November 15, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 183 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H8906]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1245
            RECOGNIZING CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER CLAUDETTE COLVIN

  (Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Claudette 
Colvin, a Parkchester resident and American civil rights pioneer who, 
on March 2, 1955, at the age of 15 years old, was arrested in 
Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a young 
passenger, becoming one of the many to be arrested for challenging 
Montgomery's bus segregation policies.
  Nine months after Claudette Colvin, Rosa Parks was famously arrested 
for a similar act of civil nonviolence.
  Claudette's heroic story was nearly forgotten by history. Her actions 
led to monumental progress in our Nation's history. Not only that, her 
heroic actions amplified and set the stage for other great African 
American civil rights leaders and their actions.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Ms. 
Claudette Colvin's courage to stand in the face of injustice and demand 
recognition of her inalienable rights. Because, in her courage to fight 
for her freedom, she paved a path for millions of others to do the 
same.

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