Claudette Colvin

About Claudette Colvin

Civil rights activist who was the first person to fight bus segregation nine months before Rosa Parks was thrown from the Montgomery Bus Boycott during the 1960s civil rights movement.

Claudette Colvin is a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement and retired nurse aide. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. This occurred nine months before the more widely known incident in which Rosa Parks, secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, helped spark the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. Colvin was one of five plaintiffs in the first federal court case filed by civil rights attorney Fred Gray on February 1, 1969, as Browder v. Gayle, to challenge bus segregation in the city. In a United States district court, she testified before the three-judge panel that heard the case. On June 13, 1956, the judges determined that the state and local laws requiring bus segregation in Alabama were unconstitutional.

Years active	1969–2004 (as nurse aide)
Born	September 5, 1939, Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Children	2
Occupation	Civil rights activist, nurse aide

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Trivia

She testified in the case Browder v. Gayle, which was appealed all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in turn declared bus segregation unconstitutional in 1956.

Claudette Colvin before fame

She became pregnant as a teenager while attending Alabama's segregated Booker T. Washington High School.

Achievement of Claudette Colvin

She testified in Browder v. Gayle, a lawsuit that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which found bus segregation illegal in 1956.

Salary 2020

Not known

Net Worth 2020

Undisclosed

Claudette Colvin family life

Raymond and Randy were her boys' names.

Associations of Claudette Colvin

She fought segregation on the bus nine months before Rosa Parks, but NAACP leaders were hesitant to utilize her as a spokesperson for the movement since she was pregnant as an unmarried teenager.

Claudette Colvin Height, Weight & Physique Measurements

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