While I'm wearing my history teacher hat, I'd also like to talk about #ClaudetteColvin a bit for #BlackHistoryMonth because I'm seeing A LOT of incorrect takes about her, Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

#thread

It's obvious from reading a lot of the tweets about her that most people have taken their history lessons from social media or from Drunken History... neither of which is a good idea.

Drunk History is (or was, I dunno if they still make it) a very entertaining show but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not take what you see on that show to be fact.

If you see a story that sparks your interest there (or on social media), I implore you to do your own research so you don't look like a dumbass. Because a lot of you do.

Yes, Claudette Colvin was arrested 9 months before Rosa Parks was for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery City Bus.

It was actually pretty common for Black folk back then to be arrested for refusing to follow the law. They were tired of living under asinine laws put in place to make them feel as if they were less than. They were tired of White Supremacy (as we all still are).

Claudette was not the first person to be arrested for refusing to give up her seat. Plenty of people (mostly women) were. They were usually arrested and/or fined and then more of the same occurred. Nothing changed. The laws remained the same and we were discriminated against.

Where Claudette differs is that she was 1 of the first people to actually challenge the arrest, tho. She & 3 other women (Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, & Mary Louise Smith) were responsible for the court case that overturned bus segregation laws in Alabama (Browder v. Gayle)

So why aren't Claudette Colvin or any of the other women as well-known and discussed as heavily as Rosa Parks is? That's by design.

When organizing the bus boycotts, the NAACP was looking for the perfect person (or case) to present to courts and the world. Claudette was only a teenager when her arrest occurred. She was 15 years old and later became pregnant shortly after her arrest. Not ideal for the cause.

They thought Rosa Parks would be a "better fit", seeing as she was an adult. There's also the aspect of colorism and her proximity to whiteness. She was fair-skinned and had "good hair" at the time.

That's the reality of the time they were in (and we are still in, honestly). Rosa's "European-like features" made her more of a presentable symbol of injustice. This isn't Rosa's fault (or anyone else's).

Her genetics made her the optimal symbol and obviously, the NAACP had the right idea because it worked.

Rosa gets dealt an unfair hand simply because she fit the criteria for who the NAACP was looking for to bring attention to their cause. She was an adult, she was living a "respectable" life, and she had the right look.

The NAACP actually DID consider making other women the face of the movement (including Claudette Colvin) but they didn't fit the profile.

And honestly, had another woman been chosen to be the face of that movement, laws may not have changed. Those laws had already been challenged time and time again without any type of result.

And while we are here... Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, & Mary Louise Smith were all honored in 2019 (along with Rosa Parks) in Montgomery, Al.

A statue of Rosa and four granite markers honoring Claudette, Aurelia, Susie, and Mary Louise were unveiled in a ceremony there.

So please stop painting Rosa Parks out to be some terrible person or acting as if it's her fault that she fit a profile that the NAACP was looking for to change the unjust laws in Alabama. Educate yourselves, please. Some of you are entirely too old to be so ignorant.

PLEASE do your own research, even after reading my tweets here. We have to get out of the habit of taking the things we read on social media platforms or see in television shows and biopics as the complete truth. Most of the time, it's all for entertainment value.

Both Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks deserve to be honored for their sacrifices. All of the men and women who took a stand against injustice deserve to be honored.

#endThread #happyblackhistorymonth