Claudette Colvin is undoubtedly one of the renowned pioneers of civil right activists in the history of African American civil rights movements.

On March 2, 1955, she refused to move from her seat on a Montgomery bound segregated bus. Her sentiments were, she had paid the fare, just like other passengers, and it was her constitutional right to board the bus.

The then 15-year-old Colvin recalls being dragged off from the bus, handcuffed and taken to an adult jail.

However, Claudette Colvin is not a much celebrated figure in the African American Civil Rights Activism, like Rosa Parks, who died on 24, October 2005.

That’s largely because the former was perceived to being darker toned and pregnant. Colvin explains that she had a child born out of wedlock at the age of 16 and that she didn’t fit the image of someone people would want to show off.

On February 1, 1956, Claudette Colvin served as the star witness alongside other four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case.

It was this landmark federal case, chaired by a three-judge panel that ended the history of segregation on public transportation in Alabama and other states in America.

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