Claudette Colvin, Civil Rights Forerunner

On 5 September 1939, Black civil rights activist and nurse Claudette Colvin was born in Montgomery, Alabama.

When she was 15 she was arrested and convicted for refusing to give up her seat on a bus which she had been ordered to vacate for white passengers, several months before Rosa Parks.

However, civil rights leaders decided not to make a cause célèbre of her case. Some local activists also believe that Colvin's dark skin was a factor in not choosing to take on her case.