Textbook accounts come to life in Oklahoma Christian University’s second annual History Speaks lectureship.
Claudette Colvin, dubbed “Rosa Parks nine months before Rosa Parks was Rosa Parks” by President John deSteiguer, and attorney Fred Gray will visit campus on Monday.
On March 2, 1955, a fifteen-year-old Colvin refused to give up her bus seat to a white citizen in Montgomery, Alabama. Colvin preceded Rosa Parks by nine months, however, Colvin’s case was not pursued in court the same way Rosa Parks’ case because the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People decided she was too young to withstand the stresses of extensive trials.
“December this year will be the 60th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and so we wanted to try to find some figures who had instrumental parts in that story,” Multicultural and Service Learning Coordinator Gary Jones said.
Gray was the attorney who represented Colvin. Gray also represented Rosa Parks when she went to trial, he represented Martin Luther King, Jr. in trials and was the attorney for several other pertinent Civil Rights Movement trials. Actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. portrayed Gray in the recent movie “Selma”.
“I’m super excited just because I am a history nerd… especially this particular era in history,” Jones said. “I think it is exciting to meet people that you read about and studied about and to hear them firsthand.”
The lecture is Monday at 7 pm in Hardeman Auditorium.
Directly following the lecture, Jones will host a question and answer session with Colvin and Gray. Questions can be submitted during the Q-and-A through text, however, Jones said students are free to email questions to him ahead of time at gary.jones@oc.edu.
Admission is free, but tickets are required. For more information on Colvin and Gray, or to reserve tickets to the event, visit oc.edu/historyspeaks.
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