Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice: Chapters 5–8

by Phillip Hoose
Courageous and determined, teenager Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus and became a plaintiff in a landmark civil rights case. This nonfiction account celebrates an often unacknowledged American heroine.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–10
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. craven
    lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful
    The wonderful thing which you have just done makes me feel like a craven coward.
  2. integrity
    moral soundness
    How encouraging it would be if more adults had your courage, self-respect and integrity.
  3. brazen
    not held back by conventional ideas of behavior
    As Robinson later wrote, “In Montgomery in 1955 no one was brazen enough to announce publicly that black people might boycott City buses for the specific purpose of integrating those buses."
  4. integrate
    open up to members of all races and ethnic groups
    As Robinson later wrote, “In Montgomery in 1955 no one was brazen enough to announce publicly that black people might boycott City buses for the specific purpose of integrating those buses."
  5. civil right
    right belonging to a person by reason of citizenship
    C.J. thought my case might be a good civil rights case.
  6. concede
    admit or acknowledge, often reluctantly
    The bus company conceded that, according to the driver, Claudette had been sitting behind the ten white seats in front and there had been no seats available when the driver ordered her to move.
  7. unconstitutional
    not consistent with or according to fundamental laws
    Since Claudette had been charged with breaking the city and state segregation laws, Gray hoped he could use the case to show they were unconstitutional.
  8. acquitted
    declared not guilty of a specific offense or crime
    Two white men were arrested but acquitted by an all-white jury.
  9. gavel
    a small mallet used by a presiding officer or a judge
    He cracked his gavel, dismissing the case.
  10. malicious
    having the nature of threatening evil
    One false move, or one malicious report, and she was a parole violator.
  11. activist
    a reformer who works to achieve social or political change
    Soon E. D. Nixon and two white activists, Clifford and Virginia Durr, hurried downtown, paid her bond, and took her home, where Fred Gray later met her and agreed to be her lawyer.
  12. commute
    a regular journey to and from your place of work
    Excited, he jumped in his car and drove around Montgomery to inspect other buses during the morning commute.
  13. negotiation
    a discussion intended to produce an agreement
    With violence mounting and negotiations stalled, protesters asked one another how this would end.
  14. unanimously
    of one mind; without dissent
    The justices wrote, “We conclude, unanimously, that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.”
  15. reprisal
    a retaliatory action against an enemy
    If there had been reprisals, they would have still gotten by.
Created on Sat Sep 14 00:30:15 EDT 2013 (updated Thu Jun 26 11:38:57 EDT 2025)

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