Before there was Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin.

#BlackAmerican #BlackHistory #AmericanHistory #BlackHistorymonth #ClaudetteColvin

Most people think of Rosa Parks as the first person to refuse to give up their seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. There were actually several women who came before her; one of whom was Claudette Colvin.

It was March 2, 1955, when the fifteen-year-old schoolgirl refused to move to the back of the bus, nine months before Rosa Parks’ stand that launched the Montgomery bus boycott. Claudette had been studying Black leaders like Harriet Tubman in her segregated school, those conversations had led to discussions around the current day Jim Crow laws they were all experiencing. When the bus driver ordered Claudette to get up, she refused, “It felt like Sojourner Truth was on one side pushing me down, and Harriet Tubman was on the other side of me pushing me down. I couldn't get up."

Claudette Colvin’s stand didn’t stop there. Arrested and thrown in jail, she was one of four women who challenged the segregation law in court. If Browder v. Gayle became the court case that successfully overturned bus segregation laws in both Montgomery and Alabama, why has Claudette’s story been largely forgotten? At the time, the NAACP and other Black organizations felt Rosa Parks made a better icon for the movement than a teenager. As an adult with the right look, Rosa Parks was also the secretary of the NAACP, and was both well-known and respected – people would associate her with the middle class and that would attract support for the cause. But the struggle to end segregation was often fought by young people, more than half of which were women.

Image: Claudette Colvin by Phillip Hoose

Comments

Are we really listening to what MLK had to say?

#MartinLutherKingJr #MLK #CivilRights #DrKing In 2020, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday falls in a national election year, one that reminds us of the importance of voting rights, citizenship and political activism to the health of our democracy. King imagined America as a "beloved community" capable of defeating what he characterized as the triple threats of racism, militarism and materialism. The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, alongside the 1954 Brown Supreme Court decision, represents the crown jewels of the civil rights movement's heroic period. Yet King quickly realized that policy transformations alone, including the right to vote, would be insufficient in realizing his goal of institutionalizing radical black citizenship toward the creation of the "beloved community." King argued that justice was what love looked like in public. 2020 also marks the 55th anniversary of the passage of the Voting...

Video - X-Press 2 Ft. David Byrne - Lazy (Shiprinski deep-house Remix)

#DavidByrne #Lazy #Remix #XPress2 #deephouse #HouseMix No tears are fallin' from my eyes, I'm keepin' all the pain inside Now, don't you wanna live with me? I'm lazy as a man can be!

The Power of Authentic Self-Esteem

#HealthyRelationships #selfesteem What does it mean for someone to be truly authentic? And how many people do you know actually fit that description? Do you feel that you’re authentic? Let’s take a look at what this word truly suggests and just what blocks us from achieving authenticity. Naturally, the word authenticity evokes an image of something pure or unadulterated. A letter of authenticity confirms that a certain object or work of art is not a counterfeit. The act of authenticating is a process of determining that something is indeed genuine, as it is purported to be. Experts receive training to authenticate precious objects, memorabilia, and documents, among other rare items. Yet we have no such method for ascertaining the authentic nature of people. Short of being caught in a bold-faced lie or transgression, methods of determining an individual’s authenticity often go unexplored. One’s authentic nature is revealed in their ability to express and share what they think...

Juneteenth: An important day that marks the end of slavery in the United States.

#Juneteenth #Hope #Empowerment #Celebration #EmancipationProclamation #AbrahamLincoln #Holiday #BlackAmerican #AfricanAmerican #AmericaHistory #AfricanAmericantherapist #Triple5LightTherapy The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared freedom for enslaved people in Confederate states. However, it took over two years for the news to reach enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas. On June 19, 1865, Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and personally announced the end of slavery, effectively emancipating the remaining enslaved individuals in Texas. His arrival and announcement marked a turning point in the history of slavery in the United States. This momentous event became known as Juneteenth, a combination of 'June' and 'nineteenth.' Juneteenth is a day to remember and celebrate. It's an opportunity to honor, recognize, and celebrate the achievements and contributions of Black Americans to t...

Triple5Light Therapy

Search This Blog