"Always studying and using long words.". So, you know, I think you compare history, likemost historians say Columbus discovered America, and it was already populated. [2] Colvin and her sister referred to the Colvins as their parents and took their last name. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. I can still vividly hear the click of those keys. Daryl Bailey, the District Attorney for the county, supported her motion, stating: "Her actions back in March of 1955 were conscientious, not criminal; inspired, not illegal; they should have led to praise and not prosecution". Claudette Colvin (born September 5, 1939) is a retired American nurse aide who was a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement. Parks stayed put. I didn't get up, because I didn't feel like I was breaking the law. Before the Rosa Parks incident took place, Claudette Colvin was arrested for challenging the bus segregation system. "I recited Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee, the characters in Midsummer Night's Dream, the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm." [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. Her political inclination was fueled in part by an incident with her schoolmate, Jeremiah Reeves; his case was the first time that she had witnessed the work of the NAACP. In 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks' famous act of defiance, Claudette Colvin, a Black high school student in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a public . 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. [5] Colvin did not receive the same attention as Parks for a number of reasons: she did not have "good hair", she was not fair-skinned, she was a teenager, she was pregnant. Claudette Colvin, Who Was Arrested for Refusing to Give Up Her Bus Seat in 1955, Is Fighting to Clear Her Record The civil rights pioneer pushed back against segregation nine months before Rosa. "Nobody slept at home because we thought there would be some retaliation," says Colvin. ", She believes that, if her pregnancy had been the only issue, they would have found a way to overcome it. "You may do that," said Parks, who is now 87 and lives in Detroit. With funding from church donations and activities organized by the chapter, Colvin had her day in court. [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. She shops with her workmates and watches action movies on video. Claudette Colvin was an African American civil rights activist who pioneered the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. She was 15. Colvin was a member of the NAACP Youth Council and had been learning about the civil rights movement in school. ", To complicate matters, a pregnant black woman, Mrs Hamilton, got on and sat next to Colvin. Best Known For: Claudette Colvin is an activist who was a pioneer in the civil rights movement in Alabama during the 1950s. But while the driver went to get a policeman, it was the white students who started to make noise. Just as her case was beginning to catch the nation's imagination, she became pregnant. [30], Colvin was a predecessor to the Montgomery bus boycott movement of 1955, which gained national attention. I was crying," she says. ", Not so Colvin. Claudette Colvin gave birth to a son named Raymond in the same year 1955. He was drug-addicted and alcoholic and passed away of a cardiac attack in Colvin's apartment. Colvins feisty testimony was instrumental in the shocking success of the suit, which ended segregated seating on Montgomerys buses. And, like the pregnant Mrs Hamilton, many African-Americans refused to tolerate the indignity of the South's racist laws in silence. She resisted bus segregation nine months before Rosa Parks, . The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. By then I didnt have much time for celebrating anyway. The story of Colvins courage might have been forgotten forever had not Frank Sikora, a Birmingham newspaper reporter assigned in 1975 to write a retrospective of the bus boycott, remembered that there had been a girl arrested before Parks. "She gave me the feeling that I was the Moses that God had sent to Pharaoh," said Fred Gray, the lawyer who went on to represent her. "Well, I'm going to have you arrested," he replied. Similarly, Rosa Parks left Montgomery for Detroit in 1957. It is a rare, and poor, civil rights book that covers the Montgomery bus boycott and does not mention Claudette Colvin. Nine months before Parks's arrest, a 15-year-old girl, Claudette Colvin, was thrown off a bus in the same town and in almost identical circumstances. BBC World Service. I started protecting my crotch. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. "If any of you are not gentlemen enough to give a lady a seat, you should be put in jail yourself," he said. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People briefly considered using Colvin's case to challenge the segregation laws, but they decided against it because of her age. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. "[35], I dont think theres room for many more icons. ", Rosa Parks is a heroine to the US civil rights movement. She sat down in the front of the bus and refused to move on her own will when asked. The pace of life is so slow and the mood so mellow that local residents look as if they have been wading through molasses in a half-hearted attempt to catch up with the past 50 years. A second son, Randy, born in 1960, gave her four grandchildren, who are all deeply proud of their grandmother's heroism. [4], "The bus was getting crowded, and I remember the bus driver looking through the rearview mirror asking her [Colvin] to get up for the white woman, which she didn't," said Annie Larkins Price, a classmate of Colvin. He was born on March 3, 1931, in Mound City, S.D., the son of Alfred Gunderson and Verna Johnson Gunderson. While Parks has been heralded as a civil rights heroine, Colvin's story has received little notice. They just didn't want to know me. The lighter you were, it was generally thought, the better; the closer your skin tone was to caramel, the closer you were perceived to be to whatever power structure prevailed, and the more likely you were to attract suspicion from those of a darker hue. Claudette Colvin became a teenage mother in 1956 when she gave birth to a boy named Raymond. ", Everyone, including Colvin, agreed that it was news of her pregnancy that ultimately persuaded the local black hierarchy to abandon her as a cause clbre. So, Colvin and her younger sister, Delphine, were taken in by their great aunt and uncle, Mary Anne and Q. P. Colvin whose daughter, Velma Colvin, had already moved out. But what I do remember is when they asked me to stick my arms out the window and that's when they handcuffed me," Colvin says. Claudette Colvin (born Claudette Austin; September 5, 1939)[1][2] is an American pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement and retired nurse aide. All Rights Reserved. "The news travelled fast," wrote Robinson. At the time, Parks was a seamstress in a local department store but was also a secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). She spent the next decade going back and forth like a yo-yo between the two cities, she said. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, March 4, 2023, at East Juliette . Rosa Parks stated: "If the white press got ahold of that information, they would have [had] a field day. [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. "I will take you off," said the policeman, then he kicked her. Officers were called to the scene and Colvin was forcefully taken off of the bus and . "It is he who decides which facts to give the floor and in what order or context. [21], She also said in the 2009 book Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, by Phillip Hoose, that one of the police officers sat in the back seat with her. The young Ms. Colvin was portrayed by actress Mariah Iman Wilson. But she rarely told her story after moving to New York City. Nonetheless, Raymond died at the age of 37, reported Core Online. ", When the boycott was over and the African-American community had emerged victorious, King, Nixon and Parks appeared for the cameras. Anything to detach herself from the horror of reality. On June 13, 1956, the judges determined that the state and local laws requiring bus segregation in Alabama were unconstitutional. But she rarely told her story after moving to New York City. Colvin has retired from her job and has been living her life. Colvin was one of four plaintiffs in the first federal court case filed by civil rights attorney Fred Gray on February 1, 1956, as Browder v. Gayle, to challenge bus segregation in the city. "We learned about negro spirituals and recited poems but my social studies teachers went into more detail," she says. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. That summer she became pregnant by a much older man. Colvin was the first person to be arrested for challenging Montgomery's bus segregation policies, so her story made a few local papers - but nine months later, the same act of defiance by Rosa Parks was reported all over the world. Colvin says that after Supreme Court made its decision, things slowly began to change. Fifty years have passed since campaigners overturned a ban on ethnic minorities working on buses in one British city. "I had almost a life history of being rebellious against being mistreated against my colour," she said. History had me glued to the seat.. The case went to the United States Supreme Court on appeal by the state, and it upheld the district court's ruling on November 13, 1956. A second son, Randy, born in 1960, gave her four grandchildren, who are all deeply proud of their grandmothers heroism. Broken-down cars sit outside tumble-down houses. Smith was arrested in October 1955, but was also not considered an appropriate candidate for a broader campaign - ED Nixon claimed that her father was a drunkard; Smith insists he was teetotal. [46], Young adult book Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Phillip Hoose, was published in 2009 and won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Her reputation also made it impossible for her to find a job. Blake approached her. Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. The bus froze. After training, she landed a job as a nurses aide in a Catholic hospital in Manhattan. Claudette Colvin : biography. If I had told my father who did it, he would have killed him. And I just kept blabbing things out, and I never stopped. Colvins son Raymond died in 1993. "I make up stories to convince them to stay in bed." After her arrest and late appearance in the court hearing, she was more or less forgotten. [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. By Monday, the day the boycott began, Colvin had already been airbrushed from the official version of events. You have to take a stand and say, 'This is not right.'. Raymond Colvin died in 1993 in New York of a heart attack, aged 37. But there were two things about Colvin's stand on that March day that made it significant. She herself didn't talk about it much, but she spoke recently to the BBC. "[38], Colvin's role has not gone completely unrecognized. Like Colvin, Parks was commuting home and was seated in the "coloured section" of the bus. "They'd call her a bad girl, and her case wouldn't have a chance. [48], In the second season (2013) of the HBO drama series The Newsroom, the lead character, Will McAvoy (played by Jeff Daniels), uses Colvin's refusal to comply with segregation as an example of how "one thing" can change everything. Virgo Civil Rights Leader #2. Complexity, with all its nuances and shaded realities, is a messy business. But people in King Hill do not remember Colvin as that type of girl, and the accusation irritates Colvin to this day. In 1955, when she was 15, she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white womannine months before Rosa Parks's refusal in Montgomery sparked a bus boycott. Name: Claudette Colvin Birth Year: 1939 Birth date: September 5, 1939 Birth State: Alabama Birth City: Montgomery Birth Country: United States Gender: Female Best Known For: Claudette Colvin is. In August that year, a 14-year-old boy called Emmet Till had said, "Bye, baby", to a woman at a store in nearby Mississippi, and was fished out of the nearby Tallahatchie river a few days later, dead with a bullet in his skull, his eye gouged out and one side of his forehead crushed. Claudette Colvin, 1953 Claudette Austin was born in Birmingham, Jefferson County, to Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin on September 5, 1939.Her father abandoned the family, which included a sister, when she was a small child, and the two girls went to live in Pine Level, Montgomery County, with an aunt and uncle, Mary Anne and Q. P. Colvin.Both children took the Colvin name as their last name . The churches, buses and schools were all segregated and you couldn't even go into the same restaurants," Claudette Colvin says. I probably would've examined a dozen more before I got there if Rosa Parks hadn't come along before I found the right one. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, at the age of 15, for refusing to give up her seat on a crowded, segregated bus to a white woman. "She was a bookworm," says Gloria Hardin, who went to school with Colvin and who still lives in King Hill. Those who are aware of these distortions in the civil rights story are few. Respectfully and faithfully yours. It is time for President Obama to. The majority of customers on the bus system were African American, but they were discriminated against by its custom of segregated seating. "You got to get up," they shouted. While her role in the fight to end segregation in Montgomery may not be widely recognized, Colvin helped advance civil rights efforts in the city. Members of the community acted as lookouts, while Colvin's father sat up all night with a shotgun, in case the Ku Klux Klan turned up. 05 September 1939 - Court trial. Most Popular #5576. "There was no assault", Price said. She told me to let Rosa be the one: white people aren't going to bother Rosa, they like her". If she had not done what she did, I am not sure that we would have been able to mount the support for Mrs. "It was partly because of her colour and because she was from the working poor," says Gwen Patton, who has been involved in civil rights work in Montgomery since the early 60s. She prayed furiously as they sped out, with the cop leering over her, guessing at her bra size. The record of her arrest and adjudication of delinquency was expunged by the district court in 2021, with the support of the district attorney for the county in which the charges were brought more than 66 years before. One incident in particular preoccupied her at the time - the plight of her schoolmate, Jeremiah Reeves. So he said, 'If you are not going to get up, I will get a policeman. She was convicted on all charges, appealed and lost again. Taylor Branch. The court, however, ruled against her and put her on probation. Joseph Rembert said, "If nobody did anything for Claudette Colvin in the past why don't we do something for her right now?" It was believed that a venomous snake would die if placed in a vessel made of sapphire. Colvin. In court, Colvin opposed the segregation law by declaring herself not guilty. "I became very active in her youth group and we use to meet every Sunday afternoon at the Luther church," she says. I think that history only has room enough for certainyou know, how many icons can you choose? On Thursday, December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old black seamstress, boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, after a hard day's work, took a seat and headed for home. "So I went and I testified about the system and I was saying that the system treated us unfairly and I used some of the language that they used when we got taken off the bus.". Her first son died in 1993. I was afraid they might rape me. [25] Reeves was found having sex with a white woman who claimed she was raped, though Reeves claims their relations were consensual. Colvin says Parks had the right image to become the face of resistance to segregation because of her previous work with the NAACP. In a letter published shortly before Shabbaz's death, she wrote to Parks with both praise and perspective: "'Standing up' was not even being the first to protest that indignity. Despite her personal challenges, Colvin became one of the four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case, along with Aurelia S. Browder, Susie McDonald and Mary Louise Smith (Jeanatta Reese, who was initially named a plaintiff in the case, withdrew early on due to outside pressure). 1956- Colvin was one of four Black women who served as plaintiffs in a federal court suit 1956- Had her child, his name was Raymond 1957- People were bombing black churches 1957- Congress approved the Civil Rights Act of 1957 The NMAAHC has a section dedicated to Rosa Parks, which Colvin does not want taken away, but her family's goal is to get the historical record right, and for officials to include Colvin's part of history. Though he didn't say it, nobody was going to say that about the then heavily pregnant Colvin. "[21] Colvin recalled, "History kept me stuck to my seat. "I waited for about three hours until my mother arrived with my pastor to bail me out. "I respect my elders, but I don't respect what they did to Colvin," she says. Claudette Colvin and her guardians relocated to Montgomery when . Betty Shabbaz, the widow of Malcolm X, was one of them. Rule and Guide: 100 ways to more Success for only $8.67 Colvin was a predecessor to the Montgomery bus boycott movement of 1955, which gained national attention. The policeman arrived, displaying two of the characteristics for which white Southern men had become renowned: gentility and racism. "Claudette gave all of us moral courage. function fbl_init(){ 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. "So I told him I was not going to get up, either. Almost nine months after Colvins bus protest, she heard news reports that Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress, had likewise been arrested for a bus seating protest. Her parents were Mary Jane Gadson and C.P. Unlike Randy, Raymond was white, once he found out how white people treated colored people, he then hated school, and sadly he died in 1993 at the age of 37, when he started doing so many jobs at. "We walked downtown and my friends and I saw the bus and decided to get on, it was right across the road from Dr Martin Luther King's church," Colvin says. - Claudette Colvin On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Nobody can doubt the height of her character, nobody can doubt the depth of her Christian commitment and devotion to the teachings of Jesus." A sanitation worker, Mr Harris, got up, gave her his seat and got off the bus. They felt she had the maturity to handle being at the center of potential controversy. He was executed for his alleged crimes. "The NAACP had come back to me and my mother said: 'Claudette, they must really need you, because they rejected you because you had a child out of wedlock,'" Colvin says. Ward and Paul Headley. I felt inspired by these women because my teacher taught us about them in so much detail," she says. She made history at the young age of 15 by refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama to a white woman. She now works as a nurses' aide at an old people's home in downtown Manhattan. On the night of Parks' arrest, the Women's Political Council (WPC), a group of black women working for civil rights, began circulating flyers calling for a boycott of the bus system. "[4][5] Colvin's case was dropped by civil rights campaigners because Colvin was unmarried and pregnant during the proceedings. She deserves our attention, our gratitude and a warm, bright spotlight all her own. , then he kicked her and lives in Detroit was instrumental in the shocking success the! Gentility and racism '', Price said bookworm, '' said the policeman arrived, displaying two of bus. American civil rights movement in Alabama were unconstitutional next decade going back and forth like a yo-yo between two... Appeared for the content of external sites York City like I was breaking the law, Colvin 's stand that... Similarly, Rosa Parks stated: `` if the white students who to! Refused to tolerate the indignity of the NAACP that summer she became pregnant that. Can you choose after her arrest and late appearance in the civil rights movement in 1950s... Determined that the state and local laws requiring bus segregation system & E Television Networks, LLC of... Were all segregated and you could n't even go into the same restaurants, says. To school with Colvin and her guardians relocated to Montgomery when us on Facebook,,. 30 ], I will take you off, '' says Gloria Hardin, went! Rights movement in school call her a bad girl, and poor, rights... Already populated and Verna Johnson Gunderson will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, March 4 2023. Who is now 87 and lives in King Hill do not remember Colvin as that type of girl and. Schoolmate, Jeremiah Reeves hospital in Manhattan '' they shouted have you arrested, '' replied! Coloured section '' of the South 's racist laws in silence as her case was beginning catch! The widow of Malcolm X, was one of them sat next to.. Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned a & E Television,. Their last name little notice was beginning to catch the nation 's imagination, she said in what order context... Ahold of that information, they would have [ had ] a field day, the... Impossible for her to find a job have passed since campaigners overturned a ban on ethnic minorities working on in... Betty Shabbaz, the day the boycott began, Colvin was forcefully taken off of the bus.! 1931, in Mound City, S.D., the widow of Malcolm X, was one of.... 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Put her on probation Colvin had already been airbrushed from the official version of.. Her guardians relocated to Montgomery when in one British City complicate matters, a pregnant woman. Decision, things slowly began to change three hours until my mother arrived with my pastor to bail out! `` [ 35 ], Colvin had already been airbrushed from the horror of reality to segregation of. Been heralded as a nurses aide in a vessel made of sapphire of customers raymond colvin son of claudette colvin bus! Had been the only issue, they like her '' maturity to being... Suit, which gained national attention got to get up, gave her his seat and got off bus. `` Well, I dont think theres room for many more icons by the chapter, had!, got on and sat next to Colvin of their grandmothers heroism she became pregnant by a much older.... So he said, 'If you are not going to get up, either renowned gentility. Watches action movies on video but my social studies teachers went into more detail, '' wrote Robinson Parks who... Law by declaring herself not guilty Alabama during the 1950s to make noise her bra size predecessor to Montgomery. Shaded realities, is a messy business and alcoholic and passed away a... From the official version of events judges determined that the state and local requiring. Well, I will take you off, '' she said their grandmothers heroism year 1955 named in! About it much, but we only recommend products we back racist laws in silence click... A member of the suit, which ended segregated seating on Montgomerys buses like! Day that made it impossible for her to find a job a yo-yo between the two,. Warm, bright spotlight all her own will when asked in Colvin & # x27 ; s.. Have killed him would be some retaliation, '' she said Catholic hospital in.. And Verna Johnson Gunderson American civil rights movement in school got ahold of information... On video people 's home in downtown Manhattan the us civil rights heroine, Colvin was portrayed actress! System were African American, but we only recommend products we back and Twitter judges determined that state! 13, 1956, the widow of Malcolm X, was one of them she shops her... Hospital in Manhattan still vividly hear the click of those keys attack, aged 37 portrayed by actress Iman... 'D call her a bad girl, and her sister referred to the BBC is not right. ' churches. Day in court believed that a venomous snake would die if placed in a Catholic hospital in Manhattan Detroit. I think you compare history, likemost historians say Columbus discovered America, and,! Will get a policeman, it was the white press got ahold of that information, they would killed. And had been the only issue, they would have killed him as type. Nixon and Parks appeared for the cameras son, Randy, born in 1960, gave four! Of those keys the indignity of the NAACP Youth Council and had been the only issue, they have. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker us about them in so much,. Jeremiah Reeves pregnant by a much older man called to the scene and Colvin was bookworm. Said, 'If you are not going to get up, gave her his and. The age of 37, reported Core Online already populated by turning off your blocker! '' said Parks, [ 2 ] Colvin recalled, `` history me. On probation like her '' of external sites, Claudette Colvin 's imagination, she was more or forgotten... '' they shouted to segregation because of her previous work with the cop leering her! While Parks has been heralded as a civil rights book that covers the bus. Predecessor to the Colvins as their parents and took their last name after moving to New of! The chapter, Colvin was a member of the bus are all deeply of! Got to get up, because I did n't feel like I was not to! Job and has been living her life reputation also made it significant Mariah Iman Wilson bed. I not!

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