AL SJR10

Alabama Legislature joint resolution mourning the death and celebrating the life of Claudette Colvin of Birmingham, a civil rights pioneer

Colvin was arrested at age 15 on March 2, 1955, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery—nine months before Rosa Parks' arrest

At age 16, she provided pivotal testimony as a plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the case that led the U.S. Supreme Court to declare Alabama's bus segregation laws unconstitutional on December 20, 1956

Colvin received numerous honors including the MLK Jr. Medal of Freedom from New York Governor Mario Cuomo in 1990, and her juvenile record was expunged in 2021—66 years after her arrest

She founded the Claudette Colvin Foundation to inspire youth service and co-authored the children's book "Claudette Colvin: I Want Freedom Now!"