Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

Part 1, Chapters 1-2

Reading Check

1. State laws that legalized racial segregation in the South (Chapter 1)

2. “[T]o enforce the Jim Crow laws” (Chapter 1)

3. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) (Chapter 1)

4. Movie star Claudette Colbert (Chapter 2)

5. Polio (Chapter 2)

Short Answer

1. Claudette recounts the following memory: A white child asked to see her hands, and as they touched, he laughed. Claudette’s mother saw the boy and the boy’s mother, walked over to Claudette and slapped her for touching him. The boy’s mother nodded with approval. (Chapter 1)

2. Phillip Hoose describes how Black passengers had to enter the bus, pay the driver, leave, and re-enter through the back where they were allowed to sit. Sometimes the drivers would drive away after the passengers paid but before they could re-enter. Additionally, Black passengers were expected to give up their seats on command of the driver for white passengers. (Chapter 1)

3. In an interview, Claudette reminisces on how she was taught in school that “white people were better than Blacks.