11oz Black Mug “Claudette Colvin: The First to Stand by Sitting.”

Claudette Colvin was a pioneer of the civil rights movement, known for her bold stand against segregation—nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous protest.

Her Story & Defiance Against Segregation

• Born September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama.
• On March 2, 1955, at just 15 years old, she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama.
• Arrested for violating segregation laws, she was dragged off the bus by police and jailed.
• Her act of defiance was one of the first major challenges to bus segregation.

Why She Wasn’t Recognized Until Later

• Civil rights leaders did not publicize her case at the time because she was young, unmarried, and pregnant—they feared negative media attention.
• Rosa Parks, seen as a more “respectable” figure, was chosen as the face of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
• Despite this, Colvin was one of four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case, which led to the Supreme Court ruling that ended bus segregation.
• Her contributions were largely overlooked for decades, but she has since been recognized as a key figure in civil rights history2.

Colvin’s courage helped pave the way for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the fight for racial equality