Claudette Colvin was a 15 year old straight A student that stood up for herself and refused to give her seat on the bus to a white passenger.
It was March 2nd, 1955 when Claudette paid her fare and took her seat on a Montgomery Alabama bus. Shortly after sitting down, the driver told Claudette that she must get up and give her seat to a white passenger. Claudette refused. She has been quoted as saying “It’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it’s my constitutional right.”
After refusing to give up her seat, Claudette was arrested on multiple charges, including violating Montgomery City’s segregation laws. She was taken to the local jail where she sat for hours, terrified that harm may come to her. She was later quoted about her experience in jail as saying, “I was really afraid, because you just didn’t know what white people might do at that time.” The minister of her church paid her bail and she was released. Her entire family sat up all night afraid they may be attacked out of possible retaliation.
Claudette went on to declare she was not guilty of breaking laws. However, she was found guilty and placed on probation.
Claudette became one of the four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case. The decision in the 1956 case ruled that Montgomery’s segregated bus system was unconstitutional.
Claudette’s story hasn’t gotten much attention or notice. However there are people trying to change that. Rita Dove penned the poem Claudette Colvin Goes to Work, which later became a song. Phillip Hoose also wrote about her in the young adult biography Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. Claudette’s former attorney, Fred Gray, once said “Claudette gave all of us moral courage. If she had not done what she did, I am not sure that we would have been able to mount the support for Mrs. Parks,”