Editing Claudette Colvin (section)

== Early life ==
Claudette Colvin was born Claudette Austin in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], on September 5, 1939, to Mary Jane Gadson and C. P. Austin. When Austin abandoned the family, Gadson was unable to financially support her children. Colvin and her younger sister, Delphine, were taken in by their great aunt and uncle, Mary Anne and Q. P. Colvin, whose daughter, Velma, had already moved out.<ref name="power dynamics"/> Colvin and her sister referred to the Colvins as their parents and took their last name.<ref>{{cite book |last= Hoose| first= Phillip |title= Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice| date= 2009| publisher= Melanie Kroupa Books |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vna6LzBbkuAC|isbn=978-1429948210|page=11}}</ref> When they took Claudette in, the Colvins lived in [[Pine Level, Montgomery County, Alabama|Pine Level]], a small country town in [[Montgomery County, Alabama|Montgomery County]], the same town where Rosa Parks grew up.<ref name="power dynamics"/><ref>{{cite news |first=Douglas |last=Brinkley |work=Rosa Parks |title=Chapter 1 (excerpt): 'Up From Pine Level' |publisher=Lipper/Viking; excerpt published in The New York Times |url-access=registration|year=2000 |isbn=0-670-89160-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/rosaparks00brin | access-date= July 1, 2008}}</ref> When Colvin was eight years old, the Colvins moved to King Hill, a poor black neighborhood in [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]] where she spent the rest of her childhood.<ref>{{cite web| last= Blattman| first= Elissa | url= https://www.nwhm.org/blog/throwbackthursday-the-girl-who-acted-before-rosa-parks/ |title= #ThrowbackThursday: The girl who acted before Rosa Parks| website= NWHM.org| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160729094037/http://www.nwhm.org/blog/throwbackthursday-the-girl-who-acted-before-rosa-parks/ |archive-date=July 29, 2016 | publisher= [[National Women's History Museum]] | access-date= February 9, 2016}}</ref>{{sfn|Hoose|2009|p=15}}

Two days before Colvin's 13th birthday, Delphine died of polio.<ref name="power dynamics"/>{{sfn|Hoose|2009|p=18–19}} Not long after, in September 1952, Colvin started attending [[Booker T. Washington School (Montgomery, Alabama)|Booker T. Washington High School]].<ref name="power dynamics"/><ref name=jet>{{Cite news| url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_9_107/ai_n11834082/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050523054221/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_9_107/ai_n11834082 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 23, 2005 |title= Claudette Colvin: an unsung hero in the Montgomery Bus Boycott |date=February 28, 2005 |work=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]] |publisher=[[FindArticles]] |access-date=November 27, 2009 }}</ref> Despite being a good student, Colvin had difficulty connecting with her peers in school due to grief.<ref name="power dynamics"/> She was also a member of the [[NAACP Youth Council]], where she formed a close relationship with her mentor, [[Rosa Parks]].<ref>{{cite journal| last= Garrow| first= David J. |title= The Origins of the Montgomery Bus Boycott| journal= [[Southern Changes]]| volume= 7| date= October 1985| pages= 21–27| url= http://www.davidgarrow.com/File/DJG%201985%20SChangesJAGRMontgBBText.pdf}}</ref>