Claudette Colvin, who refused to move seats on a bus at start of civil rights movement, dies

"Colvin, at age 15, was arrested nine months before Rosa Parks gained international fame for also refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus. Colvin had boarded the bus on March 2, 1955, on her way home from high school. The first rows were reserved for white passengers. Colvin sat in the rear with other Black passengers. When the white section became full, the bus driver ordered Black passengers to relinquish their seats to white passengers. Colvin refused."

"At the time of Colvin's arrest, frustration was mounting over how Black people were treated on the city bus system. Another Black teenager, Mary Louise Smith, was arrested and fined that October for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. It was the arrest of Parks, who was a local NAACP activist, on Dec. 1, 1955, that became the final catalyst for the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott."

Claudette Colvin died at age 86; the Claudette Colvin Legacy Foundation announced her death and confirmed she died of natural causes in Texas. At age 15 she was arrested on March 2, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus, nine months before Rosa Parks' arrest. The bus driver ordered Black passengers to relinquish seats when the white section filled; Colvin refused, saying her mindset was on freedom and that history had her glued to the seat. Colvin was one of four plaintiffs in the lawsuit that ended segregation on Montgomery buses. Her action contributed to the legal and moral foundation of the civil rights movement.

Read at www.npr.org