The once-quiet student was branded a troublemaker by some, and she had to drop out of college. Despite the light sentence, Colvin could not escape the court of public opinion.
The court, however, ruled against her, and put her on probation. In court, Colvin opposed the segregation law by declaring herself not guilty. Her son, Raymond, was born in March 1956.
She also had became pregnant and they thought an unwed mother would attract too much negative attention in a public legal battle. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People briefly considered using Colvin's case to challenge the segregation laws, but they decided against it because of her age. After her minister paid her bail, she went home where she and her family stayed up all night out of concern for possible retaliation. "I was really afraid, because you just didn't know what white people might do at that time," Colvin later said. For several hours, she sat in jail, completely terrified. "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," she later told Newsweek.Ĭolvin was arrested on several charges, including violating the city's segregation laws. I paid my fare, it's my constitutional right." Colvin felt compelled to stand her ground. She refused, saying, "It's my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. On March 2, 1955, Colvin was riding home on a city bus after school when a bus driver told her to give up her seat to a white passenger. She earned mostly As in her classes and even aspired to become president one day. Growing up in one of Montgomery's poorer neighborhoods, Colvin studied hard at school. Gayle, which helped end the practice of segregation on Montgomery public buses. She also served as a plaintiff in the landmark legal case Browder v. Months before Rosa Parks, Colvin stood up against segregation in Alabama in 1955, when she was only 15 years old. Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama.
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