Claudette Colvin, Mary Louise Smith: Excavating Black Girls History

In Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 fifteen-year old Claudette Colvin and eighteen year old Mary Louise Smith on separate occasions refused to stand up so that a white supremacist women could take their bus seats. This lesson looks at how Colvin and Smith initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. I explore why these girls faced erasure from the historical record. I look at Montgomery’s Black Elite and the cities National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s role in their erasure. This lesson works to Excavate the Black Girls History of Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith. This lesson is designed for eighth to 12th grade students.