She Was 15 When She Refused to Give Up Her Bus Seat—Nine Months Before Rosa Parks.

**Note on Colvin vs. Parks:** This article does not characterize Parks as an apolitical spontaneous actor or as a “substitute” for Colvin. Both women’s contributions are documented separately. The decision not to build the primary public campaign around Colvin is attributed and contextualized, not treated as a single-cause certainty or as a permanent diminishment of Parks’s legitimate role.

**Note on pregnancy:** Colvin was not pregnant at the time of her March 2, 1955 arrest. She became pregnant later in 1955. Her son Raymond was born in March 1956. No voyeuristic detail is included; the pregnancy is addressed in the context of the community leadership’s documented reasons for strategic decisions, not as a moral judgment of Colvin.