Claudette Colvin: The First Black Woman

If I was given the opportunity to become someone for a brief period of time, it would be Claudette Colvin. At just fifteen years old, she became the first black woman to refuse to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama. She was and still is an intelligent, courageous, and caring woman that stood for what she knew and believed was right. She never gave up and held high expectations for herself, despite her circumstances.
Claudette Colvin was born September 5, 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama. She was raised and adopted by C.P. Colvin and Mary Anne Colvin. She grew up in a poverty-stricken neighborhood, which was a sanctuary for drug-addicts. Even though her surroundings were poor, her aspirations were high. She studied hard at school, achieved mostly As in all of her courses and even

She obeyed the law that the first ten seats in the front of the bus were for whites. As the bus proceeded on downtown, more whites got on. “Eventually the bus got full capacity, and a young white lady was standing near the four of us. She was expecting me to get up,” she says. The bus driver, Robert W. Cleere demanded Colvin and the three other black students to give up their seats. While the three students complied, Colvin refused, saying, “It’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it’s my constitutional right.” She remembered feeling like “Sojourner Truth was pushing down one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other—saying, ‘Sit down girl!’ I was glued to my seat.” Policemen literally dragged her off of the bus because of her persistence in refusing to get up. At fifteen years old, she was arrested and charged with misconduct, resisting arrest, and violating segregation laws. At such a young age, I do not know how she had the bravery to stand up for herself while knowing the consequences of talking back to a white person during this time