Pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement Claudette Colvin

Here is today’s Lesser Known Black History Figure

Pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement Claudette Colvin

* Pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement.

* Nine months before Rosa Parks, on March 2, 1955, at only 15-years-old, she refused to move from her seat on a Montgomery bound segregated bus. She had paid the fare and felt it was her constitutional right to board the bus.

*      She was dragged off the bus, handcuffed and taken to an adult jail.

* Colvin is not a much celebrated figure in the African American Civil Rights Movement. Many believe this is because she was perceived to being darker toned and pregnant.

*      Colvin had a child born out of wedlock at the age of 16.

*      On February 1, 1956, Claudette Colvin served as the star witness alongside other four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case.

*      This landmark federal case, chaired by a three-judge panel, ended the history of segregation on public transportation in Alabama and other states in America.