Teenagers were given history lessons during their school bus rides as part of a celebration honouring trailblazers who made a difference during their youth.

Glenn Fubler, of Imagine Bermuda, gave pupils from Warwick Academy and The Berkeley Institute a crash course on Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old Black girl who refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 during the Jim Crow era of segregation in the United States.

The lesson was part of a larger celebration of the 70th anniversary of Ms Colvin’s protest.

Mr Fubler said: “The students were initially reticent but eventually warmed up and became deeply engaged — even setting aside their phones.

“In fact, when we contacted Beverly Howe on Magic 102.7, nearly the whole group jumped at the chance to go live with the morning radio DJ — excitedly engaging the old-school media.”

Mr Fubler was joined by Shomari Talbot-Woolridge on the westbound bus, while Dwight Jackson spoke to pupils headed to the Berkeley Institute.

Mr Talbot-Woolridge and Mr Jackson both ran in the General Election for Smith’s West (Constituency 9) as Progressive Labour Party and independent candidates.

They lost to Vance Campbell, of the One Bermuda Alliance, who received just under 51 per cent of the vote.

The school buses, which left from Flatts Village in Smith’s, left their headlights on throughout the drive to the schools in honour of teenage trailblazers’ “shining lights”, Mr Fubler said.

Mr Fubler then joined others at Wesley Methodist Church on Church Street in Hamilton for an “appreciation celebration” at 12.30pm.

Kermya Smith, a senior pupil from The Berkeley Institute, opened the ceremony with a rendition of the song Stand Up by Cynthia Erivo, which was written for the 2019 biopic film about the abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

Tributes were also paid to Bermuda conservationist David Wingate and Bermudian footballer Clyde Best.

Mr Wingate was one of three people who rediscovered the cahow on Castle Harbour in 1951, when he was 15 years old.

Mr Best became a star striker for Bermuda when he was 16 and helped the national team win the silver medal at the 1967 Pan American Games.

A year later, he joined West Ham United and helped break down racial barriers in sport by becoming a key player in the English top flight.

Calvin Simons was also recognised for the countless young people he helped mentor during his time as a gym teacher at West End Primary School and as a sports programme director.

Chris Furbert, the president of the Bermuda Industrial Union and a former Pembroke Hamilton Club footballer, saluted Mr Simons’s mentorship during the tribute.

The celebration ended with a rendition of the iconic civil rights song We Shall Overcome, which was performed a cappella by Sheila Smith.

Ms Colvin was arrested on March 2, 1955, for disturbing the peace after she refused to give up her seat for a White woman on a crowded bus.

Her case, which happened nine months before Rosa Parks took a similar action, became one of the first to challenge racial segregation on public transport.

It is widely recognised among historians that, despite preceding Ms Parks’s effort, Ms Colvin’s case was not publicised by civil rights activists because she was unmarried and pregnant during her trial.

Despite the lack of recognition, Mr Fubler said: “It was this ripple that sent waves of concern throughout the former capital of the Confederacy, given the climate of terror for people of colour.”