Nearly 10 months before Rosa Parks’s famous act of defiance, a 15-year-old Black girl named Claudette Colvin had already refused to surrender her seat on a segregated bus on March 2, 1955.
Even as the police arrived, the high school student refused to move, holding her ground.
“History had me glued to the seat,” Colvin later recalled of that day in Montgomery, Alabama. “I remember they dragged me off the bus because I refused to walk. They handcuffed me and took me to an adult jail.”
Colvin, who died on Jan. 13 at the age of 86, was for decades an unsung hero of the Black freedom struggle, despite her significant role in the movement. Following her arrest, she became one of the plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the landmark 1956 U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation on public transportation unconstitutional.
Only in the 21st century did Colvin begin to receive recognition for her activism, a delay that underscored the barriers that some Black women activists faced.
“[Parks’ image] would be more acceptable to the white community than a dark-complexioned teenager,” Colvin told CNN in 2021. “And they [civil rights leaders] figured they could control Mrs. Parks.”
Some within the movement also reportedly dismissed Colvin because she “lived in a little shack,” as Montgomery activist Gwen Patton once lamented. Compounding this attitude were concerns that Colvin had become pregnant outside of marriage in the months following her defiant act on the bus.
Despite these hardships, Colvin never sought to place herself in opposition to Rosa Parks or to claim greater recognition than her. She consistently expressed gratitude that Parks was able to carry forward the struggle against Jim Crow segregation, understanding that the movement required many voices and moments of courage.
Born Claudette Austin in Birmingham, Alabama, on Sept. 5, 1939, the civil rights pioneer moved to New York in 1958. After spending a decade moving between New York and Alabama, Colvin settled permanently in New York in 1968. There, she worked for 35 years as a nurse’s aide in Manhattan before retiring in 2004.
Colvin’s older son, Raymond, died in 1993. She’s survived by her younger son, Randy, who worked as an accountant.
The Claudette Colvin Foundation honored her in a statement about her passing.
“To us, she was more than a historical figure. She was the heart of our family, wise, resilient, and grounded in faith,” the announcement read. “We will remember her laughter, her sharp wit, and her unwavering belief in justice and human dignity.”