Claudette Colvin Biography
Claudette Colvin is a civil rights activist of African descent. She is a civil rights activist from the 1950s and a retired nurse aide. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, at the age of 15, for refusing to give up her seat on a crowded, segregated bus to a white woman. This happened nine months before Rosa Parks, secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), helped spark the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.
How Old is Claudette Colvin?- Age
She was born Claudette Austin Colvin on September 5, 1939, in King Hill, Montgomery, Alabama in the United States of America. Colvin is 83 years old as of September 2022.
Claudette Colvin Family
Colvin was born Claudette Austin in Montgomery, Alabama, on September 5, 1939, to Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin. She was born alongside her late sister Delphine who died of polio.
Claudette Colvin Husband – Married – Son
Information about his personal life is still unknown however, she has two sons. While still a teenager, she became pregnant with her first child Raymond, She gave birth to a baby boy in December 1955 who later on died of a heart attack at the age of 37. She had another baby boy while living in New York.
Claudette Colvin Career
Despite her low-income background, she had lofty ambitions and had stated in a school assignment that she wanted to be president. She was a member of the NAACP Youth Council and learned about the civil rights movement in school. While she was at school, a disturbing incident occurred that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Jeremiah Reeves, a black adolescent, was caught having sex with a white woman. When she was discovered, she claimed rape, but Jeremiah insisted it was consensual. However, the black voice was dismissed during those times, and the boy was arrested, charged with serial rape, and sentenced to death.
She was riding a Capital Heights bus downtown on March 2, 1955, when some white people boarded. There were segregated seating arrangements in the buses at the time, with blacks in the back and whites in the front. She was seated in the center and was asked to make way for a white person who was standing. Even though she was only 15 years old at the time, Claudette knew she had the right to sit wherever she wanted on the bus because she had purchased a ticket. As a result, she refused to move, enraged the bus driver, Robert W. Cleere. The driver had the right, under Jim Crow laws, to call the cops to make the girl move.
Claudette Colvin Net Worth
Colvin has an estimated net worth of 1.5 million dollars.