Claudette Colvin, US civil rights pioneer, has died at 86

Claudette Colvin, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus in 1955 at age 15, has died at 86, her foundation said. She later joined a successful lawsuit against segregated bus seating and had her juvenile arrest record expunged in 2021.

Claudette Colvin, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus in 1955, has died at 86, her foundation said. She was 15 at the time of the arrest on March 2, 1955, an act that preceded Rosa Parks' later protest in the same city. Colvin was briefly detained and the following year became one of four Black women who filed a lawsuit challenging segregated bus seating in Montgomery. That case contributed to changes in enforced segregation on public transportation across the United States. Key details: - Her foundation announced her death and said she was 86. - On March 2, 1955, at age 15, Colvin refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery and was detained. - She was briefly jailed on a charge of disturbing the peace and became a plaintiff in a lawsuit that challenged segregated bus seating, a case that affected public transport nationwide. - Colvin faced ostracism after becoming pregnant out of wedlock and later worked for about 30 years as a nursing assistant at a Catholic nursing home. - Later recognition included a 2009 biography that won the US National Book Award for young people's literature and the expungement of her 1955 juvenile record in 2021. Summary: Her refusal to give up her seat occurred months before a more widely publicised protest and she was part of legal action that helped end enforced segregation on public transport, contributing to broader civil rights advances. She lived much of her life outside the spotlight before receiving renewed recognition later on. Undetermined at this time.