At the museum, they talked about Claudette Colvin. From what they said, there was, yes, the optics issue and they really wanted to show blacks as “respectable,” but from what they said, the real issue with her was that she was really young and it was super dangerous. King’s home had been bombed with his young children in it. Claudette was just not willing to put her life at risk and endure the whole trial in the public light. Rosa Parks knew the risks of taking the case to trial but had the strength of her beliefs.
There were actually a bunch of cases prior to Rosa Parks - they’d been looking to bring a case forward for many years - but it was a combination of timing and having the right person that made her case the one that got promoted.
One of the things they showed, too, at the museum was how all the people involved dressed in their Sunday best for every photo opp, in order to present themselves as upstanding, respectable citizens rather than as the maids, servants, and laborers that most white people usually saw them as - and usually clothed for those roles.
It was very cool at the museum as some of the guides were people who were involved in activism, so a lot of it was first hand history.
