On Thursday, December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks boarded the bus at 6 PM.
She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row
of back seats reserved for blacks in the "colored" section. Near the
middle of the bus, her row was directly behind the ten seats reserved for white
passengers. Initially, she did not notice that the bus driver was the same man,
James F. Blake, who had left her in the rain in 1943. As the bus traveled along
its regular route, all of the white-only seats in the bus filled up. The bus
reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, and several white
passengers boarded. By Parks' account, Blake said, "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." Three of them complied. Parks said, "The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't." The black man sitting next to her gave up his seat. Parks moved, but toward the window seat; she did not get up to move to the re-designated colored section. Blake said, "Why don't you stand up?" Parks responded, "I don't think I should have to stand up." Blake called the police to arrest Parks.
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