Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip M. Hoose

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip M. Hoose is about the Montgomery, Alabama fight for desegregation on city buses. Claudette Colvin was 15 in 1955 when she refused to get out of her bus seat for a white passenger. She was dragged off the bus by police and arrested. Later, she was convicted of breaking segregation laws, disturbing the peace, and assaulting a police officer. The NAACP got involved and tried to help her, but all that resulted was a reversal on the first two charges - leaving assaulting a police officer on her permanent record. Later that year, another black teen refused to give up her seat on the bus. Her story was covered up so quickly, most people have never heard of Mary Louise Smith. Finally, 9 months after Claudette made her stand against segregation, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. This mild-mannered 42 year old was a better fit than Claudette or Mary Louise for the "face" of descrimination, so the NAACP launched the bus boycott that lasted over a year. Claudette ended up being able to help her cause in the end, however, by suing the state of Alabama, along with Mary Louise and two other women who had been terrorized on public busses. They won their case and eventually the Supreme Court ruled that all busses must be integrated in Alabama.

This was a really interesting story. I had never heard of Claudette Colvin before reading this book. I didn't realize that anyone had come before Rosa Parks in fighting the unfairness of the bus procedures. Claudette's story is sad - because she was seen as emotional and rebellious, her stand on the bus couldn't be used to start the bus boycott they were planning. Claudette's life really took a turn for the worse in the years following her refusal to give up her seat. She was discriminated against by her own peers at school! This was an eye-opening nonfiction book for me.