claudette colvin refused to move to the back of the bus.
claudette colvin refused to move to the back of the bus.
who refused to move to the back of the bus?
claudette colvin
in july 2004, american-israeli novelist naomi ragen unintentionally boarded a "mehadrin" bus toward her home in ramot and was physically threatened for refusing to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. in 2006, "mehadrin" buses were heavily criticized in the media worldwide after an american jewish woman, miriam shear, reported being attacked and beaten by a group of ultra-orthodox men after refusing to move to the back of the bus on a non-segregated line. shear and another male passenger accused the bus driver of "doing nothing" during the attack, while the bus driver claimed to have stopped the bus to inform the men surrounding shear that his line was not sex-segregated. critics likened the "mehadrin" lines to racial segregation in the united states, with shear compared to african american icon rosa parks.
mehadrin bus lines
the participants planned to ride public transportation starting in washington d.c., went through richmond, and stopped in petersburg. the next day the went through raleigh, and once they hit durham, the bus driver called the police on rustin who refused to move to the back of the bus. the police did nothing, and all that happened was the bus was delayed for 45 minutes while the bus driver and rustin refused to both move. during the two-week trip, african americans continued to sit in front, white americans sat in back, or sometimes side-by-side, all in violation of current state laws which required passengers to practice segregated seating in buses. the day after the bus driver called the police on rustin, the group of eight white men and eight black men met with intercollegiate council for religion in life, and attended church services. april 13th, 4 of the men were arrested, 2 black men for not giving up their seat, and 2 white men for defending the 2 black men. james peck went to pay their bonds, and was hit by a taxi driver in the head (a hate crime). racial tension began to grow as the journey went on. martin watkins, a veteran was beaten by a group of taxi drivers for speaking to an african american women at a bus stop. when the greyhound bus arrived in alabama, it had to pass the bus station due to 200 or more angry white people surrounding the bus in attempts to stop the first freedom ride. the tires of the bus blew out and the white mob threw a bomb into it, causing the bus to burst into flames after everyone in it had escaped. after they left the bus, they were confronted by the white mob who beat them. the journey of reconciliation continued using a second bus, and then returned to washington d.c. after all of the violence and bloodshed which had occurred, core had trouble finding bus drivers who were willing to support subsequent freedom rides.
journey of reconciliation