Claudette Colvin and The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Claudette's Voice Today

Rosa Parks

After the Arrest

Rosa Parks was a widely known activist in Montgomery and a seamstress. She was light-skinned, contained, pleasant, committed and level headed. She was safe and the perfect face for a rebellion. Unlike Claudette who was now pregnant and kicked out of her high school.

Claudette was charged with breaking city and state segregation laws. Gray, her lawyer, hoped to use Claudette’s case to show they were unconstitutional. There had never been a chance like this one because no one had ever pleaded not guilty to breaking the segregation laws in a bus arrest before Claudette

Claudette's Arrest

Claudette stood up and showed she would not have a future with Jim Crow, seven month later another girl joined her and did the same thing. Now a year and a half after Brown v. Board of education people were demanding a different future. Education may have been the way up, but transportation was the way out.

Browder v. Gayle

When Claudette heard about Rosa Parks being arrested she was glad that an adult had finally stood up to the system, but she felt left out. The black community turned their backs on Claudette and she was now left out of the rebellion.

When Claudette was being cross examined they tried to get her to accuse MLK and Rosa Parks of putting her up to staying in her seat. During the time of the trial MLK's house was bombed and other actions were taken against other African-American Leaders.

• Claudette faced three separate charges: Violating the segregation law, disturbing the peace, and “assaulting” the policeman who had pulled her off the bus.
• After Claudette was arrested there was a divide between people who admired Claudette and people who thought she was making it harder for everyone. Claudette recalls, “They kept saying you were so brave, but other teachers seemed uncomfortable. I think they knew they should have done what i did long before and they were embarrassed that it took a teenager to do it.”

E.D Nixon

Fred Gray

Effects of the Boycott

How One Girl Impacted a Civil Rights Movement

Carpools and Walking

The public transportation system of Montgomery was hurting. They lost a lot of customers during the boycott. Money was lost, routes were shut down, and drivers were laid off.

Because of the Boycott people had to find other ways to get to work. A lot of people had to leave extremely early to get to work on time. Others lost their jobs because they showed up late. Others barely had time to spend with their family because of how far they had to travel.

The Final Days

The supreme court ruled in favor of desegregating the buses. They used the Brown v Board ruling to help make their decision. Paperwork came through and laws were made and enforced for integrating the buses. The day after the paperwork was filed the Boycott ended. Activists and leaders like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. all rode the bus this day. Claudette was happy to see the changes were made, but was forgotten in the process.

The Boycott Begins

The first Monday following Rosa Parks arrest is when the boycott began. The initial requests of the Boycott participants were:

• Courtesy
• Bus company's to hire black drivers
• First-come, first-seated policy. With the whites starting in the front and the blacks starting in the back and filling in seats.

Leading up to the Boycott

Rosa Parks arrest was just what the community needed to band together. The African-American leaders in the community found ways to spread the news. MLK was worried that the community wouldn't band together to support this cause.

Claudette Colvin & The Montgomery Bus Boycott