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Black and white portrait of a young Black girl with short, styled hair, smiling at the camera.
Portrait of Claudette Colvin aged 15. (Photo: AP)

Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Date: 1955

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Portrait of Claudette Colvin aged 15. (Photo: AP)

Colvin, a 15 year-old Black female civil rights activist, refuses to move, demanding respect for her constitutional rights. Colvin is arrested and charged with disturbing the peace, violating the city's segregation ordinance, and assaulting a police officer.

The Women's Political Council, which has already been protesting the treatment of Black people on public buses, begins to organize a protest.