Claudette Colvin was a pioneer of the Civil Rights movement. She was the first to refuse to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Nine months before Rosa Parks.
Colvin was 15 years old when riding the bus home from school when the conductor ordered her to give up her seat to a white passenger, she replied with “It’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it’s my constitutional right.” and was arrested for violation of the segregation laws. At school she had been learning about Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and been discussing the injustices they were experiencing daily under the Jim Crow segregation laws.
Advised by Rosa Parks, Colvin challenged the segregation law by pleading not guilty in court, she lost the case and was put on probation. The incident ruined her reputation and she was unable to get a job.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) considered using her as a test case for challenging the segregation laws. Colvin was a member of the NAACP’s Youth Council but due to her age, the fact that she came from a poor family and was unwed and pregnant by a married man they thought she would attract negative attention which would harm their cause.
Following the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott following Rosa Park’s refusal to move black community leaders began discussing a way to bypass the Alabama court system.
In 1956 Colvin, Aurelia S. Browder, Susie McDonald and Mary Louise Smith testified as plaintiffs in a federal civil action lawsuit in Browder v. Gayle. It was ruled that the segregated buses were unconstitutional and in December that year the buses were desegregated.