Everyone is familiar with Rosa Parks. However, nine months before Parks became famous for refusing to obey a bus driver’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger, 15 year-old Claudette Colvin (1939-), was arrested for the same offense in Montgomery, AL.
At that time, Colvin was a student at Booker T. Washington High School who relied on the city buses to get to school. On March 2, 1955, she boarded a bus and was sitting about two seats from the emergency exit when four white passengers boarded. The bus driver ordered her and three other black passengers to get up, but Colvin refused and was removed from the bus by two police officers who took her to jail.
A classmate at the time, Annie Larks Prince, recalled that the bus was getting crowded and the bus driver asked Colvin to get up out of her seat, but she didn’t. “She didn’t say anything. She just continued looking out the window. She decided on that day that she wasn’t going to move.”
Recounting that day, Colvin said she’d moved for white people before, but she was thinking of the slavery fighters she had read about recently during Negro History Week in February this time. “The spirit of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth was in me,” she said. “I didn’t get up.”
Colvin was handcuffed, arrested and forcibly removed from the bus while she screamed that her constitutional rights were being violated; at the time, Colvin was active in the NAACP’s Youth Council, under the advisement of Parks.
Colvin feels her disobedience was the spark for much of the movement’s fire: “She (Parks) made something out of what I started.”
Civil rights attorney Fred Gray always discusses Colvin when he speaks about the boycott and Parks; according to him, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and its place in history would have been vastly different without Colvin’s actions.
Shortly after her arrest, Colvin became pregnant and local black leaders felt this would scandalize the deeply religious black community. She was sentenced to probation for the ordinance violation and neighbors, students and others in the community began to think of Colvin as a troublemaker.
“They distanced themselves from me,” Colvin said of fellow students. “They didn’t want to be close to me because of my beliefs.” Colvin subsequently dropped out of school and she said, that, along with her pregnancy, was the reason they (black leaders) did not use her as the test case challenging segregation on city buses.
They wanted Parks to be the icon, but Colvin is glad she acted.
“She did what she had to do and made something of it,” she said.
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Concrete Loop will feature ‘Black History Spotlights’ each week. These features illustrate the achievements of black people through the years and submissions are welcome.
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wow!! l erarned something new
this is why I love your posts!!!! thank you for such a profound posting, I’ve never heard of this woman,…I’ve learned something this morning. I’m all about assimilation
Wow.Never heard of her until now.Everybody always mentions Rosa Parks.But I live in Montgomery and though some things change, I can still feel and see the racism that will never go away.
I knew about her. My mother told me about Ms Colvin. The reason why the Civil Rights leaders didn’t run with her is because she was dark skin. Yes, that it ignorant! But hey, they chose to fight for a precious light skinned seamstress. That’s the mentality our leaders had back then.
Thanks for that moment in history. I always knew that Rosa’s actions were planned, but it’s nice to know exactly how they came about it.
wow… didn’t know that. her name should be right there with rosa!
I remember hearing about this lady.
when in the 80,s lol
Yeah, I already knew there were others before Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks just happened to be working as a secretary for one of the Civil Rights groups at the time, I want to say SCLC or the NAACP. She got a lot of attention because of it and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Wow! I’ve never heard of her. It’s a shame she didn’t get the same regonition as Rosa Parks. And you are right Ms Ke – she should. You go Concrete – keep post like this coming.
wow i never learned about her in school.
thanks for the lesson!
Thank you for posting this! I never heard of this woman before, which is a shame.
Hey J. Dakar what is she doing now? Is she a motivational speaker?
i think i heard before that there was someone before rosa parks.thanks for posting this!
Yeah, this story gets overlooked a lot…glad you posted…
For those new to the story of Ms. colvin, please do some additional research…
it truly is a sad story…the black leadership of the day essentially blacklisted this young girl for being 15, pregnant, and as one civil rights leader put it, “wild.”
rosa parks, much more upstanding in the community, was a much better choice (in the opinion of the day) for in terms of calling attention to the racist practice of segregation….
#12: Colvin left Alabama for New York in 1958, and said she wanted to go north and liberate her people. She worked the night shift at a Catholic nursing home before retiring after 35 years of working as a nurse’s assistant.
Colvin, who had dreams of becoming a lawyer, said she’s disappointed about her life and not fulfilling her dream, but she added, “Then again, no one knows what’s in store for them. At least my grandkids don’t have to suffer what I had to suffer.”
“Let the people know Rosa Parks was the right person for the boycott. But also let them know that the attorneys took four other women to the Supreme Court to challenge the law that led to the end of segregation.”
Peace and blessings,
J. Dakar
Get it ma
hairsmystory.com
itz sad to see that im jst finding out abt thiz after she’s ben dead for 3 years.
i mean…why culdn’t we learn abt her in skool also..?!?!?!?!
i neva heard of her until now..!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
If you really think about it,having a baby at 15 back in those days was a BIG EFFING NO NO.
Finally, someone telling the TRUTH about the whole Rosa Park’s story. It wasn’t until I took AA studies in college that I had ever heard of Claudette Colvin as the first to refuse her seat to a white person. “History” is never as it seems…
WOW THAT’S INTERESTING I’M FROM MONTGOMERY AND ITS AMAZING HOW MANY PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THIS AND IT WAS NOT JUST HER EITHER IF U GO A LITTLE FURTHER IT WAS 2 MORE YOUNGER WOMEN ALSO BEFORE CLOVIN. People need to know that Rosa Parks was special at the time because she had ties to Martin and that’s the only reason they took her arrest to be ground breaking
Great story Concrete. I want to personally thank you for making Black History more then just something we think about in February. It should be taught all year long.
Keep it up and keep us moving….the one has spoken…
Wow, thanks for posting this. I never heard of her before, but I’m glad I know now.
Thanks J.
Okay this may sound ignorant. But the “test case” statement. Could that possibly mean that Rosa refusing to give up her seat was premeditated?
I never knew anything other than the Rosa Parks story. This is something new I learned today-thanks!
It’s a bit unfair that she was ( I guess) being put in the background because of her preganancy.
Yeah these post and stories,our history should be told and taught 365,instead of once a year.
I heard of her. Never knew her name but my ol god dad told me about her. This was one of his reasons for criticizing the civil rights movements.
Woooow!! It’s a Damn shame that I have never heard of Ms Colvin. She should be honored @ the next NAACP awards or hell even the BET awards. And to think Rosa clowned OutKast for that song when her actions were pre-meditated. Huumph!!
24.
That’s exactly what it means. The whole thinf was planned, which isn’t a bad thing. It needed to be done no matter what. PLanned or unplanned.
I’m glad you all decided to post about this b/c I had nooo idea who this women was…and I’m definetly feeling yall movement…promoting Black History should be done all year every year instead of just for one month…and it’s crazy that she’s not known b/c she had a baby at 15…i know having a baby at such a young age is not acceptable by society (then and now) but they should have at least mentioned her in the more modern and updated textbooks… you dont just try and erase history b/c of someone’s mistake…what kind of example is that setting???
this is great to know. a lot of brave black men and women sat on the bus where they wanted. people i knew criticized rosa parks when she passed saying she’s only famous for being “respectable” and light skinned while thousdands of others did the same. i see her and the political human rights orgs that supported her as representing all black people who wanted to sit fairly on the bus. who cares what shade of black she was if i can sit front row on the metro? some black people don’t understand the politics of pre-hip-hop america. these kind of people blow me and are disrespectful imo. i went to see mrs. parks body lie in state at the Capitol alone cuz my frinds suck.
Thanks, CL.
I think I heard of her, but they never really talked about her in school.
It’s a shame, because she helped contribute to the Boycotts and even
inspired the SCLC!! I just wish that she would get some recognition…
I have been looking for motivation the last few days, and this definitely
has to be it!!!
Have a blessed day!!
My Mother always told me about “the first girl ” who didn’t get up. She didn’t remember her name, but she knew that Rosa was the second person not to get up. My mother was quite active in the civil rights movement so this story makes me feel good. My mom did her best to show me and my siblings what it was like outside the books, what Our People really went through. Thank you Claudette Colvin.
WOW ITS AMAZING HOW MANY BLACK PEOPLE DONT KNOW TOO MUCH OF THEIR OWN HISTORY..WE ONLY LEARN WHAT THEY (WHITE MEN) TEACHES US IN THE TEXT BOOKS..I LEARNED ABOUT MS. COLVIN ON MY OWN WHEN I WAS DOING A BLACK HISTORY PROJECT FOR SCHOOL..IM GLAD CONCRETELOOP POST ARTICLES LIKE THIS BECAUSE IT MAKES IS WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ISTORY THAT WE DONT KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT..
HEY IF YALL KNOW ABOUT *DICK GREGORY8 CHECK HIM OUT..HE HAS SOME FASCINATING OPINIONS AND FACTS ABOUT OUR BLACK COMMUNITY TODAY AND OUR HISTORY..
HEY WHO KNOWS ABOUT OUR REAL FIRST PRESIDENT???
AND NAW ITS NOT GEORGE WASHINGTON..THE GUYS NAME WAS JOHN HANSON..IF YOU LOOK INTO HIS HISTORY HE IS A BLACK MAN BUT WHITE PPL WOULD NEVER PRINT THAT IN THE TEXT BOOKS..
MUCH LUV BLESS UP
@24
Yes it was premeditated and orchestrated.
THANKS CONCRETE LOOP! I LEARNED SOMETHING NEW TODAY!….THE MORE YOU KNOW! *STAR SHOOTING IN THE BACKGROUND*..LOL
Wow i have a new heroe!
#17, Claudette Colvin is still alive; Rosa Parks died 3 years ago.
#24, That whole coming home from scrubbing floors story was a cover. No coincidence that Rosa Parks just so happened to be the secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and well tied to Dr. King. Kind of hard to believe that Mrs. Parks was the first one out of the whole entire black population to say no.
#27, Rosa Parks had nothing to do with that Outkast mess. According to her grand-daughter, it was the people around her that made a big deal of it. Thanks to the Dementia had already claimed a great portion of her mind.
#30, You sound smart, but your friends are dumb. If I had the means to go I would have gone. It’s sad how no one takes the effort to remember their history. And I’m not talking about just black people. This country as a whole has problems. Hell, most of the US citizens born here wouldn’t even be able to pass the citizenship test. The old saying, “forget your future and you’re doomed to repeat it,” has a strong ring of truth to it.
And why the hell are there only 38 posts on this topic, while the post after it have 62 and 42? (Technically less than that since some of us posted twice)
There was a lot of politics associated with the movement, you had to have someone at the forefront that did not appear to intimidate. Dr. King was selected as the voice because of his oratory gift.
BIG UPS!!!! i was JUST talking about Ms. Colvin yesterday after a conversation came up about the movie “Barbershop.” I remembered hearing how Ms. Colvin was “tossed aside” becuase she was pregnant and they also didn’t want to use a dark skinned woman as the face of the Civil Rights struggle. How sad. I am glad she is still speaking up about the real story.
Claudette Colvin look like she could be related to Randy Jackson of American Idol!
DUDE!!!
I’ve heard of Colvin before and her being 15 and pregnant certainly had a bearing on her getting recognition for standing her ground. I just wasn’t aware that there were women before here who refused to give up their seat.
i think i heard of her before but forgot about her b/c they NEVER try to teach ppl about her actions. i think that now she should get recognition for her works b/c it was wrong in the first place to put her in the background
Its real important and good to see Claudette recognized. And she as well as Rosa should be lauded for the things they did.
But in no way should this down play what Rosa Parks helped make happen, premeditated or nor..she didnt have to get on the bus and sit downa and refuse to get up, she didnt have to get locked up..its important that she did it for a reason so Claudette or anyone after her would not have to go through what they went through. Its kinda lame they didnt want to use Claudette because of the pregnancy but in some ways its understood. I dont think Rosa did it for the fame, I think she did it to play her part for all of us black people.
Also I’m sure its alot of other people who will go nameless forever who endured the same brutality and worse
lol signing off
Dat Ni99a
Day-Day
it trips me out how we don’t find any of this information in our history books. why are we not informed of this type of information? it doesn’t make any sense.
i knew this but i thought she was pregnant at the time and thats why they decided to use Rosa Parks thats just something I can remember them telling us at school
@47
They don’t tell you certain things in school because the people that get memorialized are the people with the connections. This sister just happened to be taking a stand. She wasn’t looking for the glory of recognition, so she didn’t pursue connections to make sure that she was remembered after taking a contrived stand.
we were talking about this 2 weeks ago in my english class. thank j.dakar! it’s good to get some more information about her
Alot of what our people have been told in history is either a complete lie or a partial fabrication. Black people have to realize that nothing is omitted from history by happenstance. It’s for the sake of instilling ignorance and confusion in our people and it has worked (Isaiah 5:13, Hos 4:6). The whitewashing of history has had an outstanding effect on our thought patterns (Job 9:24, Rev 13:4-18).
thanks for posting this very unknown story!!! i first learned of this in 2000 while in an African American history course. it blew my mind how many people actually took the same stance but are virtually unheard of because of the social status they had. I know why the NAACP chose the people it did to be prominent in the movement: they needed Blacks from impeccable backgrounds who White people couldn’t easily scrutinize and dig up dirt on. still it is ultimately up to us to become educated about our own history and to not allow our history and who is deemed important to be decided by the Media or our sorry excuses for history textbooks
The only reason I knew about this was because of Tom Joyner’s Black History Facts. I think it’s really funny how Rosa Parks has never mentioned this lady. Rosa is really placed on a pedestal for her “starting” the bus strike. Somebody needs to give this woman more credit!
Very impressed Concreteloop! Never heard of Ms. Colvin, before now. Keep up the good work.
I think that Ms.Colvin should be honored for her actions like they did with Rosa Parks. They both made history and we need to learn more about our people everyday. Keep up with the good work Concreteloop.
I knew a woman before Parks had refused to give up their seat but I didn’t know their name…………….very imformative……………….
cosign
IM SO GLADEEEEEEEEEE ITS OUT THE YEAR AND NOT JUST THE SHORTEST MONTH IN THE ENTIRE YEAR LOL THANKS CONCRETELOOP YOUR MY HERO
Great post. I wish this lady would’ve gotten her due while she was still alive.
Goes to show you, even the Civil Rights Movement had a marketing plan.
Thank you Concrete Loop! Can we have some Black History everyday? That would be great!
Wow I never knew about this!
Nice post. I did my black history project on her many years ago while I was in the sixth grade. I chose her because I didn’t understand why she wasn’t as well know as Rosa Parks. This answered some questions I’ve had for years.