Civil Rights Activist: Claudette Colvin And Rosa Parks

Little did Rosa know that a simple act of courage would change the course of American history. That day she was arrested for violating Montgomery's transportation laws and took her to jail. She was soon released on a one-hundred dollar bail. A trial was scheduled for December 5, 1955. Her arrest brought a protest of seven thousand blacks in her community. Her community was small but every African American member of her town was sure to be protesting for her release that day. This protest rapidly started the creation of the Montgomery Improvement Association. The most involved and determined person besides Parks in this movement was Martin Luther King Jr. would call for a one-day bus boycott which ended up extending after Rosa was found guilty. Rosa was fined ten dollars. Rosa once again refused to pay any money and appealed her case. Rosa Parks and her husband both lost their jobs and were harassed and ridiculed for what happened on the bus. Most whites would say she made a fool out of herself and she embarrassed

As a few white passengers boarded the bus and the white sections were already full so the driver shouted back at four black people including Rosa Parks “Move y'all, I want those two seats”. As this demand was made by the driver 3 of the bus riders obeyed to what was shouted back, however Rosa Parks remained in her seat and was determined not to move. She was arrested following the bus drivers order and fined ten dollars. This, however small incited a great wave of bus boycotts which in Montgomery black people chose not to ride the bus for a period of 381 days. This still to date is known as the moment in which the civil rights movement started to gain headway. It was the will of one woman who decided it was time for black people to take a stand and from this point on Martin Luther King was assigned to take this boycott on. Although he was assigned to take this on people also felt as he was young, fresh and people had not formulated enough of an opinion of him, there was little room for him to be hated yet so he posed as the right figure to lead this. After the many days of boycotting the case of this transport issue in Alabama went to the Supreme Court. Here it was decided that segregation was declared as unconstitutional so segregation by law was no

Rosa Park was and African-American civil rights activist she refused to give up her bus seat for a white passenger on December 1,1995 .The bus driver noticed that the whites only section was full and more whites were coming on the bus the bus driver ordered that three other blacks in the next row to move to the back the two others moved to the back of the bus but Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus and she got arrested after this happened Montgomery had no choice but to lift the law requiring segregation on public buses.A Officer on the scene said they asked rosa if she was tired they said her response was “I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”so this show that rosa was tired of getting

History.com says, “A full nine months before Rosa Parks's famous act of civil disobedience, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested on March 2, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus” (History.com

Mrs.Parks, however, was seated in the first row behind the 10 seats. When the white passenger got on, the reason for her refusal to move was because she was not in a reserved seat. She was arrested, and charged with “refusing to obey orders of a bus driver”. This is what spurred the 381 day boycott, that brought forth nationwide efforts to end the racial segregation of public places. It also resulted in an early and victorious win for the civil right movement.

Rosa Parks is one of the famous activists of civil disobedience; she has experienced the foulness of segregation all her life. She was born Rosa McCauley on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She received a poor education from a poor segregated school house, and dropped out of Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes to care for her sick grandma. She married Raymond Parks, a barber and an activist of NAACP at age 19 (Rosa).

Every American child learns about Rosa Parks in school and how she stood up for her rights by refusing to get out of her bus seat for a white person. What most Americans do not know is that it was Claudette Colvin who was the first person to be arrested for challenging Montgomery’s bus segregation laws. There were a number of women who refused to give up their seats on the same bus system, but most women were quietly fined and never heard from again. Colvin and Parks changed things in Alabama. After Colvin was arrested, Colvin and Parks met at a NAACP youth meeting.

When many people think of the Civil Rights Movement and its leaders, the first names that comes to mind are Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. However, there were so many people that were just as influential and deserving of recognition as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. One of these people, Claudette Colvin, was “Rosa Parks before Rosa Parks”. Claudette Colvin grew up in King Hill, Alabama- a close-knit community that was stuck between two white neighborhoods. She attended a one-room school, with one teacher teaching all six elementary grades. When she refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a Montgomery bus, she was only fifteen years old. Claudette was arrested, and seen as an outsider by her classmates. She suffered

Rosa Parks is invariably portrayed as someone who had rached the end of her patience after a hard day’s work and refused to leave her seat on the bus, preferring to rest her feet. Rosa Parks had been a life-long worker for the NAACP and she had taken a special interest in the Claudette Colvin case. At the time of her arrest, Parks had just finished a course on race relations in Monteagle, Tennessee. She became a seamstress simply because that was all she could find to do in the segregated society of Montgomery. However, Parks had been educated at the all-black Alabama State College. When Parks was arrested, the NAACP asked the police why they had done this. E. D. Nixon of the NAACP was told that “It was none of your dang business”. After finding out the reason for her arrest, Nixon posted the bond required for her

Another key cause of the Montgomery Bus Boycott was Rosa Park’s refusal to move from her bus seat, after being told to move for a white person. On December 1st, 1985, after coming home from work, Rosa sat in the black section of the bus, and was ushered to leave her seat when a white man boarded. This was a result of there being no white seats available at the time. Rosa had already skipped the first bus that had passed her, as she saw it was full, and she had no energy in her to stand. When she was told to move, Rosa argued that she was too tired after her full day of work, and refused to get up. Later, Rosa stated that her real reasoning for not moving was because she was tired of the lack of equality in Montgomery. The police were called after Rosa repeatedly told the bus driver she would not move, and Rosa was arrested that night, and thrown into jail. She was fined $10, as well as $4 for court fees. Ed Nixon, who was the head of the Montgomery NAACP, bailed her out, and they then drew attention to her case. Her arrest sparked an uproar in the black community of Montgomery, and this was incentive for the decision that they needed a solution to end this discrimination, and got involved with the boycott they had planned. Although two other woman, Mary Louise Smith and

Did you know that Rosa Parks was not the first to protest on a bus? Did you know that the Rosa Parks protest was a setup? Claudette Colvin was a African American who protested for civil rights. There were many other people that protested too. Claudette Colvin was the first to sit in the front of the bus where a white person was supposed to sit. Claudette Colvin will not be remembered for being the first one the sit in the front of the bus. Claudette Colvin, a Civil Rights activist, grew up in poverty, led a demonstration for Civil Rights, and left a legacy for promoting equality for all African Americans.

On Thursday evening December 1, 1955, Rosa boards a Montgomery City Bus to go home after a long day working as a seamstress. She walks back to the section for blacks, and takes a seat. The law stated that they could sit there if no White people were standing. Rosa parks never liked segregation rules and has been fighting against them for more than ten years in the NAACP, but until then had never broke any of the unjust rules. As the bus stops at more places, more white people enter the bus, all the seats in the “White Only” section was filled and the bus driver orders Rosa’s row to move to the back of the bus, they all moved, accept Rosa. She was arrested and fined for violating a city regulation. This act of defiance began a movement that ended legal Segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom devoted people everywhere.

The bus was separated into a black and white section, the white section was located in the front. Rosa was sitting on the bus in the front of the black section when a white man came aboard. This man went to go sit down in the white section of the bus, but the section was full. The man then told the driver, the driver in a brief sweep ordered Rosa to move to the back of the bus. When Rosa refused, she defied a southern custom, moreover, she was then arrested. After her arrest the black community started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The community stopped riding the public bus system until they were treated equally and with respect. To sum up the boycott lasted for more than a year, it ended on December 20,1956. “Martin Luther King Jr. was instrumental in leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott”(Burner and Haney). Dr. King knew that this was something that needed to be handled. After the bus boycott Rosa Parks was known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement” (Hare). Rosa never expected to become famous after this. All she wanted to do was get home because she was tired from work. “I didn’t get on the bus with the intention of being arrested,” she said later. “I got on the bus with the intention of going home”(Hare). Yet after everything Rosa knew when she refused to move, that she had just started her very own

Mrs. Parks entered the bus, paid her fare, and took a seat in the middle section of the bus. The back of the bus was deemed the "colored section", the front was considered the "white section", and the middle section was for either race, however if a white person needed a seat, the black person was expected to give up their seat immediately. The bus made three stops a white man entered the bus and needed a seat, the three other black got out of their seat immediately, but when the driver ordered Rosa to get up she firmly stated "no", Mrs. Parks once stated that "people always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired of giving in." According to "Rosa Parks", Mrs. Parks had meant to do no more than show one rude bus driver that blacks were being treated unfairly. She wasn't the first black to ever refuse to give up her seat, but her action had consequences. After she refused to give up her seat on the bus, the driver threatened to have her arrested, Mrs. Parks simply stated, "You may do that." The policemen clearly didn't want to arrest her, but law forced them to.

On December 1st, 1955, the City of Montgomery received a nine-one-one call for a woman of color sitting in the white section of the bus; she refused to move to the back of the bus. This woman is known as Rosa Parks referred as (Mother of Civil Rights). After refusing Rosa Parks was detained and charged under Chapter Six, Section 11 – Montgomery City Code. She merely had a well-founded belief in upholding her dignity, and would not be treated contrarily because of the color of her skin. Her character and “quiet strength” stood firm as her instincts were to "stand up, do what is right," made the African Americans realize changes in the United States of America need to happen.