Rosa Parks was a black woman who also refused to give up her seat on a public bus, but this incident took place nine months later. The verdict of this case was a historic step for African Americans, as it officially led to the end of segregation and the signing of the 14th amendment. She was adopted by C.P. As a Black girl growing up in Alabama, she was no stranger to discrimination. But also let them know that the attorneys took four other women to the Supreme Court to challenge the law that led to the end of segregation. Her most noteworthy stage . "[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. Claudette Colvin was born on September 5th, 1939 in Montgomery, AL. As a Black girl growing up in Alabama, she was no stranger to discrimination. When a white woman who got on the bus was left standing in the front, the bus driver, Robert W. Cleere, commanded Colvin and three other black women in her row to move to the back. Claudette Colvin was a pioneering civil rights activist in Alabama during the 1950s. "[38], Colvin's role has not gone completely unrecognized. Claudette . He was executed for his alleged crimes. . At 82, her arrest is expunged", "Claudette Colvin's juvenile record has been expunged, 66 years after she was arrested for refusing to give her bus seat to a White person", "John McCutcheon sings Rita Dove's 'Claudette Colvin', Drunk History' Montgomery, AL (TV Episode 2014), "The Newsroom - Will McAvoy On Historical Hypotheticals", "Report: Biopic about civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin in the works", The Other Rosa Parks (Colvin interview with, Vanessa de la Torre, "In The Shadow of Rosa Parks: 'Unsung Hero' of Civil Rights Movement Speaks Out", "An asterisk, not a star, of black history", Let us Look at Jim Crow for the Criminal he is - Rosa Parks' bus stand and the long history of bus resistance, John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights, Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)", List of lynching victims in the United States, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, Historically black colleges and universities, Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), Black players in professional American football, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Claudette_Colvin&oldid=1131856864, Activists for African-American civil rights, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2019, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Claudette Colvin (born September 5, 1939) is a pioneer of the African American Civil Rights Movement. Taylor Branch. [39], In 2019, a statue of Rosa Parks was unveiled in Montgomery, Alabama, and four granite markers were also unveiled near the statue on the same day to honor four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, including Colvin[40][41][42], In 2021 Colvin applied to the family court in Montgomery County, Alabama to have her juvenile record expunged. She is a retired African American nurse aide and activist who was a pioneer of the1950s civil rights movement. Although she defended her innocence on the three charges, she was found guilty. The daughter of Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin, she was born Claudette Austin. Colvin gave birth to a son, Raymond in March 1956. Colvin grew up in a poor black neighborhood ofMontgomery, Alabama. The discussions in the black community began to focus on black enterprise rather than integration, although national civil rights legislation did not pass until 1964 and 1965. We strive for accuracy and fairness. [21], She also said in the 2009 book Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, by Phillip Hoose, that one of the police officers sat in the back seat with her. She was born to Mary Jane Gadson and C.P. status : false, She is a wondrous person for what she did. In 2019 a statue ofRosa Parkswas unveiled in Montgomery, Alabama, and four granite markers were also unveiled near the statue on the same day to honor four plaintiffs inBrowder v. Gayle, including Colvin. New York, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, This page was last edited on 6 January 2023, at 02:28. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! The case, organized and filed in federal court by civil rights attorney Fred Gray, challenged city bus segregation in Montgomery as unconstitutional. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. She attended the Booker T. Washington High School, a racially segregated school in Montgomery. The 1930s were called the Great Depression (1929-1939). Roy White, who was in charge of most of the project, asked Colvin if she would like to appear in a video to tell her story, but Colvin refused. window.fbl_started = true; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); 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 born in 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama. She didn't move. Birthday: September 5, 1939 ( Virgo) Born In: Montgomery, Alabama, United States 85 9 Civil Rights Activists #32 Activists #196 Quick Facts Also Known As: Claudette Austin Age: 83 Years, 83 Year Old Females Family: father: C. P. Colvin mother: Mary Anne Colvin Black Activists Civil Rights Activists U.S. State: Alabama, African-American From Alabama But she rarely told her story after moving to New York City. The Montgomery bus boycott was then called off after a few months. Colvin was also a member of the localNAACPYouth Council, where she formed a close relationship with her overseer:Rosa Parks. He remarks that if the ACLU had used her act of civil disobedience, rather than that of Rosa Parks' eight months later, to highlight the injustice of segregation, a young preacher named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may never have attracted national attention, and America probably would not have had his voice for the Civil Rights Movement. Colvin's sister, Gloria Laster, said. The case went to the United States Supreme Court on appeal by the state, and it upheld the district court's ruling on November 13, 1956. Shes a civil rights hero and will always be remembered for her bravery and contribution to the cause. It is widely accepted that Colvin was not accredited by the civil rights campaigners at the time due to her pregnancy shortly after the incident, with evenRosa Parkssaying "If the white press got ahold of that information, they would have had a field day. [16], Colvin was not the only woman of the Civil Rights Movement who was left out of the history books. Colvin did so, but received a slap and a severe reprimand from her mother, saying that she was not allowed to touch white people. The decision in the 1956 case, which had been filed by Fred Gray and Charles D. Langford on behalf of the aforementioned African American women, ruled that Montgomery's segregated bus system was unconstitutional. For several hours, she sat in jail, completely terrified. Austin, but she was raised by her great-aunt and great-uncle, Mary Ann and Q.P. She sat down in the front of the bus and refused to move on her own will when asked. [2][14] Despite being a good student, Colvin had difficulty connecting with her peers in school due to grief. No further step, Street Team INNW, St. Paul, Fire Station #24, Becomes a Minneapolis Landmark, Marion Turner Stubbs, Civic Organizer born, douard de Laboulaye, French Ambassador born, Curt Flood, Baseball Player, and Union Activist born, Eartha Kitt Confronts Lady Bird Johnson Regarding Race in America, Elijah Cummings, Baltimore Politician born, Binyavanga Wainaina, Writer, and Professor born, Ben Jealous, Administrator, and Activist born, William Dawson is Elected as Americas First Black Standing Committee Chairman. She later became a civil rights activist. Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama. Raymond Colvin died in 1993 in New York of a heart attack at age 37. The case went to theUnited States Supreme Courton appeal by the state, and it upheld the district court's ruling on December 17, 1956. 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