She cried for justice long before others.
As A Child…
Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939, to parents that knew they could not financially care for her. She was given in adoption to the Great Aunt and Uncle of her biological mother. Claudette was raised in a very poor black community in Montgomery, Alabama.
As A Teenager…
In 1955 Claudette Colvin was just 15 years old. She had to take the public bus to and from school each day. At this time in our nation’s scandalous history, there were many rules that Black Americans had to abide by. One such rule was that if all of the “white” seats were filled on the segregated busses, then Black passengers had to forfeit their seats and stand at the back of the bus to accommodate the White passengers.
The First Cries Of Injustice…
On March 2, 1955, Claudette was returning home from school. She was sitting in the “colored” seats as per the law. When the bus got too crowded the bus driver demanded that four “colored” seats be vacated to provide seating for the White passenger that was left standing. Claudette, who was pregnant, refused to get up. She had paid her fare, why should she have to? The bus driver got the police and Colvin was forcibly removed from the bus and arrested.
Disappointing Silence…
Oddly, the events of March 2, 1955, took place nine months BEFORE Rosa Parks was arrested for the same offense. Colvin’s mother told her to keep quiet about the injustice because “white people aren’t going to bother Rosa, they like her.”
Colvin recalled from the day of her arrest that, “History kept me stuck to my seat. I felt the hand of Harriet Tubman pushing down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth pushing down on the other.”
When Colvin was handcuffed, arrested, and forcibly removed from that bus she continued to shout out that her constitutional rights were being violated. She said, of that day, “But I made a personal statement too, one that she [Parks] didn’t make and probably couldn’t have made. Mine was the first cry for justice, and a loud one!”
Colvin was charged in juvenile court with disturbing the peace, violating segregation laws, and assault and battery of a police officer. Claudette was found guilty of all three charges. After an appeal, the charges of disturbing the peace and violating segregation laws were dropped. Sadly, the charge of assaulting a police officer was upheld.
Making Changes…
Colvin went on to be a plaintiff in the famous Bowder v. Gayle court case. After a run through the court system, the United States District Court for Middle District Atlanta declared that the State of Alabama and Montgomery’s laws mandating segregation on a public bus was unconstitutional. The State of Alabama tried to appeal the ruling but to no avail. On December 20, 1956, the court ordered Montgomery and the State of Alabama to end bus segregation permanently.
In later years Colvin was recognized for her actions and contributions to the Civil Rights Movement but, for her, it was almost too little, too late. She has always maintained that she isn’t angry that she didn’t get more recognition at the time, only disappointed.
“I feel very proud of what I did, I do feel like what I did was a spark, and it caught on!”
-Claudette Colvin
To read more about other consequential Black people of history, visit SUNY Ulster’s Diversity page.
