Civil Rights pioneer Claudette Colvin dies at 86

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Source: WAKA

Civil Rights pioneer Claudette Colvin dies at 86

Posted: Jan 13, 2026 3:26 PM CST
by WAKA Action 8 News


FILE - Claudette Colvin talks about segregation laws in the 1950's while having her photo taken Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Montgomery Civil Rights pioneer Claudette Colvin has died at 86. ... Her death was announced by the Claudette Colvin Foundation and her family.

At age 15, Colvin was arrested on March 2, 1955, in Montgomery for violating bus segregation ordinances, nine months before Rosa Parks. Colvin was made a ward of the State and placed on indefinite probation.


FILE - Claudette Colvin at the age of 15

Colvin is one of the two survivors of the Browder v. Gayle U.S. Supreme Court Case. She is known for her significant role in desegregating buses in Montgomery after Parks' arrest led to the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

She was one of four black female plaintiffs, along with Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald and Mary Louise Smith, who filed a lawsuit challenging segregated bus seating in Montgomery. Their attorney was Fred Gray, who maintains a law office to this day. ... Their case was successful, impacting public transportation on trains, airplanes and taxis throughout the U.S.

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Read more: https://www.waka.com/2026/01/13/civil-rights-pioneer-claudette-colvin-dies-at-86/

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2026/01/13/claudette-colvin-dead-civil-rights/

Claudette Colvin, civil rights pioneer on a Montgomery bus, dies at 86

Nine months before Rosa Parks made history, Ms. Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated city bus in Alabama. She became a star witness in a civil rights case.

16 minutes ago
10 min


Civil rights activist Claudette Colvin in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1998. (Dudley M. Brooks/The Washington Post)

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By Harrison Smith

On March 2, 1955, a 15-year-old Black high school junior named Claudette Colvin boarded a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, taking a window seat near the back. When the driver ordered her to give up her seat so a White woman could be more comfortable, Ms. Colvin -- who had been studying Black history in class, learning about abolitionists like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth -- did not budge.

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