1. Claudette Colvin By Sam Arnold-Boyd
By Sam Arnold-Boyd

2. If you were told that you needed to give up your seat on a crowded bus or be arrested, what would you do?

3. Claudette Colvin’s Early Life
She grew up in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1940s and 1950s during SEGREGATION (“Coloreds” had to stay separate from whites.)
She couldn’t play in the park near her house – It was for “Whites Only.”
Her sister died on Claudette’s 13th birthday. She became very angry.

4. Buses in Montgomery in the 1950s
Blacks had to pay, then get off and enter through the back door.
Buses had 10 seats in the front for whites.
Blacks could not sit in
the seats for whites,
even if they were
empty.

5. March 2, 1955
Claudette, 15, was seated on the bus and refused to give her seat to a white lady.
“History had me glued to my seat,” she said.
She was very scared when she was arrested and taken to jail. (Blacks were not treated well in jail.)

6. Claudette was a leader! She believed in herself. She had courage.
She stood up for her beliefs.
She inspired others: On Dec. 2, Rosa Parks followed her example and started the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

7. Stand up for justice!
"When you have a gut feeling that things aren't right and unfair, you should speak out," says Claudette Colvin. "If you have to stand up alone, stand up alone."

8. Resources that I used: Student Resources in Context:
"Who is the girl who came before Rosa Parks?" New Moon Girls Mar.-Apr. 2011: 33. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 12 Oct
Book:
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose