20 Quotes by Claudette Colvin
Claudette Colvin, a remarkable activist born in 1939, played a crucial role in the Civil Rights Movement. Before Rosa Parks’ famous protest, Colvin, a fifteen-year-old African American girl, bravely refused to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated Montgomery bus in 1955.
Her courageous act challenged the unjust system of segregation in the South and highlighted the strength and determination of young activists in the fight for racial equality. Although her case did not gain the same level of national attention as Parks’, Colvin’s actions were significant in inspiring further civil rights protests and legal battles.
Her fearless stand helped ignite the Montgomery Bus Boycott and contributed to the eventual desegregation of public transportation in Alabama. Claudette Colvin’s dedication and bravery continue to serve as a testament to the power of individual action in the pursuit of social justice.
Claudette Colvin Quotes
Back then, as a teenager, I kept thinking, Why don’t the adult around here just say something? Say it so they know we don’t accept segregation? I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, ‘This is not right.’ And I did.
I knew then and I know now, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it.
I always tell young people to hold on to their dreams. And sometimes you have to stand up for what you think is right even if you have to stand alone.
Young people think Rosa Parks just sat down on a bus and ended segregation, but that wasn’t the case at all.
Rosa Parks wasn’t the first one to rebel against the segregated seats. I was the first one.
What do we have to do to make God love us?’ I always grew up with that. I always used to go around thinking that. ‘God loved the white people better. He must’ve. That’s why he made them white.’
I’ve always told my children that once they go out into the world, they must have two heads and two minds: one to keep grounded, the other to deal with corporate America.
We learned about people like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington and Marian Anderson. Harriet Tubman was my favorite.
New York is a completely different culture to Montgomery, Alabama.
We were churchgoing people.
A lot has changed since I grew up, but there’s still a long way to go. I don’t think we can move forward with Donald Trump as the president. There’s a disconnect there. We don’t want to regress, we want progress.
I left the South in 1963 and was living in Morristown, New Jersey, when the March on Washington took place, so I watched it on television instead.
I lost most of my friends. Their parents had told them to stay away from me, because they said I was crazy, I was an extremist.
Being dragged off that bus was worth it just to see Barack Obama become president, because so many others gave their lives and didn’t get to see it, and I thank God for letting me see it.
I became aware of how the world is and how the white establishment plays black people against each other.
I just couldn’t move. History had me glued to the seat.
― Claudette Colvin Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an impact-driven creator at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 life goals around the globe. Tal's journey and recent book, The Art of Fully Living, inspired him to found Elevate Society.
