Photo: Scott Umstattd | Unsplash
At only 15 years old, Claudette Colvin had the courage to refuse to give up her seat to a White person on a bus in Alabama. This was in 1955 during the heat of the segregation movement in the U.S. Her act would inspire renowned Rosa Parks nine months later to challenge segregation laws. The young teenager—and civil rights pioneer—was convicted and sentenced to prison on "indefinite probation." Sixty-six years later, Alabama courts granted Colvin's release from prison, expunging her criminal record and overturning her convictions. She wished to return to Texas to be with her family. "When I think about why I'm seeking to have my name cleared by the state," she said, "it is because I believe if that happened it would show the generation growing up now that progress is possible and things do get better. It will inspire them to make the world better."
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