Claudette Colvin, a pioneer in the civil rights movement in the United States, has died at the age of 86.
“It is with deep sadness that the “Claudette Colvin“ Foundation and family announce the death of Claudette Colvin, a beloved mother, grandmother and pioneer in the civil rights movement,“ the organization said in a statement.
In March 1955, Colvin, a 15-year-old black schoolgirl from Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, explaining that she had paid for the fare and that it was her constitutional right. She was subsequently arrested.