claudette colvin twice toward justice sparknotes

“I paid my fare, it’s my constitutional right,” the teen, who had been studying Jim Crow laws in school, yelled in a squeaky voice. The police were called and they dragged a crying Colvin off the bus. “If she sat down in the same row as me, it meant I was as good as her,” Colvin later told The New York Times. The driver ordered Colvin to go stand in the back, even though two other seats in Colvin’s row were empty. Then 15 years old, she had been riding home from school when a white woman stepped on the crowded bus. She grew up in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods and focused most of her energy on school - studying hard and earning mostly A’s.īut on a fateful day in 1955, Colvin decided to fight for her civil rights. Who Was Claudette Colvin?Ĭlaudette Colvin was born in 1939 in Montgomery, Alabama. But while Parks’ name became synonymous with the civil rights movement, Colvin’s was forgotten. She even used the same peaceful act of civil disobedience. Hoose is the author of the Newberry Honor Book and National Book Award-winning Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.Wikimedia Commons Claudette Colvin was just 15 when she made her stand.īut her activism didn’t stop there - she later became one of the four female plaintiffs in the court case that overturned Alabama’s bus segregation laws.Ĭolvin fought for the same cause in the same city as Parks. This is a story so compelling it's sure to captivate even readers who 'hate' history.

Although set in a violent and terrifying time, the violence is never described in any detail. The book interweaves Hoose's narrative with the memories of Knud Pedersen, who was the young leader of the Churchill Club, and includes many black-and-white photos. Parents need to know that Phillip Hoose's The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club is the remarkable true story of a small group of courageous Danish teens whose acts of sabotage against the German military inspired their country to rise up against the Nazi occupation. It's occasionally mentioned that the boys smoke pipes (appropriate for the historical period), and one younger boy gains admittance to the club in large part because he can bring supplies of tobacco from his father's store.ĭid you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Claudette colvin twice toward justice sparknotes