Stumbling Toward Enlightenment
Gatherings from the Internet
Racism is a much more clandestine, much more hidden kind of phenomenon, but at the same time it’s perhaps far more terrible than it’s ever been.
Claudette Colvin was born on September 5, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama. On March 2, 1955, she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. She was arrested and became one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, which ruled that Montgomery’s segregated bus system was unconstitutional. Colvin moved to New York City and worked as a nurse’s aide. She retired in 2004.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault is an American journalist and former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, and the Public Broadcasting Service.
Lincoln was one of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday. She often visited the Blue Note jazz club in New York City. Her debut album, Abbey Lincoln’s Affair – A Story of a Girl in Love, was followed by a series of albums for Riverside Records. In 1960 she sang on Max Roach’s landmark civil rights-themed recording, We Insist. Lincoln’s lyrics were often connected to the civil rights movement in America.