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A bus driver named James F. Blake ordered Rosa Parks to give up her seat on December 1, 1955. When she refused, the driver said, "Well, I'm going to have you arrested." She replied, "You may go on and do so." According to Wikipedia, Blake continued to work for the bus company for another 19 years after the Rosa Parks arrest. He died of a heart attack in Montgomery, Alabama in 2002. Ms. Parks was sitting in the middle of the bus, directly behind 10 seats reserved exclusively for white people. All of the seats of the bus were filled when a white man entered. Following standard practice, the driver ordered all four African Americans
sitting just behind the white section to stand so the white man could sit. While she was often portrayed as a humble seamstress, Ms. Parks was an active member of the NAACP at the time, and was fully aware of the consequences of her actions. The bus sat abandoned in an Alabama field for many years until it was identified by its serial number. It is currently housed in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The Henry Ford Museum also features a fascinating diagram of exactly where Ms. Parks was sitting when she was arrested.
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