Claudette Colvin, unsung civil rights pioneer, dies at 86
The Washington Post • • nation
Key Points:
- Nine months prior to Rosa Parks' famous bus protest, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus.
- On March 2, 1955, Colvin, a Black high school student, resisted the bus driver's order to relinquish her seat to a White woman.
- Inspired by her studies of Black history and abolitionists, Colvin's act of defiance became a significant moment in the civil rights movement.
- Following the incident, Colvin became a key witness in a landmark civil rights case challenging bus segregation.
