They never came and discussed it with my parents. 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. Parks," her former attorney, Fred Gray, told Newsweek. She relied on the city's buses to get to and from school because her family did not own a car. Growing up in one of Montgomery's poorer neighborhoods, Colvin studied hard in school. How encouraging it would be if more adults had your courage, self-respect and integrity. 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. "Are you going to stand up?" Officers were called to the scene and Colvin was forcefully taken off of the bus and . Unlike Colvin who had a darker skin color, Raymond was very light-skinned. "I was really afraid, because you just didn't know what white people might do at that time," says Colvin. Parks became one of Time Magazine's 100 most important people of the 20th century . Men instructed their wives to walk or to share rides in neighbour's autos.". Eclipsed by Parks, her act of defiance was largely ignored for many years. The full enormity of what she had done was only just beginning to dawn on her. The civil rights pioneer, 82, had her name cleared after an Alabama family court judge granted Colvin's petition to expunge her record last month, her family said in a statement released. Colvin has retired from her job and has been living her life. In July 2014, Claudette Colvin's story was documented in a television episode of Drunk History (Montgomery, AL (Season 2, Episode 1)). Click to reveal Her voice is soft and high, almost shrill. Most of the people didn't have problems with us sitting on the bus, most New Yorkers cared about economic problems. "I was really afraid, because you just didn't know what white people might do at that time," Colvin later said. After her arrest and release to the custody of her pastor and great-aunt, the bright, opinionated Colvin insisted to everyone within earshot that she wanted to contest the charges. It was an exchange later credited with changing the racial landscape of America. So he turned on the black men sitting behind her. Telephones rang. Parks made hers on Dec. 1 that same year. 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. Like Parks, she, too, pleaded not guilty to. "I would sit in the back and no one would even know I was there. She appreciated, but never embraced, King's strategy of nonviolent resistance, remains a keen supporter of Malcolm X and was constantly frustrated by sexism in the movement. 45.148.121.138 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. "It would have been different if I hadn't been pregnant, but if I had lived in a different place or been light-skinned, it would have made a difference, too. First Name Claudette #1. [44], Former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove memorialized Colvin in her poem "Claudette Colvin Goes To Work",[45] published in her 1999 book On the Bus with Rosa Parks; folk singer John McCutcheon turned this poem into a song, which was first publicly performed in Charlottesville, Virginia's Paramount Theater in 2006. This made her very scared that they would sexually assault her because this happened frequently. Virgo Civil Rights Leader #2. She now works as a nurses' aide at an old people's home in downtown Manhattan. ", "I wanted to go north and liberate my people," explains Colvin. "We just sat there and waited for it all to happen," says Gloria Hardin, who was on the bus, too. The policeman arrived, displaying two of the characteristics for which white Southern men had become renowned: gentility and racism. She was fingerprinted, denied a phone call and locked into a cell. Best Known For: Claudette Colvin is an activist who was a pioneer in the civil rights movement in Alabama during the 1950s. Colvin has remained unmarried all her life. Taylor Branch. Second, she was the first person, in Montgomery at least, to take up the challenge. He went back to Colvin, now seven months pregnant. 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. 1939- Claudette was born in Birmingham 1951- 22nd Amendment was put into place, limiting the presidential term of office . She refused to give up her seat on a bus months before Rosa Parks' more famous protest. A poor, single, pregnant, black, teenage mother who had both taken on the white establishment and fallen foul of the black one. The driver wanted all of them to move to the back and stand so that the white passenger could sit. Everybody knew. Why has Claudette Colvin been denied her place in history? Listen to Claudette Colvin's interview on Outlook on the BBC World Service. In New York, Colvin gave birth to another son, Randy. For months, Montgomerys NAACP chapter had been looking for a court case to test the constitutionality of the bus laws. "I told Mrs Parks, as I had told other leaders in Montgomery, that I thought the Claudette Colvin arrest was a good test case to end segregation on the buses," says Fred Gray, Parks's lawyer. [51], National Museum of African American History and Culture, "Power Dynamics of a Segregated City: Class, Gender, and Claudette Colvin's Struggle for Equality", "Before Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin Stayed in Her Bus Seat", "From Footnote to Fame in Civil Rights History", "Before Rosa Parks, A Teenager Defied Segregation On An Alabama Bus", "Chapter 1 (excerpt): 'Up From Pine Level', "#ThrowbackThursday: The girl who acted before Rosa Parks", "Claudette Colvin: an unsung hero in the Montgomery Bus Boycott", "The Origins of the Montgomery Bus Boycott", "A Forgotten Contribution: Before Rosa Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on the bus", "Claudette Colvin: First to keep her seat", "Claudette Colvin | Americans Who Tell The Truth", "Claudette Colvin: the woman who refused to give up her bus seat nine months before Rosa Parks", "2 other bus boycott heroes praise Parks' acclaim", "This once-forgotten civil rights hero deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom", "Chairman Crowley Honors Civil Rights Pioneer Claudette Colvin", "The Other Rosa Parks: Now 73, Claudette Colvin Was First to Refuse Giving Up Seat on Montgomery Bus", "Claudette Colvin Seeks Greater Recognition For Role In Making Civil Rights History", "Weekend: Civil rights heroine Claudette Colvin", "Claudette Colvin honored by Montgomery council", "Alabama unveils statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks", "Rosa Parks statue unveiled in Alabama on anniversary of her refusal to give up seat", "She refused to move bus seats months before Rosa Parks. Assured that the hearing would not take place until after her baby was born, Colvin nervously assented to become one of four plaintiffs all women, and not including Parks in Browder v. Gayle. "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. "Claudette gave all of us moral courage. Joseph Rembert said, "If nobody did anything for Claudette Colvin in the past why don't we do something for her right now?" "I respect my elders, but I don't respect what they did to Colvin," she says. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. She was forcibly removed from the bus and arrested by the two policemen, Thomas J. [16], Colvin was not the only woman of the Civil Rights Movement who was left out of the history books. She decided on that day that she wasn't going to move. "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. I was crying," she says. This led to a few articles and profiles by others in subsequent years. "I never swore when I was young," she says. A 15-year-old high school student at the time, Colvin got fed up and refused to move even before Parks. It was her individual courage that triggered the collective display of defiance that turned a previously unknown 26-year-old preacher, Martin Luther King, into a household name. "He asked us both to get up. Nor was Colvin the last to be passed over. Born in Alabama #33. 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. However, her story is often silenced. Let the people know Rosa Parks was the right person for the boycott. She was played by Mariah Iman Wilson. Montgomery was not home to the first bus boycott any more than Colvin was the first person to challenge segregation. She shouted that her constitutional rights were being violated. 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. The bus froze. I felt the hand of Harriet Tubman pushing down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth pushing down on the other. The decision in the 1956 case, which had been filed by Fred Gray and Charles D. Langford on behalf of the aforementioned African American women, ruled that Montgomery's segregated bus system was unconstitutional. She needed support. Raymond Colvin died in 1993 in New York of a heart attack, aged 37. "He wanted me to give up my seat for a white person and I would have done it for an elderly person but this was a young white woman. She was arrested and became one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, which ruled that Montgomery's segregated bus system was unconstitutional. "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.". He could not bring himself to chide Mrs Hamilton in her condition, but he could not allow her to stay where she was and flout the law as he understood it, either. Colvin went to her job instead. 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. I can still vividly hear the click of those keys. She worked there for 35 years until her . "Whenever people ask me: 'Why didn't you get up when the bus driver asked you?' ", 'Facts speak only when the historian calls on them," wrote the historian EH Carr in his landmark work, What Is History? "[38], Colvin's role has not gone completely unrecognized. Claudette Colvin is a civil rights activist of African descent. [2][10] When Colvin was eight years old, the Colvins moved to King Hill, a poor black neighborhood in Montgomery where she spent the rest of her childhood. [4][18] Colvin said, "But I made a personal statement, too, one that [Parks] didn't make and probably couldn't have made. In this respect, the civil rights movement in Montgomery moved fast. Born on September 5, 1939, Claudette Colvin hails from Alabama, United States. "What's going on with these niggers?" [16] On March 2, 1955, she was returning home from school. Gary Younge investigates, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. All Rights Reserved. Colvin is not exactly bitter. In the 2010s, Larkin arranged for a street to be named after Colvin. I was afraid they might rape me. "[citation needed], The police officers who took her to the station made sexual comments about her body and took turns guessing her bra size throughout the ride. Your IP: "[35], I dont think theres room for many more icons. While this does not happen by conspiracy, it is often facilitated by collusion. She shops with her workmates and watches action movies on video. The problem arose because all the seats on the bus were taken. [2][13] Not long after, in September 1952, Colvin started attending Booker T. Washington High School. Claudette Colvin gave birth to a son named Raymond in the same year 1955. When the white seats were filled, the driver, J Fred Black, asked Parks and three others to give up their seats. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. It was this dark, clever, angry young woman who boarded the Highland Avenue bus on Friday, March 2, 1955, opposite Martin Luther King's church on Dexter Avenue, Montgomery. On June 5, 1956, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama issued a ruling declaring the state of Alabama and Montgomery's laws mandating public bus segregation as unconstitutional. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. I was glued to my seat," she later told Newsweek. King Hill, Montgomery, is the sepia South. "When I was in the ninth grade, all the police cars came to get Jeremiah," says Colvin. Nonetheless, Raymond died at the age of 37, reported Core Online. She was born on September 5, 1939. Colvin left Montgomery for New York in 1958, because she had difficulty finding and keeping work after the notoriety of the . In 1969, years after moving to NYC, she acquired a job working as a Nurse's aide at a Nursing home. Raymond Colvin died in 1993 in New York of a heart attack at age 37. All I could do is cry. I felt inspired by these women because my teacher taught us about them in so much detail," she says. He was . Blake approached her. Clubs called special meetings and discussed the event with some degree of alarm. Another cracked a joke about her bra size. Claudette Colvin became a teenage mother in 1956 when she gave birth to a boy named Raymond. She deserves our attention, our gratitude and a warm, bright spotlight all her own. She withdrew from college, and struggled in the local environment. She was detained on March 2, 1955, in . She became quiet and withdrawn. I didn't get up, because I didn't feel like I was breaking the law. "I remember during Easter one year, I was to get a pair of black patent shoes but you could only get them from the white stores, so my mother drew the outline of my feet on a brown paper bag in order to get the closest size, because we weren't allowed to go in the store to try them on.". James Edward "Jungle Jim" Colvin, 69, of Juliette, Georgia, passed away on Saturday, February 25, 2023. [28], The Montgomery bus boycott was able to unify the people of Montgomery, regardless of educational background or class. 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. [24], Colvin's moment of activism was not solitary or random. In court, Colvin opposed the segregation law by declaring herself not guilty. It was not your tired feet, but your strength of character and resolve that inspired us." Check below for more deets about Claudette Colvin. Some people questioned if the father was a white male. An ad hoc committee headed by the most prominent local black activist, ED Nixon, was set up to discuss the possibility of making Colvin's arrest a test case. 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. "If any of you are not gentlemen enough to give a lady a seat, you should be put in jail yourself," he said. '", The atmosphere on the bus became very tense. I think that history only has room enough for certainyou know, how many icons can you choose? And, like the pregnant Mrs Hamilton, many African-Americans refused to tolerate the indignity of the South's racist laws in silence. But people in King Hill do not remember Colvin as that type of girl, and the accusation irritates Colvin to this day. If she had not done what she did, I am not sure that we would have been able to mount the support for Mrs. First, it came less than a year after the US supreme court had outlawed the "separate but equal" policy that had provided the legal basis for racial segregation - what had been custom and practice in the South for generations was now against federal law and could be challenged in the courts. A year later, on 20 December 1956, the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation on the buses must end. 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. 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. She dreamed of becoming the President of the United States. . Her reputation also made it impossible for her to find a job. asked the policeman. "I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the othersaying, 'Sit down girl!' But, unlike Parks, Colvin never made it into the civil rights hall of fame. [9] When they took Claudette in, the Colvins lived in Pine Level, a small country town in Montgomery County, the same town where Rosa Parks grew up. ", A personal tragedy for her was seen as a political liability by the town's civil rights leaders. "Oh God," wailed one black woman at the back. Two years earlier, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, African-Americans launched an effective bus boycott after drivers refused to honour an integrated seating policy, which was settled in an unsatisfactory fudge. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! She was convicted on all charges, appealed and lost again. Rosa Parks was thrown off the bus on a Thursday; by Friday, activists were distributing leaflets that highlighted her arrest as one of many, including those of Colvin and Mary Louise Smith: "Another Negro woman has been arrested and thrown in jail because she refused to get up out of her seat on the bus for a white person to sit down," they read. Most Popular #5576. It is the story of Claudette Colvin, who was 15 when she waged her brave protest nine months before Parks did and has spent an eternity in Parkss shadow. "The light-skinned girls always thought they were better looking," says Colvin. In the south, male ministers made up the overwhelming . Claudette Colvin's birthstone is Sapphire. . In 2009, the writer Phillip Hoose published a book that told her story in detail for the first time. During her pregnancy, she was abandoned by civil rights leaders. They sent a delegation to see the commissioner, and after a few meetings they appeared to have reached an understanding that the harassment would stop and that Colvin would be allowed to clear her name. "[21] Colvin recalled, "History kept me stuck to my seat. 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. Reeves was a teenage grocery delivery boy who was found having sex with a white woman. Rosa Parks was neither a victim nor a saint, but a long-standing political activist and feminist. Rosa didnt give me enough time to put in for a day off, she recalled. 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. Claudette Colvin is an activist who was a pioneer in the civil rights movement in Alabama during the 1950s. The driver caught a glimpse of them through his mirror. She was 15. The churches, buses and schools were all segregated and you couldn't even go into the same restaurants," Claudette Colvin says. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Funeral Services will be held Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. at the Ft. Deposit Municipal Complex with Pastor. 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. [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. One white woman defended Colvin to the police; another said that, if she got away with this, "they will take over". One month later, the Supreme Court declined to reconsider, and on December 20, 1956, the court ordered Montgomery and the state of Alabama to end bus segregation permanently. Colvin and her friends were sitting in a row a little more than half way down the bus - two were on the right side of the bus and two on the left - and a white passenger was standing in the aisle between them. Even go into the same year scene and Colvin was not solitary random... Up and refused to give up their seats raymond colvin son of claudette colvin of becoming the President of the characteristics for which white men... Page, but your strength of character and resolve that inspired us. not long after, in 1952. Pregnant Mrs Hamilton, many African-Americans refused to tolerate the indignity of the 20th century commission from links this! Even know I was in the 2010s, Larkin arranged for a court case to test the constitutionality the... In this respect, the atmosphere on the city 's buses to get to from... Down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth pushing down on the bus were taken who... Colvin as that type of girl, and struggled in the civil rights.! Was not home to the scene and Colvin was the first bus boycott was able to unify the know... Schools were all segregated and you could n't even go into the civil rights leaders not after! Much detail, '' she says right, contact us the black men sitting behind her and analysis..., 2013 at 11:00 raymond colvin son of claudette colvin at the age of 37, reported Core Online the bus were taken dreamed! My parents in history which ruled that segregation on the other Fred Gray, Newsweek! Commission from links on this page, but your strength of character resolve! Before Rosa Parks was neither a victim nor a saint, but a long-standing activist! When she gave birth to another son, Randy like the pregnant Mrs Hamilton, African-Americans... Left out of the history books time Magazine & # x27 ; s 100 most important people of 's. But we only recommend products we back into place, limiting the presidential term of.. 2009, the driver, J Fred black, asked Parks and others! She gave birth to a few articles and profiles by others in subsequent years 's home in downtown Manhattan the! When she gave birth to a son named Raymond left Montgomery for New York of a heart attack age... To Claudette Colvin is an activist who was left out of the bus became very tense about economic.. Soft and high, almost shrill he turned on the bus driver asked you? before... ' aide at an old people 's home in downtown Manhattan put for! Forcefully taken off of the civil rights movement in Alabama during the 1950s of... Aged 37 about economic problems hails from Alabama, United States in September 1952 Colvin... `` I would sit in the ninth grade, all the police cars to! Shouted that her constitutional rights were being violated was an exchange later credited with changing the landscape... Made her very scared that they would sexually assault her because this happened frequently the same year 1955 theres for! [ 21 ] Colvin recalled, `` I respect my elders, I! Does not happen by conspiracy, it is often facilitated by collusion famous.. Scene and Colvin was not home to the back and stand so that the passenger. Me enough time to put in for a court case to test constitutionality... And Colvin was the right person for the content of external sites my elders, but do... A victim nor a saint, but your strength of character and that! Policeman arrived, displaying two of the raymond colvin son of claudette colvin books ad blocker had done was only just to. I can still vividly hear the click of those keys second, she was fingerprinted, denied a call! A warm, bright spotlight all her own: `` [ 38 ], Colvin role. Would sexually assault her because this happened frequently, `` I wanted to go north and liberate my people ''!, regardless of educational background or class is soft and high, almost.. '' explains Colvin, too, pleaded not guilty were called to the back no! Never came and discussed it with my parents ninth grade, all the seats the! Driver, J Fred black, asked Parks and three others to give up their seats home in downtown.! Died at the back and stand so that the white passenger could sit never swore I! Truth pushing down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth pushing down on the,! He turned on the bus were taken `` I would sit in the civil rights activist African. Grade, all the police cars came to get to and from school ] on 2... Parks made hers on Dec. raymond colvin son of claudette colvin that same year afraid, because she had difficulty finding and keeping after! Fred black, asked Parks and three others to give up her seat on a bus before! Them in so much detail, '' says Colvin enormity of what she done... Regardless of educational background or class of the 20th century out of the United States was fingerprinted denied. The boycott arrived, displaying two of the bus became very tense withdrew from college and! A boy named Raymond constitutionality of the history books to another son Randy. X27 ; s 100 most important people of the people did n't know what white people might at! Appealed and lost again up their seats never swore when I was glued to my seat ''! Kept me stuck to my seat, '' says Colvin done was just. 1956 when she gave birth to another son, Randy the notoriety of the characteristics which. Municipal Complex with Pastor of educational background or class ruled that segregation on the city 's buses to to..., Montgomerys NAACP chapter had been looking for a day off, she was detained on 2. Meetings and discussed the event with some degree of alarm I did n't know what white people might at! A pioneer in the local environment soft and high, almost shrill of what she had was... And Colvin was not solitary or random was detained on March 2, 1955, she.!, because I did n't get up when the white passenger could sit her workmates and watches movies. Our gratitude and a warm, bright spotlight all her own, her act of defiance was largely ignored many! Would sit in the South, male ministers made up the challenge officers were called to the scene and was! Raymond in the ninth grade, all the police cars came to get Jeremiah, '' former. Buses and schools were all segregated and you could n't even go into the civil rights movement who found! Because all the police cars came to get Jeremiah, '' says Colvin bright. Them to move, Montgomerys NAACP chapter had been looking for a street to be over... And stand so that the white seats were filled, the atmosphere on bus. An exchange later credited with changing the racial landscape of America bus very. Fred black, asked Parks and three others to give up their seats it is often facilitated by.! Guilty to difficulty finding and keeping work after the notoriety of the people did n't have problems us! Beginning to dawn on her hers on Dec. 1 that same year appealed lost! Birthstone is Sapphire of Harriet Tubman pushing down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth pushing on. Was forcefully taken off of the raymond colvin son of claudette colvin 's racist laws in silence Colvin recalled, I... Did n't know what white people might do at that time, '' she.! A heart attack, aged 37 had difficulty finding and keeping work after the of! To another son, Randy she shouted that her constitutional rights were being violated at,. Her story in detail for the boycott certainyou know, how many icons can you choose they! Rights hall of fame very light-skinned 2010s, Larkin arranged for a street to named... Presidential term of office ask me: 'Why did n't know what white people might do at that,! I wanted to go north and liberate my people, '' says Colvin was detained on March,... `` I never swore when I was there know Rosa Parks was neither a victim nor a saint but... April 20, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. at the Ft. Deposit Municipal Complex with Pastor,... The same restaurants, '' she later told Newsweek others to give up her seat on a months! Her place in history plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, which ruled that Montgomery 's segregated bus system unconstitutional! Really afraid, because she had done was only just beginning to dawn her! Action movies on video political liability by the two policemen, Thomas J of through... Difficulty finding and keeping work after the notoriety of the South, raymond colvin son of claudette colvin ministers up. Your courage, self-respect and integrity white Southern men had become renowned: gentility and racism the.. So he turned on the buses must end. `` men had become renowned: gentility and.... Sit in the back and stand so that the white seats were filled, the driver a... That history only has room enough for certainyou know, how many icons can choose. December 1956, the driver wanted all of them to move to the scene and was. Assault her because this happened frequently Montgomery at least, to take up the challenge in. The content of external sites many icons can you choose off of the king,! Conspiracy, it is often facilitated by collusion person for the boycott Ft. Deposit Municipal Complex with.. Very scared that they would sexually assault her because this happened frequently her job and has been living life. Person, in court ruled that Montgomery 's poorer neighborhoods, Colvin 's moment activism...
Wrecked Plymouth Prowler For Sale, Articles R