Black heroes like Claudette Colvin tend to be overlooked, despite her fight for justice. While individuals like Rosa Parks certainly exhibited bravery and a devotion to justice, Colvin, unfortunately, is often overlooked, despite similar contributions to the Civil Rights Movement.  As such, to conclude Black History Month, let’s take a deeper look at Claudette Colvin, the woman who refused to give up her seat before Rosa Parks.

Claudia Colvin was born in September of 1939 in Alabama and was raised by her great-aunt and uncle. She was an inquisitive and bright child and caught onto the racial divisions early. Verbal and physical cues telling black people to avoid challenging the status quo were noticed early by eight-year-old Colvin.  However, when her friend got arrested for a crime he did not commit due to the fact he was black, something sparked in her.

Colvin joined the NAACP Youth Council and showed off her natural hair, an exhibition condemned by many white people. She refused to straighten her hair and comply with the day’s harsh, unspoken rules for African-American appearances. After hearing about black heroes like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, she decided that her right to freedom of speech not only applied to her voice, but to her visage as well.

On March 2, 1955, Colvin was riding the bus home from school. The bus driver, as usual, told her row to vacate the seats for a white woman. Her other three classmates got up, but Colvin would not budge. The officials were called and got to the scene. Colvin told them she knew her constitutional rights. Angered by this, the officers pulled her off the bus and handcuffed her. She was told lewd and vulgar comments the whole drive to the city jail.

When the cell door closed behind her, Colvin sat alone in the cramped space. She had been confident all the way until that moment. She cried and prayed until her mother and family pastor came to bail her out.

As the Civil Rights Movement was gaining steam, Colvin garnered the consideration of Civil Rights leaders to be the face of a future bus boycott. However, they decided against Colvin because she was “too young and emotional” to be a rallying figure for such an important movement. Later in 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat under similar circumstances, the leaders chose her instead of Colvin. 

Eventually, Colvin became a plaintiff in the Browder v. Gayle case, a lawsuit that questioned the constitutionality of Montgomery's segregation laws. Her major contribution to the cause made it harder for her to live in Alabama. Claudette decided to move to New York City in 1968, after Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination. She worked as a nurse's aide and retired in 2004. 

Colvin sadly has not been talked about like other Black Civil Rights heroes. She was a huge part of one of the biggest wake-up calls for our nation, and, had it not been for her age, would be sharing pages in the history books with other prominent Civil Rights leaders. Claudette Colvin is literally a living legend of the Civil Rights Movement, and her legacy is one that all Americans should look up to.

Citation:

Ott, Tim. “Claudette Colvin Refused to Give up Her Bus Seat Nine Months before Rosa Parks.” Biography, Biography, 22 Jan. 2021, www.biography.com/news/claudette-colvin-rosa-parks-bus-boycott. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.