Claudette Colvin

Good morning! Here's the feminist news on our radar.

• Today, Arkansas might be the 36th state to ratify the ERA. Help show your support and spread the word. [ERA Action]

• April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center has lots of way that you can take action. [National Sexual Violence Resource Center]

• NPR interviewed Ari Seth Cohen, talking about his blog Advanced Style, which features the beautiful and stylish older women of NYC. [NPR, Advanced Style]

• We all know Rosa Parks, but she wasn't the first to refuse to give up her seat on the bus. Democracy Now interviews Claudette Colvin, who was just 15 when she was arrested for doing the same. [Democracy Now, NewBlackMan (in Exile)]

• The National Magazine Award nominees have been announced, and this year half of them are women! [Mother Jones]

• A six-year-old girl in Afghanistan was going to be sold into marriage to repay her father's debt, until an anonymous donor paid the debt. [New York Times]

• New York State Sen. Eric Adams has testified that the "stop and frisk" program was intended to intimidate minorities. [Raw Story]

• We're getting ready for this weekend's season premiere of Mad Men and are excited to see what social and feminist storylines might be on the horizon. [Women's Voices For Change]

• Speaking of Mad Men, John Hamm is getting really tired of people talking about his penis, and he's not the only one. [Tiger Beatdown]

• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs released a video for "Sacrilege" from their upcoming album, depicting slut shaming to the extreme. [Feminspire]

Is there anything I missed? Share what you're reading in the comments!

While studying the Civil Rights Movement during college, somewhere along the way I heard about a young woman who, as one prof put it, "sat before Rosa Parks sat." However, this nameless woman was ultimately deemed "unfit" to serve as the test case to trigger the Montgomery boycott, which would precipitate the Movement. Why was she considered unfit? Well, as the story went, the young woman (actually a 15-year-old girl) became pregnant by an older, married man, and so the more reputable Rosa Parks took center stage. Read on to find out more about Claudette Colvin's "forgotten contribution."