Do you know who Claudette Colvin was? A 15 year old hero in the civil rights movement.

[pnwmom]

Fearless teens have always been at the forefront of social change.

Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, Claudette refused to give hers up. She got herself arrested and dragged off the bus in handcuffs. We should all honor her as much as we honor Rosa Parks. She was so young and yet so strong.

Like the young protesters today.

https://www.npr.org/2009/03/15/101719889/before-rosa-parks-there-was-claudette-colvin

The bus driver ordered her to get up and she refused, saying she'd paid her fare and it was her constitutional right. Two police officers put her in handcuffs and arrested her. Her school books went flying off her lap.

"All I remember is that I was not going to walk off the bus voluntarily," Colvin says.

SNIP

He also believes Colvin is important because she challenged the law in court, one of four women plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the court case that successfully overturned bus segregation laws in Montgomery and Alabama.

SNIP

When asked why she is little known and why everyone thinks only of Rosa Parks, Colvin says the NAACP and all the other black organizations felt Parks would be a good icon because "she was an adult. They didn't think teenagers would be reliable."

She also says Parks had the right hair and the right look.

SNIP

[Docreed2003]

1. I honestly had not heard her story until last Friday, I think

Mark Thompson highlighted Colvin’s story on his am show on SiriusXM Progress and it was truly captivating. He was interviewing the author of a recent book about Claudette. It was a fascinating interview because Claudette’s actions in many ways shook up the Montgomery Civil Rights Movement. Her actions were spontaneous and unplanned and the local NAACP was not prepared for a response. Yet, her actions would pave the way for Rosa Parks, who, as you said, was an adult and extremely involved in the Montgomery NAACP.

I’ll see if I can find the title of the biography for you.

[pnwmom]

2. This article mentions a book:

Now her story is the subject of a new book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.

Author Phil Hoose

Is this the one? (Except this article is from 2009, so maybe not.)

[Docreed2003]

3. I think thats it

Mark may have had the author on for Black History Month and to highlight the story. I suppose I naively thought it was a new book since I’d never heard the story, but that sounds right!

[struggle4progress]

4. Before there was Claudette Colvin, there was Pauli Murray

She was arrested for the same refusal in Virginia in 1940

https://paulimurrayproject.org/pauli-murray/timeline/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/17/the-many-lives-of-pauli-murray

The NAACP was interested in the case but VA ultimately only charged her with "disorderly conduct"

[pnwmom]

5. Wow! Thanks for the info! That was in 1940 when Pauli was 30.

I wonder if 15 year old Claudette had heard about her -- if Pauli's action got any publicity outside of Virginia.

[OhioBlue]

6. I heard her story from "Drunk History"

I love that show. - as an aside.... isn't it weird that the only historical show that records on my DVR anymore is from Comedy Central..... The ones that used to be on History channel that I had set in my DVR like "Big History" don't show up anymore.

IIRC she was one of the plaintiffs in the Rosa Parks case, but she got pregnant so the NAACP dropped her as part of the case as they thought a pregnant, single, black teen wouldn't help the case in the eyes of the SC. She initially sent her cause and case to the NAACP and Rosa Parks was the secretary that reviewed the letters. This teen inspired Rosa to refuse to give up her seat and be arrested which prompted the bus boycott.

[pnwmom]

7. I was wondering if Rosa knew about her. Thanks for passing that along!

[Hamlette]

8. I'd guess she did, she worked for the NAACP and the NAACP considered Claudette as a plaintiff

there were others too. Branch talks about it in Parting the Waters. Claudette got pregnant and was only 15 and unmarried. I think they sort of put Rosa Parks up to it after turning down a few other women as plaintiffs (I've not heard thats what they did, and she may well have done it on her own but all knew the frustration with finding a plaintiff, including Rosa).

As a lawyer, they did the right thing IMHO. Having a more sympathetic plaintiff helped them win. Same thing happened in Furman v. Ga, the death penalty case that outlawed it in this country for many years. The argument in Furman was that blacks were receiving the DP at a far greater rate than whites for the same or similar crimes.

[raven mad]

9. 1955, Montgomery, Alabama and the subject of my daughter's 8th grade "Black History Month" paper.

Daughter got invited to the NAACP dinner in Birmingham. We're white. She was SO proud!

[pansypoo53219]

10. one of the few drunk history shows i watched on comedy central was about her.