After years of fighting, civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin’s juvenile record has finally been expunged.
Colvin was arrested when she was 15 for refusing to give up her seat to a White person on a bus in Montgomery. Colvin’s rebellious act occurred nine months before Rosa Park’s iconic decision not to move to the back of the bus. Parks’ protest was the catalyst for the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.
Colvin was arrested and charged with violating the city’s segregation law, disorderly conduct and assaulting an officer. The first two charges were dropped, but the latter charge remained on her record.
On Nov. 24, Montgomery County Juvenile Judge Calvin Williams signed the order to destroy the records, including all references to the arrest.
He also granted Colvin’s motion to seal for good cause and fairness for “what has since been recognized as a courageous act on her behalf and on behalf of a community of affected people.”
Colvin rejoiced at the news.
“My name was cleared,” Colvin told CBS News. “I’m no longer a juvenile delinquent at 82.”
On “CBS Mornings,” he said: “I want to thank you for your courage. Your courageous act. I want to, on behalf of myself and all of the judges in Montgomery, offer my apology for an injustice that was perpetrated upon you.”
“What Miss Colvin did has such great significance. And that’s because it holds such great symbolism,” he continued. “When she did this in 1955, there were no African American judges in Montgomery. And now, I’m one of several African American judges in Montgomery. And so, the remarkable thing is that I sit in a position to look and do something judicious in a judicious way to correct an injustice that was perpetrated against her so long ago that never should have happened. That’s the uniqueness of this whole circumstance. That she stood up for right, and now I’m the beneficiary and byproduct of that and I can correct the wrong that was done to her. That’s the significance of it.”
