Saniyya Sidney has played a tennis great in “King Richard” and a burgeoning superhero in “Fast Color,” and next she’s set to portray a critical, but overlooked, figure in the civil rights movement. Deadline confirms Sidney will star as Claudette Colvin — who, as a teenager, courageously refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in 1955 — in the drama “Spark.” Although Colvin’s actions predated, and were very similar to those of Rosa Parks, she has largely been left out of the history books.
“Colvin was 15-years-old when she bravely stood up to racism, getting arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a crowded segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. This was nine months before Rosa Parks became a symbol of the Civil Rights era symbol for courageously doing essentially the same thing,” the source explains. “Initially embraced by Civil Rights leaders for her courage, Colvin was brushed out of history when those same civic leaders decided a poor, dark-skinned teenage girl would not be the ideal face for their public campaign.”
Colvin went on to be one of the four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the 1956 court decision that ended bus segregation in Alabama. She recently filed a petition to expunge the charges related to her act of resistance, which was granted last month.
“I said I could not move because history had me glued to the seat,” Colvin recalled of that day on the segregated bus. “And they say, ‘How is that?’ I say, ‘Well, it felt as though Harriet Tubman’s hands were pushing me down on one shoulder, and Sojourner Truth hand was pushing me down on the other shoulder.'”
“Spark” will be penned by Niceole R. Levy (“The Banker”) and directed by MCU mainstay Anthony Mackie. The filmmakers will collaborate with Colvin’s family on the pic, and have secured her life rights and the rights to the young adult book “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.”
Mackie decided to make the movie after learning about Claudette Colvin during a trip to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. “Not only was I moved, I was inspired,” he told Deadline. “It’s great to be a superhero in movies but she’s a real live one living amongst us and I’m honored to tell her story.”
“Sixty-seven years ago, when history glued me to the seat of that bus in Montgomery, I could never have imagined that standing up for my rights could spark a movement that would change the course of history,” Colvin remarked. “It is really an honor to have my story retold, by Mr. Mackie, for future generations to learn about our past so they can move forward knowing that progress is possible, and things do get better. I hope my story will inspire youth to continue to fight for civil rights and human dignity.”
“Spark” joins other recent projects about the unsung women who shaped the civil rights movement, including ABC anthology “Women of the Movement,” the first season of which focuses on Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, and the documentary “My Name Is Pauli Murray”.
You can see Sidney as tennis legend Venus Williams in “King Richard,” now in theaters. She and her fellow cast members are up for the SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Sidney’s previous credits include “Fences,” “Hidden Figures,” and “The Passage.” Next, she will portray Sasha Obama in the Showtime anthology “The First Lady,” expected later this year.
