Cotton Canvas Tote Bag (Claudette Colvin)

Claudette Colvin is a significant figure in the history of the American civil rights movement. She was born on September 5, 1939, in Birmingham, Alabama1.

At the age of 15, on March 2, 1955, she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus2. This act of defiance occurred nine months before the similar, more widely known incident involving Rosa Parks2.

Colvin’s case was one of the first federal court cases filed by civil rights attorney Fred Gray to challenge bus segregation in the city3. In a United States district court, Colvin testified before the three-judge panel that heard the case2. On June 13, 1956, the judges determined that the state and local laws requiring bus segregation in Alabama were unconstitutional2. The case went to the United States Supreme Court on appeal by the state, which upheld the district court’s ruling on November 13, 19562.

Despite her significant contributions, Colvin’s pioneering effort was not widely publicized for many years2. Her case was dropped by civil rights campaigners because she was unmarried and pregnant during the proceedings2. It is now widely accepted that she was not accredited by civil rights campaigners due to her circumstances2.

Claudette Colvin’s brave actions and her role in the legal case that ended segregation on public transportation are an important part of American civil rights history