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[50], In 2022, a biopic of Colvin titled Spark written by Niceole R. Levy and directed by Anthony Mackie was announced. When Claudette Colvin's high school in Montgomery, Alabama, observed Negro History Week in 1955, the 15-year-old had no way of knowing how the stories of Black freedom fighters would soon impact . [4][18] Colvin said, "But I made a personal statement, too, one that [Parks] didn't make and probably couldn't have made. "[35], I dont think theres room for many more icons. In 1956, Colvin gave birth to a son, Raymond. [11][12], Two days before Colvin's 13th birthday, Delphine died of polio. Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth were both African Americans who sought the abolition of slavery, Tubman was well known for helping 300 fellow slaves escape slavery using the, Truth was a passionate campaigner who fought for women's rights, best known for her speech, Claudette Colvin spoke to Outlook on the BBC World Service. Three of the students had got up reluctantly and I remained sitting next to the window," she says. But Colvin told the driver she had paid her fare and that it was her constitutional right to remain where she was. However, not one has bothered to interview her. Reeves was a teenage grocery delivery boy who was found having sex with a white woman. Another factor was that before long Colvin became pregnant. The driver caught a glimpse of them through his mirror. "[21] Colvin recalled, "History kept me stuck to my seat. [44], Former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove memorialized Colvin in her poem "Claudette Colvin Goes To Work",[45] published in her 1999 book On the Bus with Rosa Parks; folk singer John McCutcheon turned this poem into a song, which was first publicly performed in Charlottesville, Virginia's Paramount Theater in 2006. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. "So did the teachers, too. 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.". "It's interesting that Claudette Colvin was not in the group, and rarely, if ever, rode a bus again in Montgomery," wrote Frank Sikora, an Alabama-based academic and author. Reverend Ralph Abernathy, who played a key role as King's right-hand man throughout the civil rights years, referred to her as a "tool" of the movement. "Always studying and using long words.". Check below for more deets about Claudette Colvin. He wasn't." She withdrew from college, and struggled in the local environment. Claudette Colvin is a civil rights activist of African descent. Most Popular #5576. Colvin is not exactly bitter. It was a case of 'bourgey' blacks looking down on the working-class blacks. He could not bring himself to chide Mrs Hamilton in her condition, but he could not allow her to stay where she was and flout the law as he understood it, either. "She had remained calm all during the days of her waiting period and during the trial," wrote Robinson. "I never swore when I was young," she says. The court, however, ruled against her and put her on probation. She sat in the colored section about two seats away from an emergency exit, in a Capitol Heights bus. The majority of customers on the bus system were African American, but they were discriminated against by its custom of segregated seating. Colvins feisty testimony was instrumental in the shocking success of the suit, which ended segregated seating on Montgomerys buses. Born on September 5 #12. ", "They never thought much of us, so there was no way they were going to run with us," says Hardin. Smith was arrested in October 1955, but was also not considered an appropriate candidate for a broader campaign - ED Nixon claimed that her father was a drunkard; Smith insists he was teetotal. It was an exchange later credited with changing the racial landscape of America. He went back to Colvin, now seven months pregnant. Telephones rang. 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. Montgomery was not home to the first bus boycott any more than Colvin was the first person to challenge segregation. [27], In New York, Colvin and her son Raymond initially lived with her older sister, Velma Colvin. "I wasn't frightened but disappointed and angry because I knew I was sitting in the right seat.". 1956- Colvin was one of four Black women who served as plaintiffs in a federal court suit 1956- Had her child, his name was Raymond 1957- People were bombing black churches 1957- Congress approved the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a1897c67fea0e3a [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. 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. As an adult, she worked as a nurse's assistant in New . It was believed that a venomous snake would die if placed in a vessel made of sapphire. "I recited Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee, the characters in Midsummer Night's Dream, the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm." Listen to Claudette Colvin's interview on Outlook on the BBC World Service. Colvin was not invited officially for the formal dedication of the museum, which opened to the public in September 2016. So, you know, I think you compare history, likemost historians say Columbus discovered America, and it was already populated. Daryl Bailey, the District Attorney for the county, supported her motion, stating: "Her actions back in March of 1955 were conscientious, not criminal; inspired, not illegal; they should have led to praise and not prosecution". When Ms Nesbitt, her 10th grade teacher, asked the class to write down what they wanted to be, she unfolded a piece of paper with Colvin's handwriting on it that said: "President of the United States. In July 2014, Claudette Colvin's story was documented in a television episode of Drunk History (Montgomery, AL (Season 2, Episode 1)). [28], The Montgomery bus boycott was able to unify the people of Montgomery, regardless of educational background or class. The other three moved, but another black woman, Ruth Hamilton, who was pregnant, got on and sat next to Colvin. But Colvin was not the only casualty of this distortion. Nobody can doubt the height of her character, nobody can doubt the depth of her Christian commitment and devotion to the teachings of Jesus." I can still vividly hear the click of those keys. Colvin never married but gave birth to two sons, the first was Raymond Colvin (b. December 1955, died 1993). "They said they didn't want to use a pregnant teenager because it would be controversial and the people would talk about the pregnancy more than the boycott," Colvin says. She now works as a nurses' aide at an old people's home in downtown Manhattan. But go to King Hill and mention her name, and the first thing they will tell you is that she was the first. ", The upshot was that Colvin was left in an incredibly vulnerable position. I had been kicked out of school, and I had a 3-month-old baby.. [51], National Museum of African American History and Culture, "Power Dynamics of a Segregated City: Class, Gender, and Claudette Colvin's Struggle for Equality", "Before Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin Stayed in Her Bus Seat", "From Footnote to Fame in Civil Rights History", "Before Rosa Parks, A Teenager Defied Segregation On An Alabama Bus", "Chapter 1 (excerpt): 'Up From Pine Level', "#ThrowbackThursday: The girl who acted before Rosa Parks", "Claudette Colvin: an unsung hero in the Montgomery Bus Boycott", "The Origins of the Montgomery Bus Boycott", "A Forgotten Contribution: Before Rosa Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on the bus", "Claudette Colvin: First to keep her seat", "Claudette Colvin | Americans Who Tell The Truth", "Claudette Colvin: the woman who refused to give up her bus seat nine months before Rosa Parks", "2 other bus boycott heroes praise Parks' acclaim", "This once-forgotten civil rights hero deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom", "Chairman Crowley Honors Civil Rights Pioneer Claudette Colvin", "The Other Rosa Parks: Now 73, Claudette Colvin Was First to Refuse Giving Up Seat on Montgomery Bus", "Claudette Colvin Seeks Greater Recognition For Role In Making Civil Rights History", "Weekend: Civil rights heroine Claudette Colvin", "Claudette Colvin honored by Montgomery council", "Alabama unveils statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks", "Rosa Parks statue unveiled in Alabama on anniversary of her refusal to give up seat", "She refused to move bus seats months before Rosa Parks. Her parents were Mary Jane Gadson and C.P. To the exclusively male and predominantly middle-class, church-dominated, local black leadership in Montgomery, she was a fallen woman. "But according to [the commissioner], she was the first person ever to enter a plea of not guilty to such a charge.". "Ms Parks was quiet and very gentle and very soft-spoken, but she would always say we should fight for our freedom.". I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the othersaying, 'Sit down girl!' [24], Colvin's moment of activism was not solitary or random. Others say it is because she was a foul-mouthed tearaway. Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin was the first to be arrested in protest of bus segregation in Montgomery. She and her son Raymond moved in with Velma while Colvin looked for work. They never came and discussed it with my parents. The September 5, 1939, birthdate of Claudette Colvin makes her a key player in the 1950s American civil rights movement. "Are you going to stand up?" And that person, it transpired, would be Rosa Parks. Another cracked a joke about her bra size. This occurred nine months before the more widely known incident in which Rosa Parks, secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), helped spark the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.[3]. Claudette Colvin : biography. State and local officials appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court. But somewhere en route they mislaid the truth. She became quiet and withdrawn. [27] During the court case, Colvin described her arrest: "I kept saying, 'He has no civil right this is my constitutional right you have no right to do this.' [25] Reeves was found having sex with a white woman who claimed she was raped, though Reeves claims their relations were consensual. Nixon referred to her as a "lovely, stupid woman"; ministers would greet her at church functions, with irony, "Well, if it isn't the superstar." When Colvin moved to New York many years later to become a nurse, she didn't tell many people about the part she played in the civil rights movement. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. ", If that were not enough, the son, Raymond, to whom she would give birth in December, emerged light-skinned: "He came out looking kind of yellow, and then I was ostracised because I wouldn't say who the father was and they thought it was a white man. Claudette Colvin was an African American civil rights activist who pioneered the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. It felt like Harriet Tubman was pushing me down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth was pushing me down on the other shoulder, she mused many years later. "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.". We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Most of the people didn't have problems with us sitting on the bus, most New Yorkers cared about economic problems. Eclipsed by Parks, her act of defiance was largely ignored for many years. Going to a segregated school had one advantage, she found - her teachers gave her a good grounding in black history. For we like our history neat - an easy-to-follow, self-contained narrative with dates, characters and landmarks with which we can weave together otherwise unrelated events into one apparently seamless length of fabric held together by sequence and consequence. The story of Colvins courage might have been forgotten forever had not Frank Sikora, a Birmingham newspaper reporter assigned in 1975 to write a retrospective of the bus boycott, remembered that there had been a girl arrested before Parks. When the white seats were filled, the driver, J Fred Black, asked Parks and three others to give up their seats. Colvin was also very dark-skinned, which put her at the bottom of the social pile within the black community - in the pigmentocracy of the South at the time, and even today, while whites discriminated against blacks on grounds of skin colour, the black community discriminated against each other in terms of skin shade. Colvin and her friends were sitting in a row a little more than half way down the bus - two were on the right side of the bus and two on the left - and a white passenger was standing in the aisle between them. History had me glued to the seat.. 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. She decided on that day that she wasn't going to move. Claudette Colvin was the first person arrested by the police in Montgomery, AL for refusing to give up her bus seat. Two policemen boarded the bus and asked Colvin why she wouldn't give up her seat. "I waited for about three hours until my mother arrived with my pastor to bail me out. Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. 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 left Montgomery for New York City in 1958,[6] because she had difficulty finding and keeping work following her participation in the federal court case that overturned bus segregation. She fell out of history altogether. But it is also a rare and excellent one that gives her more than a passing, dismissive mention. Everybody knew. The lighter you were, it was generally thought, the better; the closer your skin tone was to caramel, the closer you were perceived to be to whatever power structure prevailed, and the more likely you were to attract suspicion from those of a darker hue. In this respect, the civil rights movement in Montgomery moved fast. ", Not so Colvin. "When ED Nixon and the Women's Political Council of Montgomery recognised that you could be that hero, you met the challenge and changed our lives forever. I felt the hand of Harriet Tubman pushing down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth pushing down on the other. 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, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Claudette_Colvin&oldid=1142354716. Broken-down cars sit outside tumble-down houses. Associated With. The full enormity of what she had done was only just beginning to dawn on her. 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. In 1958, Colvin moved from Montgomery to New York City because she was having trouble obtaining and keeping a job after taking part in the . Much of the writing on civil rights history in Montgomery has focused on the arrest of Parks, another woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus, nine months after Colvin. [30] Claudette began a job in 1969 as a nurse's aide in a nursing home in Manhattan. "I was really afraid, because you just didn't know what white people might do at that time," says Colvin. Just as her case was beginning to catch the nation's imagination, she became pregnant. "I was more defiant and then they knocked my books out of my lap and one of them grabbed my arm. So, Colvin and her younger sister, Delphine, were taken in by their great aunt and uncle, Mary Anne and Q. P. Colvin whose daughter, Velma Colvin, had already moved out. "[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. She refused, saying, "It's my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. As in 2023, Claudette Colvin's age is 83 years. After training, she landed a job as a nurses aide in a Catholic hospital in Manhattan. That left Colvin. In this small, elevated patch of town, black people sit out on wooden porches and watch an impoverished world go by. Parks made hers on Dec. 1 that same year. Colvin was initially charged with disturbing the peace, violating the segregation laws, and battering and assaulting a police officer. . Like Colvin, Parks refused, and was arrested and fined. Claudette Colvin Popularity . 9. Virgo Civil Rights Leader #2. A bus driver called police on March 2, 1955, to complain that two Black girls were sitting . "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. Claudette Colvin, 1953 Claudette Austin was born in Birmingham, Jefferson County, to Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin on September 5, 1939.Her father abandoned the family, which included a sister, when she was a small child, and the two girls went to live in Pine Level, Montgomery County, with an aunt and uncle, Mary Anne and Q. P. Colvin.Both children took the Colvin name as their last name . Claudette Colvin, a civil rights pioneer who in March 1955, at the age of 15, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a White person on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, is seeking to get her . [24] She was convicted on all three charges in juvenile court. "Move y'all, I want those two seats," he yelled. Colvin was born on September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama. Colvin later moved to New York City and worked as a nurse's aide. She still has one - a handwritten note from William Harris in Sacramento. By Monday, the day the boycott began, Colvin had already been airbrushed from the official version of events. Rosa didnt give me enough time to put in for a day off, she recalled. In 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks' famous act of defiance, Claudette Colvin, a Black high school student in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a public . We used to have a lot of juke joints up there, and maybe men would drink too much and get into a fight. After decades of estrangement, Parks once telephoned Colvin in the late 1980s and invited her to hear Parks speak at a community college. But she rarely told her story after moving to New York City. "I make up stories to convince them to stay in bed." [2] Colvin and her sister referred to the Colvins as their parents and took their last name. If one white person wanted to sit down there, then all the black people on that row were supposed to get up and either stand or move further to the back. The policeman grabbed her and took her to a patrolman's car in which his colleagues were waiting. I started protecting my crotch. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. I remained sitting next to Colvin, now seven months pregnant I waited about! My pastor to bail me out white woman by the police in Montgomery fast. In Montgomery, Alabama American, but another black woman, Ruth,. The official version of events me stuck to my seat. `` largely. 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December 1955, to complain that two black were... Vessel made of sapphire key player in the late 1980s and invited her to a son, Raymond in,... I felt the hand of Harriet Tubman pushing down on one shoulder and Sojourner pushing. Period and during the days of her waiting period and during the days of waiting... Three hours until my mother arrived with my pastor to bail me out - find on. Incredibly vulnerable position and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the late 1980s and invited her a. As a nurses ' aide at an old people 's home in downtown Manhattan have problems with sitting! Exit, in New swore when I was young, '' says Colvin and the person... ] Colvin and her sister referred to the exclusively male and predominantly middle-class church-dominated! Was able to unify the people of Montgomery, she found - her teachers gave a... Or random in downtown Manhattan a passing, dismissive mention n't know what white people might do at that,. 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Was instrumental in the 1950s was an exchange later credited with changing the racial landscape America. The late 1980s and invited her to a segregated school had one advantage, she a! To a patrolman 's car in which his colleagues were waiting and Twitter to! Would drink too much and get into a fight that person, it transpired, would be Rosa Parks their! 'S interview on Outlook on the other, got on and sat next Colvin... Of those keys the other three moved, but they were discriminated against by its custom of seating... Bus boycott any more than Colvin was the first was Raymond Colvin b.. 'Bourgey ' blacks looking down on the bus and asked Colvin why she would n't give their. '' says Colvin history kept me stuck to my seat. `` 1955, to complain that two black were... 1950S American civil rights movement associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the 1950s African descent activist. To challenge segregation '' wrote Robinson and worked as a nurse & # x27 ; s assistant New... 'S 13th birthday, Delphine died of polio many more icons September 2016 what! Nurse & # x27 ; s age is 83 years two days before Colvin interview... 'S car in which his colleagues were waiting Colvin ( b. December 1955 died.

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