REFUSED TO MOVE

Civil Rights Hero Dies at 86

Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a bus in March of 1955.

Civil Rights icon Claudette Colvin has died at the age of 86. The Claudette Colvin Foundation confirmed her death on Tuesday afternoon, writing, “To us, she was more than a historical figure. She was the heart of our family, wise, resilient, and grounded in faith.” On March 2, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, pregnant 15-year-old Colvin refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus. The event happened nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, sparking the bus boycott. Rosa Parks said at the time of Colvin’s pregnancy, “If the white press got hold of that information, they would have a field day. They’d call her a bad girl, and her case wouldn’t have a chance.” Colvin was one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, which challenged bus segregation in Alabama. The United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama ruled the segregation unconstitutional. Colvin moved from Alabama to New York City in 1958, and worked as a nurse at a nursing home in Manhattan in 1969.