Copyright 2016 FamousAfricanAmericans.org, Museum Dedicated to African American History and Culture is Set to Open in 2016, Scholarships for African Americans Black Scholarships, Top 10 Most Famous Black Actors of All Time. The Supreme Court summarily affirmed the District Court decision on November 13, 1956. Colvin attended Booker T. Washington High School. js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; fbl_init() [15], In 1955, Colvin was a student at the segregated Booker T. Washington High School in the city. Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. [24] She was convicted on all three charges in juvenile court. Trivia (6) Colvin never married but gave birth to two sons, the first was Raymond Colvin (b. December 1955, died 1993). She said, "They've already called it the Rosa Parks museum, so they've already made up their minds what the story is. Last Name Colvin #2. For several hours, she sat in jail, completely terrified. Last October, the 82-year-old civil rights pioneer made the life-changing move to file for the expungement of her decades-old arrest record. Colvin and Mary Anne Colvin. On March 2, 1955, 15-year-old Colvin, while riding on a segregated city bus, made the fateful decision that would make her a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement. 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. When the Montgomery Bus Boycott began in December of 1955, the NAACP and MIA filed a lawsuit on behalf of Colvin, and four other women, including Mary Louise Smith, who had been involved in earlier acts of civil disobedience on the Montgomery buses. "So I told him I was not going to get up either. Claudette Colvin is a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement and retired nurse aide. In 2021, 66 years after the charges were brought to the district court, Colvin's charges were dropped. Later, Rev. window.FB.Event.subscribe('xfbml.render', function() { When Austin abandoned the family, Gadson was unable to financially support her children. Claudette Colvin is a civil rights activist who, before Rosa Parks, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Claudette Colvin: The 15-year-old who came before Rosa Parks 10 March 2018 Alamy By Taylor-Dior Rumble BBC World Service In March 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks defied segregation laws by. Claudette Colvin, who at 15 refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, deserves our gratitude. [36], Colvin and her family have been fighting for recognition for her action. Claudette Colvin (born Claudette Austin, September 5, 1939) Montgomery, Alabama, is an American pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement and retired nurse aide. The area also had a bad reputation for being a drug addict's haven. Shes famous for being arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. She was an unmarried teenager at the time and was reportedly raped by a married man soon after the incident, from which she became pregnant. Three of the women moved but another woman, by the name of Ruth Hamilton, got up and sat next to Colvin. She was a straight A student there. At birth, she was adopted by C. P. Colvin and Mary Anne Colvin, who lived in a poor neighborhood in Montgomery, Alabama. 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. How much did the average black person make compared to the average white person on the same job? if (d.getElementById(id)) return; [49], The Little-Known Heroes: Claudette Colvin, a children's picture book by Kaushay and Spencer Ford, was published in 2021. Councilman Larkin's sister was on the bus in 1955 when Colvin was arrested. . window.FB.init({ First Name Claudette #1. She was studying at the Art Students League when, in 1923, she took the name Claudette Colbert for her first Broadway role in "The Wild Westcotts". She appeared in Montgomery juvenile court on March 18, 1955 and was represented by Fred Gray, an African American civil rights attorney. Civil Rights Leader #10. Claudette Colvin is a black rights activist who was born on September 5 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama. Colvin moved to New York in 1958, where she found a job as a nurses aide in a nursing home in Manhattan. Claudette Colvin. [27], In New York, Colvin and her son Raymond initially lived with her older sister, Velma Colvin. She grew up in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods and focused most of her energy on school studying hard and earning mostly A's. But on a fateful day in 1955, Colvin decided to fight for her civil rights. Born Lily Claudette Chauchoin, she went to high school in New York. She is a retired African American nurse aide and activist who was a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement. [11][12], Two days before Colvin's 13th birthday, Delphine died of polio. Her neighborhood was a very impoverished one where even routine life was a struggle for most. I think that history only has room enough for certainyou know, how many icons can you choose? The leaders in the Civil Rights Movement tried to keep up appearances and make the "most appealing" protesters the most seen. She had two sisters, Delphine and Velma. Is Claudette Colvin adopted? [32], In 2005, Colvin told the Montgomery Advertiser that she would not have changed her decision to remain seated on the bus: "I feel very, very proud of what I did," she said. She was born on September 9, 1939. Claudette Colvin is a civil rights activist who, before Rosa Parks, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Although Colvins actions predated the more famous actions of Rosa Parks by nine months, she is much less well known. [24], Colvin's moment of activism was not solitary or random. Born to Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin, Colvin and her family moved to Montgomery, AL, when she was eight years old. Nixon was a Pullman porter and civil rights leader who worked with Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to initiate the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The WPC, however, did not choose her to be that test case. That was worse than stealing, you know, talking back to a white person. On June 13, 1956, the judges determined that the state and local laws requiring bus segregation in Alabama were unconstitutional. "[20], Browder v. Gayle made its way through the courts. }); She was born alongside her late sister Delphine who died of polio. Colvin could not attend the proclamation due to health concerns. The norm was for whites and blacks to sit in their respective sections, but if the bus became too crowded, blacks were asked to vacate their seats if any white people were left standing. Raymond Colvin died in 1993 in New York of a heart attack at age 37. On March 2, 1955, Claudette Colvin boarded a bus home from school. For many years, Montgomery's Black leaders did not publicize Colvin's pioneering effort. Colvin was asked by the driver to give up her seat on the crowded bus for a white passenger who had just boarded; she refused. It was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. She shouted that her constitutional rights were being violated.