Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama. Months before Rosa Parks, Colvin stood up against segregation in Alabama in 1955, when she was only 15 years old. Growing up in one of Montgomery's poorer neighborhoods,Colvin studied hard at school. She earned mostly A’s in her classes and even aspired to become president one day. On March 2, 1955, Colvin was riding home on a city bus after school when a bus driver told her to give up her seat to a white passenger. She refused…
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To understand the living conditions of Claudette Colvin, there is some preface required. First of all, Claudette Colvin lived in King Hill and lived there with her family. This was a small, poor section of African Americans in an area full of white neighborhoods. It was an everyday struggle for everyday routines to some in her area. This area was dangerous and very well known with a reputation of being a drug addict’s haven. Also it is very important to understand the Jim Crow Laws. These laws were…
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Claudette Colvin is a name many are unfamiliar with but is a figure comparable to that of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to obey the order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger. This incident occurred nine months subsequent to Claudette Colvin’s defiance and arrest for giving up her seat on the Montgomery’s segregated bus system. In 1956, Colvin was a plaintiff in the case Browder v. Gayle, a case that lead to the ruling of…
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Who was Claudette Colvin? Claudette was an important civil rights activist who made a significant impact on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. "I have my constitutional rights', she cried out to the police officers who arrested her for simply not giving up her seat. Claudette Colvin was an A student at all black Booker T. Washington High. On March 2, 1955, she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. She was only fifteen years old at the time of this incident. Because she refused to…
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At this time in history, African Americans had no right and were sold as property. Claudette Colvin was a black activists had begun to build a case to challenge state bus segregation laws because of her arrest. Claudette was a student at Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery. On March 2, 1955, Colvin was handcuffed, arrested and forcibly removed from a public bus when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. At the time, Colvin was an active member in the NAACP Youth Council, a group to which Rosa Parks served as advisor…
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lynched. Claudette Colvin was a fifteen year old girl who was kicked off the bus in Montgomery because she was seated in the white area (Freedman 23). The NAACP did not think that the Claudette incident would be enough to get the attention of the city officials. The court in Montgomery accused Claudette of assault and battery, knowing that she did not lay her hands on anyone she simply did not move out of her seat (History Learning Site). Adding the Rosa Parks case to the Claudette Colvin case would…
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The growing inequality because of the jim crow laws resulted in the formation of national association of aadvancement for coloured people (NAACP). The NAACP started to challenge the real equality of separate but equal. In 1954 NAACP supported the case of a black family who wanted to integrate schools. The supreme court ruled separate but equal unconstitutional. This was the first time jim crow law…
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Jim Crow practices on the Montgomery city buses. In a meeting with Montgomery’s mayor in March 1954, the council outlined the changes they sought for Montgomery’s bus system. A year after the WPC’s meeting with the mayor, a 15-year-old named Claudette Colvin was arrested for challenging segregation on a Montgomery bus. Seven months later, 18-year-old Mary Louise Smith was arrested for refusing to yield her seat to a white passenger. The NAACP and the WPC were waiting for the right person to be arrested…
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The significant legal case that challenged the notion of bus segregation and Alabama’s state statutes came in the form of the Aurelia S. Browder v William A. Gayle case. Due to Browder v Gayle challenging the constitutionality of a state statute, the case was brought before a three judge US district court panel. Filed by Fred Gray and Charles D. Langford on behalf of four African American women. The plaintiffs in the case were Aurelia S. Browder, Susie McDonald, Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith,…
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During the slave era, there were plenty of segregation laws that were passed. The law about segregation on public transportation was passed as early as 1900 by Jim Crow. The Jim Crow law ensured blacks rode in the back seats and they had to leave front seats to white people. It did not make sense when blacks were 75% of the passengers. It also required that the African Americans paid their fares at the front and used the back doors to get into the bus. It went on until the Civil Rights Movement of…
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