As a teen, became a civil rights hero

Claudette Colvin, whose 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Ala., bus helped spark the modern civil rights movement, has died.

- By KIMBERLY CHANDLER

She was 86.Her death was announced Tuesday by the Claudette Colvin Legacy Foundation. Ashley D. Roseboro of the organization confirmed she died of natural causes in Texas.

Colvin, at age 15, was arrested nine months before Rosa Parks gained international fame for also refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus.

Colvin had boarded the bus on March 2, 1955, on her way home from high school. The first rows were reserved for white passengers. Colvin sat in the rear with other Black passengers. When the white section became full, the bus driver ordered Black passengers to relinquish their seats to white passengers, Colvin refused.

“My mindset was on freedom,” Colvin said in 2021 of her refusal to give up her seat.