Claudette Colvin did a revolutionary act nearly 10 months before Rosa Parks.In March 1955, the 15-year-old was arrested for refusing to give up her seat
A peaceful march in protest of racial injustice set out from Selma, Ala., on March 7, 1965, but was met with violent resistance from local law enforcement in an event that became known as "Bloody Sunday."
In Selma, C T Vivian was punched in the face by Sheriff Jim Clark, changing civil rights history washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Claudette Colvin did a revolutionary act nearly 10 months before Rosa Parks.
In March 1955, the 15-year-old was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a White person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
The teenager and others challenged the law in court. But civil rights leaders, pointing to circumstances in Colvin’s personal life, thought that Parks would be the better representative of the movement.
“People said I was crazy,” Colvin recently told CNN’s Abby Phillip. “Because I was 15 years old and defiant and shouting, ‘It’s my constitutional right!’ “
Colvin’s story and the experiences of other Black women and youth underscore the difficult questions and realities that Black leaders and activists have been forced to grapple with. Who gets to represent a movement? And who’s the “appropriate” spokesperson for Black Americans’ fight for basic civil rights?