Brook Clark
Prof Mancillas
June 4, 2023
Civil Disobedience
1. Who was the person who participated in the act of civil disobedience? Are they well known?
Claudette Colvin is an American Pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement. She is well known
for her contribution to the civil rights movement from (1954-1968).
2. What was the law they disobeyed?
A civil law requiring racial segregation of public buses.
3. What was the act of civil disobedience?
She refused to give up her seat at 15 years old on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
4. What was the consequence paid for the act of civil disobedience?
Claudette was arrested on March 2, 1955.
5. Did it start, or contribute to a movement? What movement? Why does it matter?
The movement that started Browder v. Gayle in which this case was a group of 5 plaintiffs 1 of
the 5 being Colvin in the first federal court filed by Civil Rights attorney Fred Gray 1 year later
to challenge the bus segregation law. Legally ending segregation in Alabama on public
transportation.
In three full paragraphs, summarize the act of civil disobedience. Include at least one verbal
citation in-text. 21 sentences
Brook Clark
Prof Mancillas
June 4, 2023
The act of civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes
and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. Claudette Colvin was born September 5, 1939
Moving from Birmingham, Alabama to Montgomery Alabama she was taken in by her great
uncle and aunt . Attending Booker T Washington High. Her younger sister had passed away from
polio right before her birthday. Claudette found a way to engage herself she began to read about
african american history and the U.S Constitution and become distracted from the grief she
became a member of the NAACP Youth She wanted to become a nurse due to her background
and the few jobs that were available for African Americans. Her actions took place just 2 days
after Black History Month Her classmate Jeremiah Reeves wrote a paper on segregation.
On March 2, 1955, Claudette and her two classmates were getting on the bus to go
home,the school bus had not been offered to black students the way of travel was by foot or
public transportation. The whites-only section was filled and the closest seat just so happened to
be the one Claudette was sitting in the driver yelled at her to move to the back of the bus,The
caucasian woman refused to sit next to Claudette and her classmates.” We’d had been studying
the constitution I know my rights” if the woman had sat in the same row as her she knew it
meant she was just as good as her. Everyone wondered why she hadn’t moved a classmate of
hers said “She ain’t got nothing to do but stay black and die” Claudette was forcefully removed
Brook Clark
Prof Mancillas
June 4, 2023
from the bus and had been charged with disturbing the peace, breaking the segregation law, and
guilty assault against 3 police officers. She has a juvenile record and was not tried as an adult.
“I could not move because history had me glued to the seat. . . It felt like Sojourner Truth’s
hands were pushing me down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman’s hands were pushing me
down on another shoulder, and I could not move.” Claudette Colvin
A year later at 16, Claudett testified in front of three judges and the united states district
court panel. On December 20, 1965, the supreme court ended the bus segregation law, this event
took place 9 months before Rosa Parks Montgomery Bus Boycott. Claudette is a minor not
fair-skinned and pregnant, Rosa had become more known due to her being an adult, fair-skinned,
and experiencing the same incident. The words Rosa exchanged with the police officer “Why do
you push us around?”.Currently, 66 years after Claudette’s record has been expunged in 1958 she
became a nurse and retired in 2004 after 35 years.
Verbal Citation:
March 2, 1955: Claudette Colvin Refuses to Give Up Her Bus Seat An article by the Zinn Education
Project states that “I could not move, because history had me glued to the seat. . . It felt like
Sojourner Truth’s hands were pushing me down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman’s
hands were pushing me down on another shoulder, and I could not move.” Claudette Colvin
Claudette Colvin