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Claudette Colvin, Pioneering Catalyst of Bus Desegregation, Dies at 86

Her 1955 refusal at age 15 helped lay the legal groundwork for ending bus segregation.

Overview

  • The Claudette Colvin Foundation said she died of natural causes in southeast Texas while under hospice care.
  • On March 2, 1955, the Montgomery teenager refused to give up her bus seat, was arrested, adjudicated delinquent for assault, and placed on indefinite probation.
  • She became one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the case led by attorney Fred Gray that overturned Montgomery’s bus segregation and influenced public transit nationwide.
  • Colvin lived largely out of the spotlight for decades, working as a nursing aide in New York, with renewed recognition culminating in the expungement of her juvenile record in 2021.
  • Public officials and civil-rights figures praised her often-overlooked courage, and her foundation said memorial arrangements will be announced.