Claudette Colvin 15 Facts About the 15-Year-Old Who Refused to Give Up Her Seat

Claudette Colvin 15 Facts About the 15-Year-Old Who Refused to Give Up Her Seat

Segregation in the USA cast a long and oppressive shadow over the lives of countless individuals. It divided communities along racial lines and stifled the cries for justice and equality.

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Yet, in the face of adversity, emerged a generation of courageous individuals who refused to bow down to prejudice and injustice. Among these unsung heroes was Claudette Colvin, a name that resonates with fortitude and defiance.

In a time when racial segregation was the norm, Claudette, a mere fifteen-year-old, dared to challenge the status quo. However, history, in its cruel irony, seemed to overlook this young heroine, as the focus turned to others.

Nonetheless, Colvin’s actions are credited as the spark for the civil rights movement. This article will look into the life of the civil rights legend, Claudette Colvin.

1. Colvin Was Born in 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama

Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama to Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin. At the time of birth, she was born Claudette Austin but would change her name later. Why?

Claudette’s father abandoned his family while she was a child and her mother was unable to take on the financial burden. Therefore, Claudette and her younger sister were taken in by their great aunt and uncle, Mary Anne and Q. P. Colvin.

The Colvin’s still lived in Montgomery in a small country town called Pine Level and later King Hill. Colvin loved the Colvin’s and referred to them as her parents changing her name to Colvin.

2. Her Younger Sister Died of Polio

The Visibility Project, Claudette Colvin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In a sudden change of fortune after finding a new family, Claudette Colvin sadly lost her younger sister Delphine to Polio in 1952. Delphine’s tragic passing came two days before Claudette’s 13th birthday.

At the time, Polio, also called poliomyelitis, was a pandemic that was very prevalent in the USA. It was a highly contagious viral illness that mostly afflicted kids and young people and frequently resulted in paralysis and, in extreme circumstances, death.

The first effective polio vaccinations, created by Dr. Jonas Salk and Hilary Koprowski in the 1950s, were crucial in combating the illness.

3. She Grew Up in A Segregated Society

Esther Bubley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Claudette Colvin was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, during a time of racial segregation. This was an era where deeply entrenched systems of racial discrimination and racial bias were legal procedures in the USA.

Segregation was a policy that separated African Americans and White Americans in almost all aspects of daily life. Black and white people were not permitted to use the same public facilities, water fountains, or sit next to white people on public transportation in this cruel society.

Schools, for example, were segregated, with separate facilities for African American children, often underfunded and inferior.

4. Rosa Parks Was Colvin’s Mentor at Booker T. Washington High School

Shortly after her 13th birthday, Claudette joined Booker T. Washington High School which was in Montgomery, Alabama. It is reported that she had trouble connecting with her classmates understandably due to her recent grief.

At Booker High, Claudette would meet Rosa Parks who became her mentor as the two became close. The two met after she joined the NAACP Youth Council which Rosa Parks was a member of as an activist.

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5. Claudette Colvin Refused To Give Up Her Bus Seat At Age 15

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In 1955, while a student at Booker T. Washington High School, Colvin used the city buses to make her way to and from school. On March 2nd, 1955, on her way home from school, Claudette would get on a bus that would change the trajectory of her life and give new life to the civil rights movement in America.

She sat on the bus in the colored section about two seats from the emergency exit. A few minutes later a white woman boarded the bus and with all the “white seats” filled, the bus driver, Robert W. Cleere, commanded Colvin and three other black women in the same row to move to the back.

While the three moved, Colvin declined and a pregnant black woman, Ruth Hamilton sat next to Colvin. According to Colvin, the driver commanded Colvin and Hamilton to vacate their seats but Hamilton declined claiming she had, “paid her fare and that she didn’t feel like standing.”

Colvin then proceeded to claim that she would not be getting up either.

6. Colvin Was Arrested for Refusing to Get Up

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After sternly stating that she would not be giving up her seat, the bus driver called the police. On arrival, the police arrived and asked a black man sited behind them to give up his seat for the pregnant Mrs. Hamilton.

However, Claudette was expected to get up and stand in the crowded back of the bus which she still insisted she was not going to do. What followed is she was forcibly removed from the bus while audibly yelling, “It’s my constitutional right!”

She was consequently handcuffed and arrested by two police officers, Thomas J. Ward and Paul Headley.

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7. She Was Charged with 3 Criminal Charges Following the Incident

After the arrest, Colvin’s case went to trial in May 1955 where she was charged with three (3) criminal offenses in Juvenile court. These were disturbing the peace, violating segregation laws, and assaulting a police officer.

Colvin’s lawyer through the proceedings was Fred Gray, a civil rights attorney from Alabama. In juvenile court, Colvin was convicted on all three charges.

However, Gray would appeal the ruling in the Montgomery Circuit Court and two charges were dropped. These were the charges for disturbing the peace and breaking the segregation law. The judge, however, upheld the charge of assaulting a police officer.

8. Colvin’s Case Could Not Be Used to Challenge Segregation Law

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In a bizarre turn of events, whether accidental or by design through the legal systems, Colvin’s much-publicized case was not used to directly challenge the segregation laws in Alabama. Why you ask?

When Colvin’s case was appealed and the charges dropped, it meant she was only charged with assaulting an officer. Therefore, since the charge of breaking the segregation law had been dropped, it meant that her case could not be used to directly challenge the segregation law.

9. Claudette Colvin inspired Rosa Park’s Boycott

See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Claudette Colvin’s courageous act of refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, at just 15 years old, inspired many and acted as a spark for the Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Rosa Parks.

By then, Rosa Parks was a seasoned civil rights activist and secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. Rosa and Colvin were already familiar with one another as Colvin was a member of the NAACP Youth Council in her school.

Despite being nine months apart, both events were interconnected in their impact on the Civil Rights Movement. Colvin’s defiance served as a powerful precursor to Parks’ similar refusal, catapulting them into the forefront of the struggle against racial segregation and injustice in the United States.

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10. Colvin Was One Of Five Plaintiffs in The Browder v. Gayle Case

Following the bus boycotts in Alabama, a federal lawsuit was filed by the black community against the segregation laws in Alabama. The case, known as the Browder v. Gayle case, was heard in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama by a three-judge panel.

There were 5 main plaintiffs, Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, Mary Louise Smith, and Jeanetta Reese. However, Jeanetta Reese was forced to withdraw following some targeted intimidation by segregationists.

The case was officially filed on February 1st, 1956 by Fred Gray and the ruling was made on June 5th, 1956. The Alabama District Court ruled that “the enforced segregation of black and white passengers on motor buses operating in the City of Montgomery violates the Constitution and laws of the United States”.

The state and city proceeded to appeal this decision and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision leading to the desegregation of Alabama and Montgomery buses.

11. She Was Discriminated Against for Her Role in Desegregation

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Following her role with the NAACP and as a known involvement as a plaintiff in the Browder v. Gayle case, Colvin had a very hard time in Alabama. She was branded a troublemaker by many in her community and was forced to withdraw from college.

She also found it extremely difficult to find and keep a job in Montgomery due to discrimination. Consequently, Colvin, then a single mother, had to leave Montgomery in 1958 with New York being her destination of choice.

12. She Is a Mother of Two

In March 1956, at age 16, Claudette Colvin gave birth to her firstborn at age 16. She named him Raymond and following her struggles in Montgomery, they both moved to New York.

In New York, they stayed with Colvin’s older sister, Velma Colvin (biological daughter of Mary Anne and Q. P. Colvin). In 1960, she got her second son, Randy.

Sadly, Claudette’s first son, Raymond, passed away in 1993 at age 37 while in New York due to a heart attack. Her other son is a father of 4 and works as an accountant.

13. She Worked as a Nurse Aide in Manhattan for 35 Years

San Francisco Public Library, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

After moving to New York in 1958, Colvin had to stay tight-lipped about her activism in Alabama. In New York, her fortunes changed and she could get jobs.

In 1969, she started as a nurse aide in a nursing home in Manhattan. She worked there for 35 years until her retirement in 2004.

14. Claudette Didn’t Get Recognition Because Of Her Age and Social Class

Colvin was the first to boycott the bus segregation system but history books remember Rosa Parks as the leader of the movement. Well, this was no coincidence, as Colvin was intentionally kept behind for Rosa Parks who was deemed as a worthy representative of the movement.

According to many reports, Rosa was the best fit because she was an adult, had a job, and had a middle-class appearance. Claudette claimed that after her arrest, her mother asked her to leave, be quiet and leave the rest to Rosa.

She said, “My mother told me to be quiet about what I did. She told me to let Rosa be the one: white people aren’t going to bother Rosa, they like her.”

15. Colvin Openly Expressed Her Disappointment Over the Lack Of Recognition

Although she has claimed she is not angry, Claudette Colvin has time and time again expressed her disappointment over how she was not recognized for her role in the civil rights movement.

According to her, getting recognized later on feels like she was “getting [her] Christmas in January rather than the 25th.” Her family and Colvin herself, have intensely fought for her recognition.

In 2016, they challenged both the Smithsonian Institution and its National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to be given more prominent mention for her role in the civil rights movement.

“All we want is the truth, why does history fail to get it right?” Said Colvin’s sister. “Had it not been for Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith, there may not have been a Thurgood Marshall, a Martin Luther King, or a Rosa Parks,” she added.

It can be argued that Colvin is responsible for starting the civil rights movement. This is because her actions came way before Rosa Parks’ which is much more publicized. While recognition may have been delayed, Claudette Colvin’s legacy is etched in history, a testament to the power of one individual’s unwavering resolve in the face of adversity.

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