Civil Rights Pioneer Claudette Colvin Dies at 86

Claudette Colvin, the civil rights pioneer whose arrest at age 15 for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, helped lay the groundwork for the modern civil rights movement, died on Tuesday in Texas. She was 86.

The Claudette Colvin Legacy Foundation announced her death, with Ashley D. Roseboro of the organization confirming she passed away while in hospice care. Colvin had lived for many years in the Bronx but spent her final days in Texas.

On March 2, 1955, Colvin boarded a city bus in Montgomery during an era of strict Jim Crow segregation laws. Black passengers were required to sit in the rear section, and if the white section filled, they could be ordered to vacate the "colored" rows to make space, even if seats remained empty nearby. Black riders also could not share rows with white passengers.

According to a police report, the bus driver called authorities after noticing two Black teenage girls seated near two white girls, violating the rules. One girl moved to the rear when asked, but Colvin remained in her seat and was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. She later recounted feeling a deep sense of injustice, drawing...