Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice By Phillip Hoose

During a crowded afternoon bus ride, "I decided I wasn't gonna take it anymore… After the other students got up, there were three empty seats in my row, but that white woman still wouldn't sit down-not even across the aisle from me…blacks had to be behind whites… 'Why are you still sittin' there?'"(Hoose 32). Initiating the Civil Rights Movement, Claudette Colvin refused to stand for a white lady when there was an empty row next to her. Claudette's bravery sparked a fire within the black community, & they attempted to keep her name in the papers. Through the short bout of fame, “The news that a schoolgirl had been arrested for refusing to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger flashed through Montgomery’s black community and traveled far beyond,”(Hoose 39).

She was ridiculed by the police officers and they swore at her. (NPR) Claudette was treated as a "thing". Colvin was a strong person and a huge risk-taker. Colvin was scared because she knew there were punishments like lynchings and cross-burnings for what she did. (NPR)

The bus driver demanded her to get up from the seat and she still refused, saying she paid her fare and it was her constitutional right. The NAACP received a large number of letters saying how brave Colvin was to refuse her seat. Secretary of the NAACP Rosa Parks reviewed the letters and incepted by the NAACP to become the spokesperson of the NAACP's bus boycott and Anti-Segregation movement. I honestly had never heard of Claudette Colvin until watching the Drunk History video. The added humor

Written by Reverend Charles Kenzie Steele, “The Tallahassee Bus Protest Story” explains the account of two African-American women that were ordered to stand in a jam-packed bus instead of sitting on the last available seat because a woman (who was white) was occupying the end of that seat. Even though the white woman did not mind if the African-American women shared the seat with her, the bus driver stood firm in his belief that it would be inappropriate and beyond unthinkable for people of color to be seated with a person that was white. The two African-American women decided that they were not going to accept this blatant prejudice and proceeded to stay where they were and not stand or move to the colored section of the bus but their efforts were short lived since the bus driver called the police to detain and charge them for disorderly conduct and “placing themselves in a position to riot”. These swift series of event prompted swift outrage and shock among FAMU students and those within

Finding A Way Out From the beginning of time the most significant people in history have struggled to get their messages out. The struggle to prove something they believe in. Each person probably had different obstacles to overcome. Some faced similar obstacles. But in the end, I believe Sandra Ciceneros, Fredrick Douglass, and Malcolm X just wanted to find ways to express themselves and get their points across.

During the 1950’s, a time of movement and change, known as the Civil Rights Struggle was present. This was a time where African Americans pushed for equality by various methods of reform. Although, advancement had been made, the African Americans wanted to push for more. As the push for freedom was taking place, leaders rose up to the plate to encourage their people through speeches, marches, lectures, literature and many other forms of protest. There were many different ways of taking on this movement.

In the non-fiction book called Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, Miriam Mann showed persistence against segregation. Segregation is a societal obstacle for African-Americans, and it limits them to do certain actions and people always doubt them. You can overcome many obstacles by having persistence. To prove this, in Hidden Figures it states: “A white cardboard sign on a table in the back of the cafeteria said ‘Colored Computers’ in crisply stenciled black letters. ... Dorothy and the other West Computers watched as Miriam slipped the sign into her purse.

Rosa Park once said “I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” She was determined not to give her seat up. (Rosa Parks Biography) She stood up for what she had believed in and she had got arrested for it. The next day the whole world heard about and they started to have riots and tear up

Rosa refused and was arrested. (Independence Hall). News spread around Montgomery and a young pastor by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. decided

Around halfway into the twentieth century, African Americans went out and tried to transform the world once again. They also tried to abolish the Jim Crow laws. Several people helped impact the Civil Rights Movement, some of the well known people are Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. These people are one of the main reasons why segregation changed. Therefore Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X will be the most well-known figures that people remembered about the Civil Rights Movement.

African Americans have faced discrimination since World War II. The Civil Rights Movement began in the early 1950’s, and continued through the late 1960’s. After Jim Crow Laws, which were laws that enforced segregation, many white leaders didn’t want to give up the laws they had for around seventy-five years (Deverell & White 568). Whites in the South resisted change, even after laws were made. African Americans fought for integration in many public places, including public transportation.

Lastly, an individual should overcome discrimination to achieve one’s goal. In conclusion, bigotry are hurdles that an individual

In some instances, remaining true to one’s identity and beliefs will outweigh all social pressures and external influences. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, demonstrating a courageous defiance of social custom. This rebellious act of non-conformity sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a civil rights movement that radically reshaped segregation laws and racial discrimination for the rest of American history. In most cases, however, non-conformity receives considerable disapproval. Immediately following the Alabama city bus incident, Parks was arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct.

When Rosa Parks got an arrest, it had started a resolution. When Rosa didn't get up from her seat for a white man, the driver called the police and arrested her. So at her court date, the African Americans had started a boycott. The Africans have to seat in the back of the bus in the colored section. Because Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man; she started a revolution and the fight for equal rights for black people.

Could you ever possibly imagine a time where you couldn’t use the same bathroom as some of your classmates because the had a different skin color? This time in history was known as the Civil Rights Movement, a movement from 1954-1954, in which people fought against racism. Although the Civil Rights Movement mainly affected African Americans, but involved all of American society. Because most racism against ancient African Americans took place in southern United States, civil rights was extremely important to African Americans who lived in the south. Racism was so widely spread it even found its way into professional sports.