Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 12/15/2020 Meet Claudette Colvin, whose refusal to give up her seat on a segregated city bus was an early sign that Black residents of Montgomery, Alabama, would use civil disobedience in the face of injustice. Born in 1939, Colvin was raised by her aunt and uncle in a loving, religious household. In her segregated high school, she learned about African countries, Black history, and civil rights. And in 1955, police dragged 15-year-old Claudette from her bus seat and threw her in jail. She was charged and found guilty. Her testimony in the appeals court helped bring about the Montgomery bus boycott, sparked by Rosa Parks’ similar act of nonviolent resistance later that year. An appended section suggests five ways that readers can learn more about their rights. Ransome offers a well-balanced and very readable account of Colvin’s family life, her values, and her reasons for resisting unjust laws. Illustrations, not seen in final form, appear on about half the pages. From the She Persisted biography series, here's an engaging introduction to a young civil rights hero.Women in Focus: The 19th in 2020 - Copyright 2020 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 02/01/2021 Gr 1–4—In March 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks made her historic stand against segregation on a Montgomery bus, Black teenager Claudette Colvin (b. 1939) refused to give up her Montgomery bus seat to a white woman. Arrested and verbally abused by police, 15-year-old Colvin endured her trial, where she was found guilty. Following Parks's arrest in December 1955, attorney Fred Gray sued the state of Alabama in Browder v. Gayle. The case sought to challenge state statutes and city ordinances instituting segregation on Montgomery buses; Colvin was tapped as one of the plaintiffs. Colvin, a devoutly religious and thoughtful young woman, was acutely aware of the injustices of Jim Crow laws and understood that the bus segregation laws violated her constitutional rights. This title provides a sufficient introduction to Colvin's role in the civil rights movement. Her religious devotion is emphasized and accounts of her arrest and trial are well-explored and provide an engaging read. The text ends right after Colvin testifies in court in the case of Browder v. Gayle, and readers will wonder what became of the teenager later in her life. Older readers could seek further information about Colvin in Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. VERDICT Cline-Ransome's narrative provides a knowledgable, interesting introduction to an important player in the civil rights movement. Recommended for school and public libraries.—Margaret Nunes, formerly at Gwinnett County P.L., GA - Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.