Claudette Colvin

By Sam Arnold-Boyd

http://www.amazon.com/Claudette-Colvin-Toward-Justice-Addams/dp/0374313229

If you were told that you needed to give up your seat on a crowded bus or be arrested,

what would you do?

http://stufffromthelab.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/claudette-colvin-2/

Claudette Colvin’s Early Life• She grew up in Montgomery, Alabama in the

1940s and 1950s during SEGREGATION (“Coloreds” had to stay separate from whites.)

• She couldn’t play in the park near her house – It was for “Whites Only.”

• Her sister died on Claudette’s 13th birthday. She became very angry.

http://sunnynash.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/swimming-sign.jpg

Buses in Montgomery in the 1950s

• Blacks had to pay, then get off and enter through the back door.

• Buses had 10 seats in the front for whites.• Blacks could not sit in the seats for whites, even if they were empty.

http://jamesmeredith-ce.blogspot.com/

March 2, 1955

• Claudette, 15, was seated on the bus and refused to give her seat to a white lady.

• “History had me glued to my seat,” she said.

• She was very scared when she was arrested and taken to jail. (Blacks were not treated well in jail.)

http://www.core-online.org/History/montgomery%20boycott.htm

Claudette was a leader!• She believed in herself.• She had courage.• She stood up for her beliefs.• She inspired others: On Dec. 2, 1955 Rosa Parks followed her example and started the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Stand up for justice!

"When you have a gut feeling that things aren't right and unfair, you should speak out," says Claudette Colvin. "If you have to stand up alone, stand up alone."

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-06-07/news/17925989_1_claudette-colvin-segregation-young-adults

Resources that I used:

• Student Resources in Context: "Who is the girl who came before Rosa Parks?"

New Moon Girls Mar.-Apr. 2011: 33. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.

• Book: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by

Phillip Hoose

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Segregation_1938.jpg