Claudette
Colvin is
a pioneer of the Civil Rights
Movement.
On
March 2, 1955, when she was just 15 years old she was arrested for refusing to
give up her seat on a bus in segregated Montgomery,
Alabama, nine months prior to Rosa Parks' famous arrest for the same
offense.
Colvin
was riding home on a city bus after school when a bus driver told her to give
up her seat to a white passenger. She refused, saying, "It's my
constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it's my
constitutional right." Colvin felt compelled to stand her ground. "I
felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman
was pushing down on the other—saying, 'Sit down girl!' I was glued to my seat."
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