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Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, another Black Montgomery citizen had done the same. Claudette Colvin was only fifteen at the time she refused to follow Jim Crow practices any longer and was arrested. In the aftermath, Claudette often felt isolated and alone, even vilified by some within her own community. Fourteen months later, Rosa Parks had been arrested and the Black community united in boycotting public transportation, but it was in the courts that a victory was needed, and Claudette courageously became one of five plaintiffs in a class action law suit. That suit, Browder v. Gayle, put an end to segregated transportation in Montgomery when a federal court ruled it unconstitutional. Claudette's passion and her dreams of making a difference will resonate with contemporary readers, as will her sense of hurt and injustice. Phillip Hoose's narrative, which was drawn in large part from interviews with Colvin and others as well as additional research, paints a fresh, insightful picture of those life-changing times in Montgomery, looking at them through the experiences of a teenager who raced challenges for being both young and Black. ©2009 Cooperative Children's Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 13 and older
Age Range:
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Formats:
Biography, Autobiography and Memoir
Substantial Narrative Non-Fiction
Subjects:
20th Century
Activism and Resistance
African Americans
Biography
Civil Rights
History (Nonfiction)
Racism
U.S. History
Diversity subject:
Black/African
Publishers:
Farrar Straus Giroux, Melanie Kroupa Books
Publish Year: 2009
Pages: 133
ISBN: 9780374313227
CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 920 Colvin