Colvin was arrested in Alabama in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white woman — nine months before Parks was arrested for the same act on the same Montgomery bus system.
Colvin was also one of four women plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the case that successfully overturned bus segregation laws in the state.
In a 2009 interview, Colvin said Parks gained more notoriety because the NAACP and other Black organizations felt at the time that Parks was more reliable as a civil rights figure because of her older age. She added that Parks also had a more middle-class look.
Black History Month runs through February. The idea to celebrate Black citizens' contributions to civilization was first conceived by Carter G. Woodson in 1926. It was originally just a week, but was expanded to a month and officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976.
February was chosen primarily because it coincides with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Lincoln was president during the Civil War and played a major role in ending slavery. Douglass, a former slave and presidential candidate, was a prominent leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought to end slavery.
“We hope this will inspire transit's riders to learn more about the Montgomery bus boycotts and Civil Rights movement that these and other civil rights activists helped initiate,” Park City Municipal said in a statement.
Below is a 1995 Larry King interview with the icon Rosa Parks:
