Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

• Genre: Nonfiction; young adult biography
• Originally Published: 2009
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1000L; grades 7-12
• Structure/Length: 2 parts; 10 chapters; epilogue and notes; approx. 160 pages; approx. 3 hours, 38 minutes on audio
• Central Concern: When Claudette Colvin was 15, she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to relinquish her seat on a city bus for a white person—nine months before Rosa Parks did the same. This biography details Colvin’s experiences and impact as a civil rights figure in the Jim Crow South.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Race and anti-Black racism; racial violence; social injustice; criminal justice system; references to rape, sexual assault, and sexual exploitation of a minor. The source material references historical documents and events that include racist language, including the “n” word. This guide does not use the “n” word. Other slurs are repeated only when necessary for accuracy (such as in the names of organizations) or understanding (in direct quotations).

Phillip Hoose, Author

• Bio: Born in 1947; raised in Indiana; attended Indiana University and the Yale School of Forestry; lives currently in Maine; writer of books for children and young adults; essayist, musician, songwriter, conservationist; earned the Maine Library Association’s Katahdin Award for lifetime achievement
• Other Works: We Were There, Too!: Young People in US History (2001); The Race to Save the Lord God Bird (2004); Perfect, Once Removed: When Baseball Was All the World to Me (2006); The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club (2015)
• Awards: National Book Award Winner (2009); School Library Best Books List (2009); Newbery Honor Book (2010); ALA Best Book for Young Adults (2010); YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist (2010)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• Perseverance Through Hardship and Injustice
• The Importance of Questioning The Status Quo
• Internal Prejudices in 1950s Black Montgomery

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the legal and historical contexts regarding the enforcement of segregation under Jim Crow that impacted the Montgomery bus boycott in the mid-20th century.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Perseverance Through Hardship and Injustice, The Importance of Questioning The Status Quo, and Internal Prejudices in 1950s Black Montgomery.
• Conduct and present an interview with a community member regarding a significant historical event that demonstrates an understanding of incorporating nonfiction narratives and interview responses into a cohesive summary based on text details.