From Footnote to Fame in Civil Rights History

[elleng]

On that supercharged day in 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala., she rode her way into history books, credited with helping to ignite the civil rights movement.

But there was another woman, named Claudette Colvin, who refused to be treated like a substandard citizen on one of those Montgomery buses — and she did it nine months before Mrs. Parks. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his political debut fighting her arrest. Moreover, she was the star witness in the legal case that eventually forced bus desegregation.

Yet instead of being celebrated, Ms. Colvin has lived unheralded in the Bronx for decades, initially cast off by black leaders who feared she was not the right face for their battle, according to a new book that has plucked her from obscurity.

Last week Phillip Hoose won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice,” published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. The honor sent the little-selling title shooting up 500 spots on Amazon.com’s sales list and immediately thrust Ms. Colvin, 70, back into the cultural conversation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/books/26colvin.html?hp

[babylonsister]

1. I had no idea. Thanks for the education, and rec'd. Props to Claudette Colvin! nt

[EFerrari]

2. I heard Skip Gates talk about this -- maybe in the "Lincoln on Race on Slavery"

CSPAN segment. About how Colvin was turned away by the leadership, "if you're tired, call us and we'll give you a ride home" because she was the wrong "type" for this action. It's interesting because you get a feel for how important the action was and how carefully everyone was trying to sift all the outcomes.