The Life of Claudette Colvin - Essay Example

The Life of Claudette Colvin At a time where civil disobedience is faced with severe punishment, when the rule of the White seems unbreakable, and their throne unreachable, some have stood up for their rights, although labelled as deviants. Claudette Colvin will always be remembered as the girl from Montgomery who refused to give up her seat to accommodate four white passengers, one of those who courageously violated the law that appears to be unfair and unjust (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)1 Her humble beginning has led to this well-known event in the life of a black American girl. Claudette Colvin is an African-American woman who was born on September 5, 1939 in Alabama (Congress of Racial Equality)2. It was at the age of 15 that the said event happened to her. She came from a lower class family as her father finds income in mowing lawn and her mother was a maid, a situation that made other people doubt if she can be an effective symbol ofinjustice in addition to her being too dark-skinned and too young (Congress of Racial Equality) . Her place was the poorest section of Montgomery and in fact she relied on public transport on her way to school, specifically the gold-and-green buses (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.). Although young and poor, Claudette Colvin is seen to have had the stand against the racial discrimination that her people are experiencing. Her battle has not only begun in the bus incident, but it has just become the fruit of countless incidents of unfairness that she has experienced, especially from what she learned in school. On that day of her arrest, Colvin has done a school paper on the topic of prohibiting black people to try on white clothes in department stores. This is just one of the many forms of discrimination that the black people have suffered during that era. The forms of discrimination can be categorized into four. One is racial segregation in which in law, public facilities and government services there was an unequal separation between white and black domains, disenfranchisement which forced black off the voting roll, exploitation which comes in terms of economic oppression particularly employment discrimination and violence which includes both individual and mass racial violence (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc)3. Among the black people, who together with Claudette Colvin has stood up for equality were Rosa Parks who also refused to stand up and accommodate White people on the bus and Martin Luther King Jr., a young Baptist minister who became the President of Montgomery Improvement Association (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.). Rosa Parks was later known as the “Mother of the Modern-day Civil rights Movement” (Wikimedia Foundations, Inc.). On May 2, 1955, after coming from the school, Claudette Colvin boarded a public bus, with her classmate Annie Larkins Price. After four white men boarded, the driver signaled her to stand up in order to accommodate the White passengers but she did not move and instead continued looking out the window (Montgomery Advertiser)4 . Inspired by African fighters Harriet Tubman and Isabella Baumfree who is self-named (Sojourner Truth), Claudette made a strong stand against discrimination which has led to her arrest. She was handcuffed, taken to the city jail and charged of violating the segregation law and assault and is was during this time that she was also actively fighting against violation of rights with her involvement in the NACCP Youth Council where she was actively advised by Rosa Parks (Congress of Racial Equality). Experiencing not just humiliation but physical abuse such as kicks, Colvin was imprisoned together with her rights and her freedom. Her case could have been an awesome example, a sparkplug of what could have been a turn-around in the history of the Americans, but her credibility as a witness was tarnished after she gave became pregnant by a much older married man. This diminished her integrity, scandalized the eligious black community made her image negative on the eyes of both the blacks and the whites. Her illegitimate pregnancy undermined her victim status. On May 11, 1956, Claudette Colvin was called to testify in a Montgomery hearing, interrogating her about the incident in the bus with a strong conviction that her experience robbed her of dignity and rights. The bus accident happened to other four black women, including Rosa Parks who was considered the right person for the boycott, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, and Mry Louise Smith. They were all heared at the federeal district court in which the case was named Browder V. Gayle (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.). Rosa parks became the representative as she was believed to have the unimpeachable character. It was in December 1, 1955 that the same incident happened to Rosa Parks, when she refused to give up her seat to a White after a long day’s work at the office, as she narrated, she was already tired of the mistreatment (Reece R. Halpern)5. Same is the heart of Claudette Colvin in her situation, as intensified by the many books that she read about mistreatment, violence and injustice. Although people have speculations about the relationship between Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin, as the latter was more famous and has greater respect from people, leaving Claudette’s family not so happy with the unfairness of treatment, still, Rosa Parks had been a great adviser to Claudette Colvin. They both became victors in a battle for their rights. After all, what Claudette Colvin was also after is the recognition of the other four women who were taken to the court that day, not just the presence of Rosa Parks. What made Rosa Parks more dear to the people is her history of firm stand against the discrimination. “Prior to her arrest, Mrs. Parks had a firm and quiet strength to change things that were unjust. She served as secretary of the NAACP and later Adviser to the NAACP Youth Council, and tried to register to vote on several occasions when it was still nearly impossible to do so” (Halpern). Recently, specifically in 2005, there were petitions circulating to have criminal records permanently removed on these women who were illegally arrested, jailed, charged and fined for refusing to give up their seats (GoPetition). On the other hand, the movers of this petition ask that they would be honored and recognized for taking a stand against injustice. Specifically, the honors are given to the unknowns such as Claudette Colvin who are deemed to have propelled the fame of Rosa parks and Martin Luther King Jr. These women are unsung and have not received the due recognition, and with the case of Claudette Colvin, she was even demeaned because of the mistake that she made on her lovelife. Ms.Colvin gave birth to a son named Raymond who was actually looking like a White, and have worked for Catholic nursing homes for 30 years (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.). She occupied the job of a nursing assistant. Her son Raymond died at the age of 37, due to heart attack after becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.). Nevertheless, Claudette Colvin was grateful that her grandson and the future of the black Americans were not as oppressive as it was during her time. Indeed the black Americans of the present are experiencing similar privileges with the whites, and are actually excelling in the different fields that they have chosen. Works Cited Congress of Racial Equality. CORE. 15 November 2008. 15 November 2008 . Montgomery Advertiser. www.montogomeryboycott.com. 7 June 2005. 19 November 2008 . Reece R. Halpern. www.gradtimes.com. 19 November 2008 . Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. www.wikipedia.org. 14 November 2008. 15 November 2008 . Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. www.wikipedia.org. 11 November 2008. 14 November 2008 . Read More