Claudette Colvin: A teen’s revolutionary act of defiance

Remembering the late Claudette Colvin, US civil rights pioneer who died this week aged 86. In March 1955, Claudette was a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Montgomery, Alabama when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a bus. Claudette’s brave defiance of the city’s segregation laws was overshadowed nine months later by a similar act of resistance by her friend, Rosa Parks, which in turn spurred on local pastor Martin Luther King Jr and lit the spark of the civil rights movement. While Rosa Parks became known around the world, it would take decades for Claudette to get recognition – and justice – for her protest. Claudette spoke to Outlook’s Matthew Bannister in 2018.

Plus, two other stories of teenagers who courageously challenged the world around them:

Lebanese Girl Scout Marina El Khawand raced against time to save a stranger after the horrific 2020 Beirut port explosion, she now helps to provide life-saving medicine across Lebanon.

Aged 13, Dutch sailor Laura Dekker shocked the world when she announced her plan to sail around the globe, solo. It was a legal and personal struggle she ultimately won, becoming the youngest person to complete a solo circumnavigation.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producers: Maryam Maruf, Elena Angelides, May Cameron

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: A black and white photo of a teenage Claudette Colvin. Credit: Alamy)