Although she defended her innocence on the three charges, she was found guilty. Councilman Larkin's sister was on the bus in 1955 when Colvin was arrested. Colvin, a studious child, was determined to get the best education possible, become a lawyer, and fight for civil rights. [16][19], When Colvin refused to get up, she was thinking about a school paper she had written that day about the local customs that prohibited blacks from using the dressing rooms in order to try on clothes in department stores. Her story followed Joseph Campbell's proposed idea of The Hero's Journey. "[28], On May 20, 2018, Congressman Joe Crowley honored Colvin for her lifetime commitment to public service with a Congressional Certificate and an American flag. Her biological parents were C.P. The discussions in the black community began to focus on black enterprise rather than integration, although national civil rights legislation did not pass until 1964 and 1965. She said, "They've already called it the Rosa Parks museum, so they've already made up their minds what the story is. And I just kept blabbing things out, and I never stopped. While Parks has been heralded as a civil rights heroine, Colvin's story has received little notice. In 1955 at the age of 15, nine months before Rosa Parks, she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery. The WPC, however, did not choose her to be that test case. Claudette Colvin will celebrate 84th birthday on Tuesday, 5th of September 2023. They read the 14th Amendment. "[22] Colvin was handcuffed, arrested, and forcibly removed from the bus. It was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. 20072023 Blackpast.org. Her son, Raymond, was born in March 1956. Claudette Colvin won a National Book Award and was dubbed a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2009. Claudette Colvin (born September 5, 1939) [1] is a retired American nurse aide who was a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement.On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus.This occurred some nine months before the more widely known incident in which Rosa Parks, secretary of the . The court sentenced her to indefinite probation and declared her to be a ward of the state. She said she felt as if she was "getting [her] Christmas in January rather than the 25th. The area also had a bad reputation for being a drug addict's haven. My biological father's name is C. P. Austin, and my birth mother's name is Mary Jane Gadson. Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama. When a white woman who got on the bus was left standing in the front, the bus driver, Robert W. Cleere, commanded Colvin and three other black women in her row to move to the back. Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama. window.fbAsyncInit = function() { Claudette Colvin was born Claudette Austin in Montgomery, Alabama, on September 5, 1939, to Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin. State and local officials appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court. She also served as a plaintiff in the landmark legal case Browder v. Gayle, which helped end the practice of segregation on Montgomery public buses. Born on September 5 #32. 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. // 5th Sep 1939. Rita Dove penned the poem "Claudette Colvin Goes to Work," which later became a song. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and . She was a bright student and mostly received A grades. Joseph Rembert said, If nobody did anything for Claudette Colvin in the past why dont we do something for her right now? He reached out to Montgomery Councilmen Charles Jinright and Tracy Larkin to make it happen. In 2021, 66 years after the charges were brought to the district court, Colvin's charges were dropped. Claudette Colvin Husband - Married - Son Information about his personal life is still unknown however, she has two sons. "There was no assault", Price said. Her most noteworthy stage . The police arrived and convinced a black man sitting behind the two women to move so that Mrs. Hamilton could move back, but Colvin still refused to move. On March 2nd, 1955, Colvin was arrested as a teenager for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white woman who was left standing. We keep track of fun holidays and special moments on the cultural calendar giving you exciting activities, deals, local events, brand promotions, and other exciting ways to celebrate. March 2 was named Claudette Colvin Day in Montgomery. Claudette Colvin Is A Member Of . She is a wondrous person for what she did. She was played by Mariah Iman Wilson. Claudette Colvin (born Claudette Austin, September 5, 1939) Montgomery, Alabama, is an American pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement and retired nurse aide. Below the countdown to Claudette Colvin upcoming birthday. js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; Claudette Colvin, a nurse's aide and Civil Rights Movement activist, was born on September 5, 1939, in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1943, at the age of four, Colvin was at a retail store with her mother when a couple of white boys entered. Officers were called to the scene and Colvin was forcefully taken off of the bus and . Decades later, however, she was recognized for her efforts, and she addressed a crowd at the New Jersey Transit Authority, where she was honored for her efforts. Her brave action came nine months before Rosa Parks also refused to give up her seat. } catch (e){} Claudette Colvin, who at 15 refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, deserves our gratitude. This injustice is reflected in the fact that to this day, Colvin isnt as known a figure as Parks is. Although Colvins actions predated the more famous actions of Rosa Parks by nine months, she is much less well known. Her parents were Mary Jane Gadson and C.P. Colvin refuses to give up her seat on a segregated bus. status : false, [30] Claudette began a job in 1969 as a nurse's aide in a nursing home in Manhattan. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. She was charged with disturbing the peace, as well as assault and violating the segregation law. Coincidentally, by March 2, 1955, Claudette was learning about the civil rights movement in school. [39], In 2019, a statue of Rosa Parks was unveiled in Montgomery, Alabama, and four granite markers were also unveiled near the statue on the same day to honor four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, including Colvin[40][41][42], In 2021 Colvin applied to the family court in Montgomery County, Alabama to have her juvenile record expunged. if(window.fbl_started) How much did the average black person make compared to the average white person on the same job? [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. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. The driver looked at the women in his mirror. Because of her protest on the bus, Colvin was arrested when she was just 15 years old. Assured that the hearing would not take place until after her baby was born, Colvin nervously . She was raised in a poor black neighborhood. Two years later, Colvin moved to New York City, where she had her second son, Randy, and worked as a nurse's aide at a Manhattan nursing home. Claudette Colvin was born in 1930s. Rosa Parks had no such controversial issues attached to her name, and so her incident was popularized much more widely and she received widespread recognition. The other three moved, but another black woman, Ruth Hamilton, who was pregnant, got on and sat next to Colvin. 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. The leaders in the Civil Rights Movement tried to keep up appearances and make the "most appealing" protesters the most seen. [4][18] Colvin said, "But I made a personal statement, too, one that [Parks] didn't make and probably couldn't have made. Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old student, was arrested for . The average black person made half the average white person makes for the same job. [11][12], Two days before Colvin's 13th birthday, Delphine died of polio. window.fbl_started ) Colvin did not receive the support of the NAACP and other organizations prominent in the civil rights movement. In fact, she attended segregated schoolsand rode segregated busesin Montgomery, Alabama. On March 2, 1955, at the age of 15, she was the first person arrested for resisting bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, preceding the more publicized Rosa Parks incident by nine months. On March 2, 1955, Colvin sat on a city bus to make her way home from school, when the bus driver asked her to give up her seat for a white passenger. Claudette Colvin. function fbl_init(){ Survey data is powered by Wisevoter and Scholaroo,
Claudette Colvin (born Claudette Austin; September 5, 1939) is an American pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement and retired nurse aide. She sat in the colored section about two seats away from an emergency exit, in a Capitol Heights bus. [28], The Montgomery bus boycott was able to unify the people of Montgomery, regardless of educational background or class. "I was really afraid, because you just didn't know what white people might do at that time," Colvin later said. [26], Together with Aurelia S. Browder, Susie McDonald, Mary Louise Smith, and Jeanetta Reese, Colvin was one of the five plaintiffs in the court case of Browder v. Gayle. Even her mother beat her when she saw two white boys trying to make fun of Colvin. Colvin was a member of the NAACP Youth Council and had been learning about the civil rights movement in school. [Mrs. Hamilton] said she was not going to get up and that she had paid her fare and that she didn't feel like standing," recalls Colvin. Similarly, Rosa Parks left Montgomery for Detroit in 1957. She refused, saying, "It's my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. In 2019 a statue ofRosa Parkswas unveiled in Montgomery, Alabama, and four granite markers were also unveiled near the statue on the same day to honor four plaintiffs inBrowder v. Gayle, including Colvin. Quotations by Claudette Colvin, American Activist, Born September 5, 1939. Phillip Hoose. Claudette Colvin was a pioneering civil rights activist in Alabama during the 1950s. This was perhaps because she was only a teenager, and also because she became pregnant shortly after the incident. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Most people know about Rosa Parks and the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. A local civic organization, the Womens Political Council (WPC), had already voiced their concerns to city commissioners about the city bus lines poor treatment of blacks and sought a test case to serve as a catalyst for a large local boycott. Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939. The daily routine of life was a challenge for most. In July 2014, Claudette Colvin's story was documented in a television episode of Drunk History (Montgomery, AL (Season 2, Episode 1)). among numerous honors. 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