Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
Claudette Colvin, whose 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama, bus helped spark the modern civil rights movement, has died. She was 86.
Her death was announced Tuesday by the Claudette Colvin Foundation. Ashley D. Roseboro of the organization confirmed her death.
Colvin was arrested months before Rosa Parks gained international fame before refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus.
A bus driver called police on March 2, 1955, to complain that two Black girls were sitting near two White girls in violation of segregation laws. One of the Black girls moved toward the rear when asked, a police report said, but Colvin refused and was arrested. She was 15 at the time.
Colvin was charged with two counts of violating Montgomery’s segregation ordinance and one felony count of assaulting a police officer. She was convicted on all counts in juvenile court, and the segregation convictions were overturned on appeal.
Placed on an “indefinite probation” after her conviction on the assault charge, Colvin was never informed her probation had ended, her legal team said.
In 2021, an Alabama judge granted Colvin’s motion to seal, destroy and expunge her juvenile court records for “what has since been recognized as a courageous act on her behalf and on behalf of a community of affected people,” Montgomery County Juvenile Judge Calvin Williams said.
Colvin worked for 30 years as a nursing assistant at a Catholic nursing home, the foundation said. She had two sons, one of whom died in 1993; the other is a professor.
Her death was announced Tuesday by the Claudette Colvin Foundation. Ashley D. Roseboro of the organization confirmed her death.
Colvin was arrested months before Rosa Parks gained international fame before refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus.
A bus driver called police on March 2, 1955, to complain that two Black girls were sitting near two White girls in violation of segregation laws. One of the Black girls moved toward the rear when asked, a police report said, but Colvin refused and was arrested. She was 15 at the time.
Colvin was charged with two counts of violating Montgomery’s segregation ordinance and one felony count of assaulting a police officer. She was convicted on all counts in juvenile court, and the segregation convictions were overturned on appeal.
Placed on an “indefinite probation” after her conviction on the assault charge, Colvin was never informed her probation had ended, her legal team said.
In 2021, an Alabama judge granted Colvin’s motion to seal, destroy and expunge her juvenile court records for “what has since been recognized as a courageous act on her behalf and on behalf of a community of affected people,” Montgomery County Juvenile Judge Calvin Williams said.
Colvin worked for 30 years as a nursing assistant at a Catholic nursing home, the foundation said. She had two sons, one of whom died in 1993; the other is a professor.
