Claudette Colvin

Claudette Colvin

September 5, 1939 - Present Day

"I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other—saying, 'Sit down girl!' I was glued to my seat."

Before Rosa there was Claudette Colvin.

March 2, 1955, this 15 year old Maverick decided to disrupt the wrongful order of the time in Montgomery, Alabama.

Her brave decision to not give up her seat to a white citizen in the negro only section was groundbreaking.

By law, negroes couldn’t be asked to give up their seats in the negro sections to their white counterparts.

That’s exactly what she did.

Claudette refused to give up her seat, then was arrested and convicted. Her conviction empowered some local community members to initiate a boycott of the local bus system.

This would broader awareness of the injustices of the time.

A full 9 months before the more well-known Rosa Parks, Colvin as a minor had a spirit that ignited her to act in a major way.

Her Maverick actions will forever be remembered as groundbreaking and inspiration for the later Rosa Parks.

"I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other—saying, 'Sit down girl!' I was glued to my seat." -Claudette Colvin

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MAV FACT: A local civic organization, the Women’s Political Council (WPC), had already voiced their concerns to city commissioners about the city bus line’s poor treatment of blacks and sought a test case to serve as a catalyst for a large local boycott. The WPC, however, did not choose her to be that test case. Colvin and other community activists felt that this was likely due to her youth, her dark skin, and the fact that she was pregnant at the time by a married man.

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For more information on this Maverick Innovator follow the link ---> https://blackpast.org/aah/colvin-claudette-1935