Claudette Colvin

While still a teenager, she became pregnant with her first child. She gave birth to a baby boy in December 1955. She had another baby boy while living in New York. She did not marry.

She was born in King Hill, Montgomery, Alabama as the daughter of C. P. Colvin and Mary Anne Colvin. Her neighborhood was a very impoverished one where even routine life was a struggle for most. The area also had a bad reputation for being a drug addict’s haven.

She was a bright girl, intelligent and curious. Her rebellious nature was apparent from a young age. She studied at the Booker T. Washington High School in the city.

In spite of her impoverished background, she held high aspirations and had mentioned in a school assignment that she wanted to be the president. She learnt about the civil rights movement in school and was a member of the NAACP Youth Council.

While she was in school, a very disturbing incident happened that would remain with her for life. A black teenage boy, Jeremiah Reeves was caught having sex with a white woman. On being discovered, the woman alleged rape while Jeremiah insisted it was consensual.

However, the voice of the blacks was not given any significance during those days and the boy was arrested, charged for being a serial rapist, and sentenced to death. He was executed after four years. This incident made Claudette realize how vulnerable blacks were in her city.

She was finding problems in living and finding work in her hometown after she became a sort of public figure. Thus she went to New York in 1958 where she first lived with her elder sister.

She soon found work as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home in Manhattan. She worked there for 35 long years before retiring in 2004.

She was the first ever black person to protest against the segregation of seats in bus in Alabama. However, since she became pregnant soon after the incident, black civil rights activists refused to recognize her as a pioneer. This honor then went to Rosa Parks, a middle-aged woman, who nine months after the Colvin incident refused to give up her seat in a bus.