CLAUDETTE COLVIN, THE GIRL THAT CAME BEFORE ROSA PARKS! | AMAZING BLACK HISTORY

on March 2nd 1955 nine months before Rosa Parks resisted segregation laws by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery Alabama 15 year-old Claudette Colvin did absolutely the same thing however for public relations and perception reasons Claudette Colvin was overshadowed and ignored for many years Claudette herself didn't talk about it however she delivered a heart-rending first-hand account interview with the BBC detailing how she lived in equality and racism in the face and said no here's a quote from Claudette describing the racial and social climate of the time they were segregation everywhere the church's buses and schools were all segregated and you couldn't even go into the same restaurants I remember during Easter one year I was to get a pair of black patent-leather shoes but you could only get them from the white stores so my mother drew out the outline of my feet on a brown paper bag in order to get the closest size because we weren't allowed to go in and quote Claudette did however find solace in the fact that our segregated black school gave her a tremendous education in black history Claudette says we learned about Negro spirituals and recited poems but my social studies teacher went into more detail they lectured us about Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth and we were taught about an opera singer called Marion Anderson who wasn't allowed to sing at constitutional hall just because she was black so she sang at Lincoln Memorial instead Claudette would later go on to assert that it was the example and strength of these women that compelled her to resist the oppressive system that refused to see her as equal on March 2nd 1955 Claudette and her friends finished school early Claudette says we walked downtown and my friends and I saw the bus and decided to get on it was right across the road from dr. Martin Luther King's Church the white passengers were always seated at the front of the bus and the black passengers were seated at the back of the bus the bus driver had authority to assign the seats so when more white passengers got on the bus he as for the seats in quote the conflict arose when a white passenger found herself standing in the aisle between Claudette and her friends they were sitting a little more than halfway through the bus with two of them on the right side of the bus and two of them on the left even though it was only necessary to make room for one passenger the driver wanted all of them to move to the back and stand so that the white passenger could sit Claudette says he wanted me to give up my seat for a white person and I would have done it for an elderly person but this was a young white woman three of the students had got up reluctantly and I remain sitting next to the window in quote you see under the perverse rationale of segregation the white woman still couldn't sit down because a black passenger could not even be on the same row as a white passenger Claudette told the driver that she had paid her fare and that I was her constitutional right to remain where she was Claudette says whenever people asked me why didn't you get up when the bus driver asked you I say it felt as though Harriet Tubman's hands were pushing me down on one shoulder and sojourner truth's hands were pushed me down on the other shoulder I felt inspired by these women because my teacher taught us about them in so much detail I wasn't frightened but disappointed and angry because I knew I was sitting in the right seat and quote the driver continued but stopped when he reached a police squad car two policemen boarded the bus and asked Kovan why she wouldn't give up her seat Claudette says I was more defiant and then they knocked my books out of my lap and one of them grabbed my arm I don't know how I got off that bus but the other students say they manhandled me off the bus and put me in the squad car but what I do remember is when they asked me to stick my arms out the window and that's when they handcuffed me Claudette was taken to an adult jail and put in a cramped cell with nothing in it but a broken sink and a cot with no mattress core that says I was scared and it was really really frightening it was like those western movies where they put the bandit in the jail cell and you could hear the keys I can still vividly hear the click of those keys I waited for about 3 hours until my mother arrived with my pastor to bail me out my mother knew I was disappointed with the system and all the injustice we were receiving and she said to me well Claudette finally did it Claudette Colvin was the first person to be arrested for challenging Montgomery's bus segregation laws her act of resistance was only reported in a couple of local news outlets nonetheless 9 months later the same act of rebellion by Rosa Parks was reported all over the world you see Rosa Parks being the face of the struggle worked better from a PR standpoint Claudette was a 15 year old child and eventually things became more complicated when Claudette became a pregnant teen Rosa Parks on the other hand was a hard-working seamstress who also happened to be a secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the n-double a-c-p fair or not most sensible people will agree that Rosa Parks was the unanimous better choice as the spark and face of the Montgomery bus boycott nonetheless without Claudette Colvin there is no Rosa Parks without Rosa Parks Martin Luther King jr. doesn't become a national and eventual global figure in the civil rights movement Claudette actually knew Rosa Parks very well Claudette says I became very active in her youth group and we used to meet every Sunday afternoon at the Luther church this Parks was quiet and very gentle and very soft-spoken but she would always say we should fight for our freedom on December 5th 1955 40,000 African American bus passengers boycotted the bus system and the Montgomery Improvement Association elected Martin Luther King jr. as their president a little over a year later on 20th 1956 the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation on the buses must end the legal case was partially built on the strength of four plaintiffs one of whom was Claudette Colvin Claudette says the n-double-a-cp had come back to me and my mother said Claudette they must really need you because they rejected you because you had a child out of wedlock Claudette continues by saying so I went and I testified about this system and I was saying that the system treated us unfairly and I used some of the language that they used when we got taken off the bus Claudette Colvin would later go on to move to New York years later to become a nurse however she didn't tell many people about her part and the civil rights movement thankfully in 2009 writer Philip hoose published a book that told her story in detail for the very first time and that is how fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin gave rise to Rosa Parks and dr. Martin Luther King jr. two of the most iconic figures in the movement for civil rights subscribe below for upcoming black history speaks videos and share with a young person who you think can take pride in knowing this significant piece of black history thank you for your time please subscribe like and share and remember black history doesn't have to be forgotten black history speaks now

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Id: CkggTTD8yeM

Length: 7min 7sec (427 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 25 2019