That suit ended legal racial discrimination in public transportation. By doing so, they put their own lives, and those of their families and neighbors at risk. Claudette Colvin was one of only four black citizens of Montgomery-all females-who put their names on that suit as a plaintiff. Gayle, the suit challenged the constitutionality of bus segregation laws in Montgomery and Alabama. They were fighting for the entire southern way of life. Most assume that the boycott simply wore down the bus company and city officials, and they gave up. She put her entire future on the line.”īeyond that, hardly anyone knows how the Montgomery Bus Boycott ended. Claudette Colvin’s courage is the rawest, bravest kind. They did not have established reputations on which to draw, rather, they were immersed in the sometimes murky waters of high school where student opinions shift like the tides one minute you’re a hero, and the next you’re an outcast and are shunned. It is, that as a teenager, Claudette’s risks were different, and I think much greater.Īs Evanston Public Library staff said in the Loft Blog post about the book, “the teens who stood up (or remained seated) for their constitutional rights had everything to lose. It isn’t just that then 15-year-old Claudette Colvin took great risks and suffered great consequences before Rosa Parks famously did exactly what she did nearly a year later. I hoped that Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice would change the way we talk about the Montgomery bus protest. Posted Febru& filed under Book: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.
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