NJ Transit Honors 'The Other Rosa Parks'

The board of directors of NJ Transit this week honored an African-American woman who played a key role in desegregating mass transit during the civil rights era.

Claudette Colvin was a 15-year-old high school student in 1955 when she refused to surrender her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Ala., to a white person. Colvin’s action came almost a year before Rosa Parks’s similar and far more famous act of civil disobedience, which triggered the Montgomery bus boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King.

“Ms. Colvin’s tremendous contributions to the civil rights movement had a major impact on public transportation in the United States, and thanks to her, the benefits of public transportation are available to all equally regardless of race, color or creed,” said NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein.  “On behalf of NJ Transit, we are honored to recognize Ms. Colvin for her contributions.”