1. Claudette Colvin was an African American teenager who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, months before Rosa Parks' similar act of defiance. 2. She agreed to be a witness in the Browder v. Gayle trial that challenged bus segregation laws and helped lead to the Supreme Court ruling that deemed such laws unconstitutional. 3. Throughout her life, Claudette faced discrimination and difficulty finding work due to her role in challenging segregation as a teenager but continued advocating for civil rights.

1. Claudette Colvin By Elissa Moy Twice Towards Justice

2. Timeline of Claudette Colvin’s Courage 1. When she was a young girl, Claudette talked back to a white woman in a store. 2. Claudette helped support her classmate Jeremiah Reeves when he was in jail for his legal defense. 3. Claudette refused to give her seat up to a white woman on the bus. She got arrested and put in jail. 4. Claudette got pregnant; people thought the father was a white man. Claudette refused to tell who the father was to anybody. 5. During the bus boycott, Claudette stayed off the buses and encouraged her parents to donate their cars to support the boycott.

3. Timeline of Claudette Colvin’s Courage (continued) 6. Claudette agreed to be a witness in the Browder v. Gayle trial and stand up to get integrated buses. 7. Claudette, during the trial, stood up to city attorney, Walter Knabe and didn’t let herself say what he wanted her to say. 9. Claudette would try again and again to get a job after the buses got integrated even though people would recognize her and she got fired again and again. 8. Claudette, after the trial, didn’t feel ashamed that she had gotten pregnant. She didn’t care if none of the black leaders would talk to her. 10. Claudette goes back to the school that she was so ashamed to go to as a high school student to talk about her experiences in front of both black and white students.

4. Color Collage Red = Determined One of Claudette’s colors is red. Red is for determined, when you don’t give up. Here is the text examples from the book that shows that Claudette is determined. “I started crying, but I felt even more defiant. I kept saying over and over, “It’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady! I paid my fare; it’s my constitutional right!” I knew I was talking back to a police officer, but I had had enough.”

5. Color Collage Yellow = Intelligent Another one of Claudette’s colors is yellow. Yellow is for intelligent, and Claudette was very smart. Here are the examples from the book that show that Claudette was intelligent. “People always said that I was smart… When it came time for me to start second grade, I could already read and write and spell and even do some arithmetic. They tested me and told me to go sit with the third graders.”

6. Color Collage Purple = Sensitive The third color that describes Claudette is purple. The color purple is for sensitive. Here are the examples from the text that show that Claudette is sensitive. “ Right after Delphine died (of polio), I became very sensitive. Just about any cruel word or insult could start me crying, even if it were aimed at the person besides me.”

7. Color Collage Blue = Persistent The last color that describes Claudette Colvin would be blue for persistent. The book quotes, “Mine was the first cry for justice, and a loud one. I made it so that our own adult leaders couldn’t just be nice anymore.”

8. Claudette Colvin’s Dream Room This is what Claudette Colvin’s dream room would look like. The main point in this room is the picture above the couch. The picture shows a black and a white shaking hands. This is important because that was Claudette’s dream; for blacks and whites to be equal. The white wall and the brown floor represent that blacks and whites will always be together, next to each other, or equal.

10. The Colvin Restaurant A bowl of spinach for brain power! Equality cookie for equal rights! A bus cake! Let’s get the buses integrated! Mixed cake! Both black and white! South-western chicken. Regular food in Alabama. Milk! Red wine Lemonade Applesauce, perfect for little babies like Claudette’s own, Raymond and Randy! Buffalo wings to make you mad!