30 Claudette Colvin Quotes

Claudette Colvin is a renowned civil rights activist who was born in Montgomery, Alabama.

She is known to be one of the pioneering women activist to fight for their constitutional right against unjust police officers and government. Here is a list of Claudette Colvin quotes for inspiration against unjustness.

These Claudette Colvin quotes are not only well-known all over the world but also are the pillars of the fight against injustice.

(Learn about the most famous quotes and sayings of the activist, Claudette Colvin.)

“I wanted the young African-American girls also on the bus to know that they had a right to be there, because they had paid their fare just like the white passengers.”

“I've always told my children that once they go out into the world, they must have two heads and two minds: one to keep grounded, the other to deal with corporate America.”

“I lost most of my friends. Their parents had told them to stay away from me, because they said I was crazy, I was an extremist.”

“One of the police officers said to the driver in a very angry tone, "Who is it?" The motorman pointed at me. I heard him say, "That's nothing new . . . I've had trouble with that 'thing' before.”

“When I told my mother I was pregnant, I thought she was going to have a heart attack.”

“but dozens of reporters and photographers staked out positions in front”

“I left the South in 1963 and was living in Morristown, New Jersey, when the March on Washington took place, so I watched it on television instead.”

“New York is a completely different culture to Montgomery, Alabama.”

“I was ostracized by my community.”

“We were churchgoing people.”

The following are quotes and sayings of Claudette Colvin which include incidences of unjustness by police officers and the ruling government of that time itself. Have a quick read and get inspired!

“Before Rosa Parks, A Teenager Defied Segregation On An Alabama Bus”

“A lot has changed since I grew up, but there's still a long way to go. I don't think we can move forward with Donald Trump as the president. There's a disconnect there. We don't want to regress, we want progress.”

“And I think you just brought the revolution to Montgomery.”

- 'Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice', Phillip Hoose.

“Young people think Rosa Parks just sat down on a bus and ended segregation, but that wasn't the case at all.”

- July 8, 2015, www.thevisibilityproject.com.

“I just couldn't move. History had me glued to the seat.”

“I remember during Easter one year, I was to get a pair of black patent shoes but you could only get them from the white stores, so my mother drew the outline of my feet on a brown paper bag in order to get the closest size, because we weren't allowed to go in the store to try them on.”

“For African-Americans, it's still going to be - some people say double hard - I'd say four times as hard. Be an opportunist. Take advantage of your resources, because the only way to win is with education, self-esteem, having value in yourself.”

“The Montgomery Bus Boycott began in December 1955, and by 1956 NAACP leaders came to me and asked me to be part of a lawsuit they wanted to file on my behalf and that of three other women, to challenge segregation on public buses.”

“I'd like my grandchildren to be able to see that their grandmother stood up for something, a long time ago.”

“I never swore when I was young.”

Here is a list of quotes on civil rights and the constitutional right to equality by the activist, Claudette Colvin.

“…as a teenager, I kept thinking, Why don't the adults around here just say something? Say it so that they know we don't accept segregation? I knew then and I know now that, when it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it.”

“It's my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it's my constitutional right.”

“There was segregation everywhere. The churches, buses and schools were all segregated and you couldn't even go into the same restaurants.”

“As long as white people put people of color, African Americans and Latinos, in the same dispensable bag, and look at our children of color as insignificant and treat women of color as not as deserving of protection as white women, we will never achieve true equality.”

“I say it felt as though Harriet Tubman's hands were pushing me down on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth's hands were pushing me down on the other shoulder. I felt inspired by these women because my teacher taught us about them in so much detail.”

“I was about four years old the first time I ever saw what happened when you acted up to whites.”

“Rosa Parks wasn't the first one to rebel against the segregated seats. I was the first one.”

“When you've been abused daily and you see people humiliated and harassed, you just get tired of it.”

“That was worse than stealing, you know, talking back to a white person.”

“Being dragged off that bus was worth it just to see Barack Obama become president, because so many others gave their lives and didn't get to see it, and I thank God for letting me see it.”

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