Who Needs Recognition Too?
BY FAISA CHAMBERS | STUDENT WRITER
TATYANA QUINN | STUDENT WRITER
PUBLISHED FEB 11, 2020
There are many African Americans who helped to secure equality amongst black and whites. Many people like Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Sojourner Truth, all recognized, but there are many others, though people of my generation really know of the people that actually came before them and also contributed to justice and equality of the United States. It has been a long time coming! They didn’t ask for the attention, nor fame, and fortune. Courage deserves respect, and the people who aren’t recognized for their sacrifices and selflessness is unfair, as they need the attention too!
Do you know who Claudette Colvin is? She was a teenager who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. There are many people who also contributed to equality that many don’t know of. Rosa Parks is someone who’s known for refusing to give up her seat to a white male after being told to. Though she was not the first, she receives most of the recognition for doing so. Did you know that several women came before her? People have been forgotten or disregarded that also challenged the Jim Crow Laws.
Who is Claudette Colvin?
Ms. Colvin is now 80 years old, born September 5, 1939 in Birmingham, Alabama. Some call her the “Original Rosa Parks,” though she was the first to refuse to give up her seat to a white female. Nine months later, Rosa Parks, a 42 year old woman, took a seat on the bus after work and rejected the bus driver’s threat, and continued to sit down. Claudette says, “ I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing on the other side-saying sit down girl,” she tells Newsweek.
There are many African American people who have accomplished things before others ,but some get more recognition for it than others. For example, as mentioned previously Claudette Colvin was the first african american to stand up for herself on the public bus. She barely gets any acknowledgement for it, but Rosa Parks gets all the credit for being the “first” African American to stand up for herself. Another example is the first black president was John Hanson, but Barack Obama gets all the credit for being the first black president.
WHO IS JOHN HANSON?
John Hanson was a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. In 1779, Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress after serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot Cause in Maryland. He served in the Continental Congress and, later, the Senate. He also signed the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution before dying in 1783. A story from Liberty Writers, Africa claims that the first president of the United States was a black man named John Hanson.