Khaberni - Claudette Colvin, the African American activist who, when she was 15 years old, refused to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama to a white woman, has died at 86, according to her foundation announced on Tuesday.
Her foundation stated that Colvin "leaves behind a legacy of courage that helped change the course of American history." Colvin was studying black history in March 1955, when she was arrested after she refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a bus in Montgomery.
Colvin told journalists in Paris in April 2023: "I remained seated because the lady could have sat in the seat opposite mine," adding "but she refused to do so because a white person is not supposed to sit near a black person."
She continued: "People ask me why I refused to move from my place, and I say that history made me stuck to the seat," Colvin was briefly jailed for disturbing the peace, and the following year, she became one of four black women who filed a lawsuit challenging racial segregation on the bus seats in Montgomery.
They won the case, which contributed to changes in public transportation across the United States, including trains, airplanes, and taxis.
