Summary
Claudette Colvin, a key figure in the U.S. civil rights movement, has died at the age of 86. At 15, she was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama, an event that contributed to ending racial segregation on public buses.
Key Facts
- Claudette Colvin died at 86 years old.
- She refused to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.
- Her protest occurred nine months before Rosa Parks' similar action.
- Colvin was the first person arrested for challenging Montgomery's bus segregation.
- Her story was mostly unknown until 2009 when a book was published about her.
- The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that bus segregation was illegal, using testimony from Colvin and others.
- Colvin was inspired by figures like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth.
- She later became a nurse and lived in New York before passing away in Texas.
