Unsung, Unappreciated, Underage, yet not Unimportant

Courtney Westlund

Senior Division

Historical Paper

Word Count: 2,332

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American history and the books written about it are rife with half-truths,

embellishments, and outright myths. That is especially true when it comes to the Civil 1

Rights Movement. Almost all books have one thing in common when it comes to that:

Rosa Parks. And why not? She was after all the first woman to stand up on a bus for

the rights of the African Americans… or was she? Unfortunately, a 15-year-old girl who

did almost the exact same thing a whole nine months before, gets looked over just

because she was not in a favorable social class. Claudette Colvin, a silent and

courageous teen, played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement as we know it

today.

“I Paid My Dime”

It all started March 2, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama. Back in those times,

blacks may have been freed from slavery, but they still didn’t have many rights. If an

African American got on a bus, they were only supposed to sit in the back and if the bus

got full enough, they could be kicked out of their seats and have to stand so a white

person could sit. Even though these laws were unfair in the eyes of many, most whites

didn’t think twice about taking the seat of a black person, it didn’t matter if they were a

child, elderly, or pregnant; they could be told to stand and have to obey or go to jail.

That day in March, Claudette Colvin and a few of her friends got out of school early and

got on a bus to go home. She and her friends sat down and stayed sitting in their two 2

seats as the bus started filling up. Claudette then noticed a white woman staring at

them: she obviously wanted them to get up so she could sit. The bus driver, otherwise

1 Thrace, The 9 Things About America, 1. 2 Abdulaleem, Before Rosa Parks there was Claudette Colvin, 5-35

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known as a motorman, told them to stand up, and her friends obeyed, but Colvin

stayed. There was a whole seat empty across from her now, but the woman wanted

both the seats. She didn’t want to be even seated across the aisle from an African

American. If she sat in the same aisle, it would be like saying they were equal. But

Claudette knew the laws, she only had to move if there weren’t any empty seats

available, so she stayed seated while the bus driver and whites yelled at her to move. 3

The police then boarded and again, she was told to stand up, but she courageously told

them, “I paid my fare, it’s my constitutional right to sit.” She later said in an interview, "I 4

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." She was 5

then arrested and taken to an adult penitentiary. On the way to the jail, the policeman

kept calling her awful names: “whore,” “nigger bitch,” and so on. They made jokes

about different parts of her body and tried guessing her bra size. It’s only by a stroke of 6

luck that she got out of that car without being raped. This would be scary for any

person, let alone a 15-year-old girl that just wanted to go home. But she had had

enough, she knew the Jim Crow Laws were unfair. Nobody else had been willing to

stand up for the rights of the African Americans, so she did.

Since Claudette wasn't doing anything wrong, how did the police justify arresting

her? That’s an easy answer, they lied! The arrest report from that day, March 2nd,

1955 tells what happened from the policeman, Paul Headley’s misconstrued view (see

3 Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, 31-32. 4 Abdulaleem, Before Rosa Parks there was Claudette Colvin, 5-35. 5 Gray, Before Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin, 1. 6 Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, 35.

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appendix I). “We received a call at Bibb and Commerce St’s., in regards to seeing a

bus driver of the Highland Gardens Bus. When we arrived there we were informed by

the driver of the Highland Gardens Bus that there were two colored females sitting

opposite two white females, that refused to move back with the rest of the colored.

These colored were sitting forward, left side, of the rear entrance. An unidentified

colored female that was sitting in this disputed seat moved to the rear when we asked

her to, but Claudette Colvin, age 15, colored female, refused. We then informed

Claudette that she was under arrest. She struggled off the bus and all the way to the

police car. After we got her into the police car, she kicked and scratched me on the

hand, also kicked me in the stomach.” His story and Claudette’s story are very 7

different, but who is going to believe a little black girl over a white male? And do you

think it’s a coincidence that all the witnesses against Claudette were white?

A Reason To Fight

Claudette didn't intend on challenging the laws when she got on that bus, but she

did have civil rights on her mind. Not only had Claudette been learning about civil rights

from her teacher, Miss Geraldine Nesbitt , something very personal had just happened 8

to the community. In November, a schoolmate and neighbor of Claudette, Jeremiah

Reeves, had been arrested for raping a white housewife. He confessed to that crime

freely, even turning himself in, but the police weren’t satisfied. They piled on six other

cases of white women getting raped to his charges just because he was “colored.”

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he would be found guilty. Not because

7 Montgomery Police Department, Arrest Report for Claudette Colvin, 1. 8 Encyclopedia of World Biology, Claudette Colvin, 1.

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people thought he was in fact guilty, but because he was an African American and an

all-white jury would never go against social norms to say he was innocent. Jeremiah

Reeves was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death in the electric chair. If a

white man had been accused of such things, he would never have been convicted, let

alone sentenced to die. The community was furious, Jeremiah had been a popular 9

senior and admired by many. Almost everyone forgot about their own personal

problems and started to really think about the rights of the African Americans.

Claudette later said, “Jeremiah Reeve’s arrest was the turning point of my life. That

was when I and a lot of other students really started thinking about prejudice and

racism.” 10

Claudette’s Day In Court

A few days after the incident in March, everyone knew a girl named Claudette

Colvin had been arrested for challenging the Jim Crow Laws. Some thought it was

brave and others thought she had a death wish. Most people were too stuck in their

ways or perhaps too scared to challenge the laws themselves. The laws had, mind you,

been in place for their entire lives. Since the 1800’s the Jim Crow Laws had made

segregation the norm for all blacks and other racial groups. Thanks to the case of 11

Plessy vs. Ferguson, blacks thought there was no hope of freedom from these absurd

laws. They had already tried to challenge racial segregation, so why would this time be

any different? Since Claudette Colvin did something nobody had done before, 12

9Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, 23-25. 10Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, 24. 11 Columbia Encyclopedia, Jim Crow Laws, 1. 12 Columbia Encyclopedia, Plessy vs Ferguson, 1.

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newspapers around the country, such as the Racine Journal Times, informed people of

her trial. “The girl could be sentenced to 6 months in jail or fined $100 or both. Her

charges are assault and battery, disorderly conduct, and violating the city ordinance.” 13

Fortunately, the community got together to raise money, even some important Civil

Rights activists heard about the bravery Claudette had demonstrated and tried to help

her in any way they could. Virginia Foster Durr, a well known civil rights activist and

lobbyist who was friends with Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt, tried to give

Claudette moral and financial support by writing letters to a Professor Curtiss

McDougall. In the letter she says, “She [Claudette Colvin] looks like a little chicken that

just hatched and is thin and childish looking and inarticulate, but even after being

deserted by her other companions she still WOULD NOT MOVE.” With everyone

helping out, Claudette was able to get a very young attorney named Fred Gray, who

later became an important civil rights lawyer, even defending Rosa Parks. The judge

ultimately dropped the violation of the Jim Crow Laws, but she was still found guilty of

the other charges. She was now a teenager with a criminal record. Employers would

look at her and the only thing they would be sure of is that she had broken the law and

was now a delinquent. All this happened because she wanted to stand up for the rights

of the African Americans when nobody else had the guts to.

The Untold Story Behind The Story

Rosa Parks did almost the exact same thing as Claudette Colvin and now she is

talked about in classrooms around the country, so why isn’t Claudette? Is it because

13 Racine Journal Times, Seize Girl for Refusing to Sit in Negro Section, 11.

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she was too young? Is it because she wasn’t likeable enough? No! She doesn’t get

credit because Civil Rights leaders found that her parents had menial jobs, they lived in

a bad neighborhood, and they went to the “poor” church. They thought she wasn’t a 14

good face for the movement, so they went with Parks instead. I do admit, she wasn’t

the perfect girl for her age. Shortly after the incident in March, she got taken advantage

of by an older gentleman. She ended up getting pregnant, which just convinced the

Civil Rights leaders that she wouldn’t end up being a big part in the movement. But 15

her actions weren’t for nothing. She gave the people around the world time to prepare,

to start accepting that African Americans shouldn’t be separated from whites. Without

Claudette Colvin, Rosa Parks may not have gotten the same response as she did. As I

said before, Fred Gray was a lawyer for Claudette Colvin as well as Rosa Parks and in

his words, “If it had not been for Claudette Colvin, there may very well have never been

a Mrs. Rosa Parks as we know her today.” 16

Her Final Battle

Claudette’s actions influencing the Civil Rights Movement did not stop there. On

May 11, 1956, she was chosen along with three other African American women to

testify in a case to end bus segregation altogether, the case of Browder vs. Gayle. 17

There were originally five plaintiffs in the trial, but one dropped out. She said it was

because she didn’t know what she was signing up for, but many believe it was because

of her boss pressuring her. Although there were multiple women in the trial, Claudette 18

14 Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, 52. 15 Ibid., 69. 16 Jet, And Unsung Hero, 12-13. 17 Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, 83. 18 Rocky Mount Telegram, Racial, 1.

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Colvin was extremely important and is considered the star witness of the trial by many.

She was chosen to testify last during the trial by Fred Gray because her story was so

powerful, a 15-year-old girl that just wanted to go home and went to jail instead. Her

story was so moving that a women in the courthouse started crying so hard she had to

leave. After her testimony, Claudette was met by a mob outside the courthouse.

Everyone shaking her hand and telling her how impressed they were. It was a nerve

wracking wait for the verdict for Claudette and all the others who had waited for justice

for so long. The ruling came out; they had ruled 2:1 in Claudette and her fellow

complainant's favor. In the official document of the ruling of the Browder vs. Gayle case

they wrote, “After trial on the merits and careful consideration of the evidence therein

adduced and after oral arguments and submission of briefs by all parties, the Court,

being fully advised in the promises, found in an opinion handed down on June 5, 1956,

that the enforced segregation of Negro and white passengers on motor buses… violates

the constitution and the laws of the United States.” One of the judges later said, “Miss 19

Colvin and the others reinforced the constitutions position that you can’t abridge the

freedoms of the individual. The boycott was a simple case of human rights being

denied.” 20

As you can probably expect, it was very hard for whites to accept this was the

new norm. Many were angry at the judges and angrier at the witnesses. Most people

didn’t even believe that the case was real, and that the decision didn’t have to be

followed. The case was immediately appealed and sent to the Supreme Court. 21

19 Middle District of Alabama, Ruling of Browder vs Gayle,1. 20 Hoose, Claudette Colvin:Twice Toward Justice, 103. 21 Kingsport News, Segregation Hearing Ends; No Decision, 1.

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Whites were convinced that the ruling would come back with the Browder vs. Gayle’s

ruling overturned. On November 13, 1956, the decision came out. The previous ruling

of the Montgomery case would be upheld! Bus segregation was now illegal throughout

the entire country. African Americans rejoiced, one man heard the news and

immediately stood up and shouted, “God Almighty has spoken from Washington D.C.!” 22

Claudette Colvin may not have gotten famous, she may not be talked about in

classrooms around the world, she may be forgotten completely years from now, but that

does not mean she didn’t change the world for the better. That day, on March 2, 1955,

she didn’t intend to challenge the bus segregation laws, but that’s what happened and it

started a chain of events that ultimately ended bus segregation and may have created

one of the most famous Civil Rights leaders we know of today, Rosa Parks. Think back

to when you were her age, would you have been able to keep sitting even with all those

adults screaming at you to get up? What about when the police threaten to arrest you?

All of us want to think we can make a big difference in the world, but Claudette Colvin

actually did, not because she wanted to become famous, not because she was

pressured to do it, but because she wanted to protect the rights of the African

Americans around the country. Claudette Colvin, a silent and courageous teen, truly

played a pivotal role in one of the biggest, and arguably one of the most important

movements in US history.

22 Hoose, Claudette Colvin:Twice Toward Justice, 108.

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Appendix I

Page 1 of the Arrest Report for Claudette Colvin, Includes Place, Officer, and Details of Arrest

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Arrest Report Cont. Page 2 (top) Includes Details of Physical Appearance. Page 3 (bottom)

has Claudette Colvin’s Fingerprints. From https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu

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Annotated Bibliography Primary Sources Durr, Virginia Foster. Letter, April 11, 1955. Accessed January 9, 2017. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/ letter-curtiss-mcdougall.

I found this letter, written in 1955 by a civil rights activist concerning Claudette Colvin and her actions on March 2nd, 1955. She is trying to get people to send her letters and trying to raise money. This is really important because Virginia was inducted to the Women's Hall of Fame and was very close friends with Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt. I will use this in my essay to show how her actions spread around the country and how impressed these civil rights activists were.

Gray, Eliza. "Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin." Newsweek, March 1, 2009. Accessed January 8, 2017. http://www.newsweek.com/ Rosa-parks-there-was-claudette-colvin-76163.

The only reason I got this article was because of 1 quote that I found amazing. Colvin tells NEWSWEEK, "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." I will find a place to put this quote.

Hoose, Phillip M. Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice. New York: Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2009.

This is one of the Primary sources I found on Claudette Colvin. It is a very good book walking me through most of Claudette Colvin's life. I definitely used this source the most in my report because there weren't many cites to be found on Claudette Colvin. Not only does this book tell me about her actions on March 2nd and in the case of Browder vs Gayle, it also tells me about the background of her life. It tells me about her teacher and how they were learning about people like Harriet Tubman, it tells me about Jeremiah Reeves, etc....... Claudette Colvin worked directly with the author to write this book and that's probably why it is so detailed. It is going to be very helpful in my report.

Kingsport News (Kingsport, TN). "Segregation Hearing Ends; No Decision." May 12, 1956, 1. Accessed January 8, 2017. http://access.newspaperarchive.com/us/ tennessee/kingsport/kingsport-news/1956/05-12?tag=claudette+colvin&rtserp=tags/ claudette-colvin?psb=relavance&ndt=by&py=1950&pey=1959.

This newspaper is after the trial of Browder vs Gayle. It explains the ruling of the trial, but it says that whites didn't take the ruling seriously. I will use this is my essay somehow.

Middle District of Alabama, Ruling of Browder vs Gayle, A. 1147, at 1-3 (Ala. 1956). Accessed January 9, 2017. https://rediscovering-black-history.blogs.archives.gov/2015/12/01/ 60th-anniversary-of-the-montgomery-bus-boycott/.

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This document is from the day of the decision of the case of Browder vs Gayle. It tells me exactly what they decided and how exactly it changed the laws, such as Title 48 Code of Alabama 1940 is amended, etc. It also has the decision of the judges and their signatures. I will use this to explain the decision in my report.

Montgomery Police Department, Arrest Report for Claudette Colvin, A. , at 3 (Ala. 1955). Accessed January 8, 2017. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/ king-papers/documents/arrest-report-claudette-colvin.

This is the actual arrest report for Claudette Colvin on March 2, 1955. It tells me the exact report that the police gave to the department. After that page, they have things about Claudette during processing. These will all help me explain how she was punished when she acted out on March 2nd and after that page, they show her fingerprints, like they do now. They take peoples fingerprints and put them in the system.

Racine Journal Times (Racine, WI). "Seize Girl for Refusing to Sit in Negro Section." March 9, 1955, 11. http://access.newspaperarchive.com/us/ wisconsin/racine/racine-journal-times/1955/03-09/page-41.

This is one of the primary sources I found on Claudette Colvin. It is not very long, but it explains what her charges were and what she could possibly get fined or sent to jail with if she is found guilty. It was published before she even went to trial and I will put this in my paper to show how publicized her trial was.

Rocky Mount Evening Telegram (Rocky Mount, NC). "Racial." May 11, 1956, sec. 2A, 1. http://access.newspaperarchive.com/us/north-carolina/rocky-mount/ rocky-mount-evening-telegram/1956/05-11/page-2?tag=claudette+colvin&rtserp=tags/ claudette-colvin?psb=relavance&ndt=by&py=1950&pey=1959.

This is a newspaper article concerning the Browder vs Gayle case. It tells me some of the details of the Browder vs Gayle case, like how there were 5 plaintiffs, but 1 dropped out. The article also tells me the defendants and the judge panel of the trial which will be pretty useful in my article. I hope I will be able to use this in my essay somehow.

Secondary Sources Abdulaleem, Maryam. 2009. "Before there was Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin." New York Amsterdam News, January 22. 5. MAS Ultra - School Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed December 5, 2016).

This site tells about her actions on March 2nd, 1955. I will use some of this information in my report, but I will most likely use the information it has on the Browder vs. Gayle case more than the information on the bus. It also has some information on her now, how she has met some famous people and some of her quotes lately.

"Claudette Colvin." In Encyclopedia of World Biology. Vol. 36. Detroit: Gale. 2016. Biography in Context (accessed January 5, 2017). https://link.uwsuper.edu:9433/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/ K1631010445/BIC1?u=superior&xid=23f79aff.

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This article tells me about the background of Claudette actions, about Jeremiah Reeves and her teacher talking about how racism was wrong. It also explains in some detail what exactly happened on March 2nd, 1955. It then talks about how she was arrested and then taken to an adult penitentiary, then it explains the Browder vs Gayle case in short. This will help me a lot with some of the finer points, and with a few quotes.

Larry, Copeland. n.d. "Parks not seated alone in history." USA Today, n.d. MAS Ultra - School Edition, EBSCOhost (accessed December 5, 2016).

This site helps to explain some of the other civil rights leaders during the time, it talks about Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, etc....... I am not as interested in the information it has on them as the information it has on Claudette Colvin. It has quite a few quotes that are very helpful in expressing the feelings of Claudette and the people around her about her arrest. I am going to try to use these in my paper if I can, I will definitely use the information it gives on her pregnancy.

Thrace, Kara. "The 9 Things About America That You Knew Were True -- But Aren't." Business Insider. Last modified September 3, 2011. Accessed March 23, 2017. http://www.businessinsider.com/

This website was only used to help me with my intro, the first sentence was based off a sentence in this website.

2005. "Claudette Colvin: An Unsung Hero In The Montgomery Bus Boycott." Jet 107, no. 9: 12. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 5, 2016).

This is an article in Law and Justice about Claudette Colvin, it was written because the 50th anniversary of her action in March was coming up. It has a couple quotes from Claudette Colvin that I may use and a quote from Fred Gray that I will use, or some version of this quote. This article also has a brief explanation of what exactly happened on March 2nd 1955 that I may use.

2016. "Jim Crow laws." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition 1. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed December 16, 2016).

The Jim Crow Laws nowadays are seen as absurd, but back in the 1960s they were very reasonable to whites. They were the probably the biggest reason for people like Rosa Parks to stand up of the buses for their rights. Claudette Colvin also knew about these laws and she thought they were very unreasonable. I will use this article to explain about the Jim Crow Laws, to explain how they were the norm back then.

2016. "Harriet Tubman." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition 1. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed December 16, 2016).

Harriet Tubman was probably one of the bigger influences for Claudette Colvin. Claudette's teacher was teaching her class about these kinds of people around the time of Claudette's actions. She was someone that really fought for the African Americans before the 1960's. This article will help me tell what exactly Harriet Tubman did that influenced Claudette Colvin so much.

2016. "Plessy v. Ferguson." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition 1. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed December 16, 2016).

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I looked up some information on this Supreme Court Case. The case of Plessy vs Ferguson influenced Claudette and her actions because Blacks were convinced that this case was unfair, It enraged many people and made people, like Claudette, to do things like standing up on a bus for the rights of the African Americans. This case made it so segregation was legal but buildings had to be equal for blacks and whites, which didn't actually happen, I will use this to explain that to some point.

Wynn, Linda T. 2009. "Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)." Freedom Facts & Firsts: 400 Years Of The African American Civil Rights Experience 51-53. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed December 5, 2016).

This is a fairly short entry on Claudette Colvin, but it does have some pretty good information. It tells me about some people that stood up for their rights on a bus before Rosa Parks. The first was of course Claudette Colvin, then came Mary Louise Smith. Neither of these people got recognition because civil rights leaders didn't think they were good faces for the movement.