Final answer:
Claudette Colvin was arrested for not giving up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, predating Rosa Parks' similar action. Colvin's case was initially not as influential due to her personal circumstances, whereas Parks' arrest, as a respected member of the community, sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and became a significant event in the civil rights movement.
Step-by-step explanation:
Claudette Colvin was arrested for her refusal to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, embodying a challenge to the segregation laws of the time. Unlike Rosa Parks, whose similar act of defiance later sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Colvin's case did not become a rallying point for the civil rights movement initially because she was a pregnant, unmarried teenager at the time of her arrest. The black community and civil rights leaders sought a more 'sympathetic' figure for the legal fight against segregation, which they ultimately found in Parks, leading to the successful 381-day bus boycott that is often credited with energizing the civil rights movement.
Rosa Parks' Role in Civil Rights Movement
Rosa Parks was an active member of the NAACP, and after her arrest for refusing to surrender her seat on a bus to a white person, the NAACP, distressed with Parks' standing in the community, capitalized on the incident to advance the civil rights cause. This led to the organization of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, wherein as many as forty thousand African American riders participated, making it a pivotal moment in the struggle against racial segregation and for civil rights in America.