Civil Rights Book Club: Philip Hoose’s ‘Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice’

Fifteen-year old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a White person on March 2, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., nine months before Rosa Parks did the same thing in the city. Parks, of course, went on to become a civil rights icon while Colvin has spent most of her life in relative obscurity.

Now with a new book by Philip Hoose, Colvin can take her rightful place in the broader story of the civil rights movement.  “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice” tells Colvin’s story, which includes her participation in a landmark case that successfully overturned bus segregation laws in Montgomery and Alabama and her relationship with some of the leaders of the movement.

The Civil Rights Book Club aims to provide context and provoke discussion about today’s top social justice concerns. Each week, we profile a book, a movie, or other media that represent the diversity of the contemporary social justice movement. You can help support The Leadership Conference by purchasing Book Club selections through the Amazon.com link on our website.