Honoring the life and courage of Claudette Colvin.

Bill: 117-hres-944
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Lawson, Al, Jr. [D-FL-5]
Introduced: 2022-02-25
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Subjects: Alabama

Congressional tributes

Constitution and constitutional amendments

Public transit

Racial and ethnic relations

Supreme Court
Latest action: action_date: 2022-11-01
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-02-25
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution recognizes Claudette Colvin as an integral figure of the civil rights movement and honors her actions leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the related Supreme Court ruling that found segregation on buses to be unconstitutional.</p>

tv_txt: IV 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 944 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 25, 2022 Mr. Lawson of Florida (for himself, Ms. Sewell , Ms. Norton , Ms. Adams , Mr. Thompson of Mississippi , Mr. Carson , Mrs. Lawrence , Ms. Wilson of Florida , Mr. David Scott of Georgia , Ms. Omar , Mr. Carter of Louisiana , Mr. Raskin , Mr. Vargas , Ms. Tlaib , Mr. Tonko , Mr. Veasey , Mr. Khanna , Mr. Cárdenas , Mr. Suozzi , Ms. McCollum , Ms. Williams of Georgia , Ms. Schakowsky , Ms. Kaptur , Mr. Schneider , Ms. Bonamici , Mrs. Hayes , Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick , Mr. Johnson of Georgia , Ms. Lee of California , Mrs. Watson Coleman , Mr. Brown of Maryland , Ms. Jackson Lee , and Mr. Neguse ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Honoring the life and courage of Claudette Colvin.

Whereas, on March 2, 1955, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, a student at Booker T. Washington High School, refused to give up her seat in the colored section of the bus for a White person on her ride home from school in Montgomery, Alabama; Whereas Claudette Colvin was forcibly removed from the bus and arrested for disturbing the peace, assault of a police officer, and disobeying segregation laws; Whereas Claudette Colvin was escorted by Montgomery police officers to jail, and eventually sentenced to indefinite probation for assault of a police officer; Whereas Claudette Colvin was a member of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Council, and worked with Rosa Parks, the Montgomery chapter NAACP secretary; Whereas Rosa Parks was arrested for the same act as Claudette Colvin nine months later in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955, and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott; Whereas Claudette Colvin was not recognized nationally at the time for her historic protest of Jim Crow segregation laws due to her age, appearance, and pregnancy; Whereas Claudette Colvin was one of four plaintiffs and testified in the 1956 Browder v. Gayle case that challenged Alabama State statutes on bus segregation; Whereas, on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the District Court that the State of Alabama’s bus segregation laws violated the rights of African Americans as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution; Whereas the Supreme Court Browder v. Gayle ruling signaled the end of the 382-day Montgomery Bus Boycott; Whereas Claudette Colvin went on to become a nurse’s aide in Manhattan, New York, and retired in 2004; and Whereas, in October 2021, Claudette Colvin filed a motion in Montgomery Juvenile Court to have her record expunged: Now, therefore, be it

the House of Representatives— (1) recognizes Claudette Colvin as an integral figure of the civil rights movement, for which she, as a teenager, advocated for the constitutional rights of all African Americans; and (2) honors the brave actions of Claudette Colvin which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the landmark Supreme Court Browder v. Gayle ruling.