Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (2009) is a middle-grade biography by Phillip Hoose, which details teenager Claudette’s resistance to Jim Crow laws in 1955 Montgomery, Alabama. Prior to the year of research that would ultimately become this book, Hoose was well-known as a young adult nonfiction author. He had previously published We Were There Too! Young People In U.S. History, which explored similar themes to Claudette Colvin, showing how dozens of young people contributed to pivotal moments in many periods of United States history, often to little acclaim or historical recognition. Hoose was inspired to reach out to Claudette when he discovered her story while doing research. He spent a year interviewing Claudette, beginning in 2006, and Claudette Colvin primarily consists of her direct retelling of her story. The book was the first dedicated exclusively to Claudette, and Hoose was careful to keep the story centered on her despite the broad themes that are addressed.

Claudette Colvin was well received and informed many readers of bus protestors prior to Rosa Parks. The book was given rave reviews by major publications like the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal. It won the 2009 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. In 2010, the book received a Newbury Honor Award and several other major prizes. It was a finalist for both the 2010 Robert F. Sibert Award and YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. Claudette Colvin has appeared on many essential reading lists for young adults, and is regularly included in middle-school curricula.

This guide is based on the 2009 Farr Straus Giroux edition of the text.

Content Warning: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice discusses anti-Black racism and instances of racial violence, including police violence and lynching. There are also references to the sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor. The source material references historical documents and events that include racist language, including the “n” word. This guide does not use the “n” word. Other slurs are repeated only when necessary for accuracy (such as in the names of organizations), or understanding (in direct quotations).

Summary

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice opens with a discussion of the racial tension on Montgomery, Alabama buses throughout the first half of the 20th century. Although all aspects of Black life in the city were dictated by racist Jim Crow laws, the bus was the main place where white supremacy was impossible to ignore. Several Black people were arrested or even killed during bus-related disputes. Claudette Colvin was a young child growing up in rural Pine Level. At a young age, she began to question why white people were allotted more privileges. She dreamed of leaving Alabama, becoming a lawyer, and returning to help end segregation and racism once and for all. When Claudette moved to Montgomery, she noticed that many Black adults complained about racism but didn’t seem willing to do anything about it. In high school, she met teachers who taught her about her rights as an American citizen and encouraged her to take pride in being Black. One fateful day in March 1955, she decided she could not quietly accept segregation any longer.

Montgomery bus rules dictated that Black passengers must give up their seat if a white person wanted it. One day, Claudette refused to give up her seat. She was arrested and convicted of three crimes, including assaulting a police officer, despite staying limp throughout the arrest. From then on, Claudette’s life would never be the same. She hoped to become a leader in the civil rights movement but was met with prejudice because of her age, her family’s economic status, and later, her pregnancy. Despite these challenges, she played an instrumental role as a witness in the court case that finally ended bus segregation—Browder v. Gayle. However, Claudette felt abandoned by the activist community, who did not offer to help her as a struggling single mother; she could not keep a job because her name had been tarnished in the white community after the trial.