the black leaders The Colvin case, Douglas Brinkley writes in Rosa Parks, “proved a good dress rehearsal for the real drama shortly to come.” The African American community needed a citizen whose character was unimpeachable, a “pillar of the community.” Nine months later, on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks—unbeknownst to her—would become that person. The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement believed Rosa Parks was more likely to receive sympathy from the public—and especially from white people—than Claudette Colvin. There were many reasons for this. Colvin was only 15 at the time, while Parks was an adult at 42. 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 got pregnant. The leaders in the Civil Rights Movement tried to keep up appearances and make the ‘most appealing’ protesters the most seen. Did Martin Luther King, Jr meet Rosa Parks?
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