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On 2 March 1955, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her bus seat for a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. Police removed and arrested her. Nine months before Rosa Parks's protest, Colvin had already challenged the same system of racial segregation.

Historical account — U.S. National Park Service; Claudette Colvin interview (2020)

History

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Montgomery's civil rights leaders decided not to build a public campaign around Colvin. She was a teenager, she became pregnant later that year while unmarried, and she has said that her dark skin also counted against her; leaders feared the white press would use her story against the cause, and months later they rallied behind Rosa Parks. Colvin's stand still mattered: in 1956 she was one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the federal case that ended segregation on Montgomery's buses. She moved to New York, worked for 35 years as a nurse's aide in a Manhattan nursing home and retired in 2004. Her juvenile record was expunged in 2021, and she died in January 2026, aged 86.

Türkçe oku
Claudette Colvin, 2 Mart 1955'te, henüz on beş yaşındayken, Alabama'nın Montgomery kentinde otobüsteki yerini beyaz bir yolcuya vermeyi reddetti. Polis onu otobüsten indirip tutukladı. Colvin, Rosa Parks'tan dokuz ay önce aynı ırk ayrımcılığı düzenine karşı çıkmıştı.

Montgomery'deki sivil haklar önderleri, Colvin'in davasını bir kamuoyu kampanyasına dönüştürmemeye karar verdi. Colvin henüz bir gençti, aynı yıl evlenmeden hamile kaldı; kendisi, koyu tenli olmasının da aleyhine işlediğini söylemiştir. Önderler, beyaz basının onun hikâyesini davaya karşı kullanmasından çekindi ve aylar sonra Rosa Parks'ın arkasında birleşti. Yine de Colvin'in direnişi boşa gitmedi: 1956'da, Montgomery otobüslerindeki ayrımcılığa son veren federal dava Browder v. Gayle'ın dört davacısından biri oldu. Daha sonra New York'a taşındı, Manhattan'daki bir huzurevinde 35 yıl hasta bakıcı olarak çalıştı ve 2004'te emekli oldu. Gençlik yıllarındaki sabıka kaydı 2021'de silindi. Colvin, Ocak 2026'da 86 yaşında öldü.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Claudette Colvin
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