Claudette Colvin, Who Refused to Give Her Bus Seat to a White Woman, Dies at 86

Politics|Claudette Colvin, Who Refused to Give Her Bus Seat to a White Woman, Dies at 86

Claudette Colvin, whose refusal in 1955 to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Ala., came months before it was overshadowed by a similar act of resistance in the same city by Rosa Parks, a historic moment that helped galvanize the civil rights movement, died on Tuesday in Texas. She was 86.

Her death, in hospice care, was confirmed by Roseboro Holdings, a company that represents the Claudette Colvin Foundation. It did not say where in Texas she died. She had lived for many years in the Bronx.

As a teenager in Alabama, Ms. Colvin went on to become a star witness in a landmark anti-segregation lawsuit whose successful outcome was affirmed by the United States Supreme Court.

She was just 15 when she boarded a Montgomery city bus on March 2, 1955. The seating was segregated, with Black riders forced to the back, and if the white section filled up, the driver could order Black riders to give up their seats if they were in the rows known as “no man’s land,” between the two sections.

To add to the indignity, Black riders were not allowed to occupy the same row as white riders, which meant that they had to move back even if there were empty seats next to those passengers.

That’s exactly what happened when a white woman boarded Ms. Colvin’s bus. The driver ordered Ms. Colvin and the three other Black people in her row to move. Two of them did. Ms. Colvin and another woman remained seated.