Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice is possibly* the real story of how the Montgomery bus boycott started. (*I say possibly because having learned Rosa Parks was picked by the NAACO to spearhead the movement, my level of distrust is high. This book, though, does have the ring of truth.)
First, a bit of background I learned from the book: In 1955 fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin left school and boarded a bus with several of her friends. Since the bus was empty, they paid their fare and walked down the center aisle to seats directly behind the "whies only" sign. (Interesting side note: If the bus had already contained white passengers, the teenagers would have had to pay their fare in the front of the bus, then exit and re-board through the rear door.) Gradually the bus filled up, and Claudette was told to give up her seat to a middle-aged, perfectly healthy white woman. Claudette refused, an act which led to being dragged off the bus by police officers, arrested, charged and found guilty. A year later another teenager became the second young girl to refuse to give up her seat on the bus. By now the NAACP began to see the Montgomery bus situation as a way to challenge segregation in court, but the second girl's family paid her fine and there was no court case. The NAACP gave up on using Claudette because she had since become pregnant. The third person to refuse to give up her seat was Rosa Parks, a seamstress and middle-class woman who happened to be secretary for the local chapter of the NAACP.
Prior to reading this book, I had learned that Rosa Parks had been picked by the NAACP, and I thought that when she refused to give up her seat, the event had been orchestrated. I feel better about her now, but while I realize the NAACP could not have used a pregnant teenage girl as its spokesman, I believe Claudette was slighted. I hope lots of people buy and read this book. And agree.
Specifics:
1) Claudette's minister, Reverend Johnson, told her, "I'm so proud of you. Everyone prays for freedom. We've all been praying and praying. But you're different—you want your answer the next morning." (page 35) And you deserve respecful attention.
2) Claudette's lawyer said of her, "I don't mean to take anything away from Mrs. Parks, but Claudette gave all of us the moral courage to do what we did." (page 59) Those words need to be written somewhere prominent, so a lot of people can read them. IMHO.
3) At the end of Claudette's trial when the verdict was announced, Jo Ann Robinson, a local college professor, wrote, "Claudette's agonized sobs penetrated the atmosphere of the courthouse. Many people brushed away their own tears." (page 45) I found that moving.
4) Years later a lady who had been a teenager during the strike, noticed her grandmother still walked past the
white people and sat in the back. She asked why; her grandmother explained that "the bus boycott was not about sitting next to white people. It was about sitting anywhere you please." (page 93) Cool. The same, I'm sure, is also true in educaion.
This book is good; I wholeheartedly recommend it. In case you need additional proof of its worth, it was a finalist for last year's Newberry Award. Contenders for this award are rarely only "for children."
