Sarah Guerrero 5/21/15
PCR: The Overlooked Role of Teenagers in the CivilRights Era
Since kindergarten, children are taught about the courageous Rosa Parks and the great speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King JR., but something that we are almost never taught is about the everyday adolescent heros. Before and during the Civil Rights Era, teenagers and children often spoke and acted against segregation. After reading Kids on the Bus: The Overlooked Role Of Teenagers in the CivilRights Era, give an example of a young person acting against segregation and explain why we are not taught about these juvenile heros.
Claudette Colvin, a fifteen year old living in Montgomery, Alabama grew up in a segregation strong town. The hatred of white people towards colored people and the outrageous rules about what black people can and can’t do. On March 2, 1955, Claudette refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Claudette Colvin was just as courageous as Rosa Parks yet we are not taught of her strength and what she did. Some historians describe Rosa Parks and Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. as the “safe revolutionaries.” It is said that the leaders behind the scenes of the Civil Rights did not want young adolescents at the front of the movement. “... civilrights leaders worried that her morals might be attacked, reflecting poorly on the movement…. Mrs.
Parks, an upstanding citizen.” This excerpt is referring to Claudette Colvin soon becoming
pregnant
