Bus driver defied by Rosa Parks after he ordered her to give up her seat – eventually leading to the Montgomery bus boycott James Frederick Blake (April 14, 1912 – March 21, 2002) was an American bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama , whom Rosa Parks defied in 1955, prompting the Montgomery bus boycott . In 1955, Rosa Parks ignited a civil rights revolution by refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Had she noticed that James Blake was behind the wheel, she might never have James Fred Blake (April 14, 1912 – March 21, 2002) was an American bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, whom Rosa Parks defied in 1955, prompting the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Born on April 14, 1912, Blake was drafted into the Army on December 23, 1943, at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama. Four days before she made her bus stand, Rosa Parks attended a packed mass meeting at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to hear Dr. T.M. Howard speak. A key organizer around the Emmett Till case, Howard had helped locate witnesses, and Emmett’s mother Mamie Till had stayed at his house during the trial. Howard had come After everyone had boarded, James Blake, the white bus driver, spotted a white passenger “standing just inside the entrance.” Blake proceeded to demand that Parks along with three other Black Montgomery bus driver James Blake ordered Parks and three other African Americans seated nearby to move ("Move y'all, I want those two seats,") to the back of the bus. Three riders complied; Parks did not. The following excerpt of what happened next is from Douglas Brinkley's 2000 Rosa Park's biography. Parks had encountered the bus driver before. His name was James Blake. 12 years earlier, she had a confrontation with him after he demanded that she exit the bus and board through the rear door. When she exited through the front door, he sped away before she could board again. Parks was no ordinary citizen; she was the secretary of the Montgomery NAACP and had attended trainings on civil disobedience at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. As the bus filled up along its route, the driver, James Blake, ordered Parks and three other black passengers to vacate their seats for newly boarded whites. The bus driver, James F. Blake, left the driver's seat and moved imposingly up to the four black passengers. His intention was to get the black passengers to move to the back of the bus- basically, it was standard operating procedure. His words, as recalled by Rosa Parks, were: "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." On 1 December 1955, Parks finished a tiring Thursday as a department store seamstress and boarded a bus to go home, taking a seat right behind the whites-only section. All the seats were soon taken, and so when a white man got on and stood in the aisle, bus driver James Blake instructed four black passengers, including the 42-year-old Parks, to James Frederick Blake (April 14, 1912 – March 21, 2002) was an American bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, whom Rosa Parks defied in 1955, prompting the Montgomery bus boycott. Early life [ edit ] On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation. On December 1, 1955, a white man boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The bus driver, James F. Blake, instructed some of the African-American bus riders to move toward the back of the bus, yielding to the white passenger. Famously, a woman by the name of Rosa Parks refused. For this insubordination, she was arrested. The bus driver, James F. Blake, left the driver's seat and moved imposingly up to the four black passengers. His intention was to get the black passengers to move to the back of the bus- basically, it was standard operating procedure. His words, as recalled by Rosa Parks, were: "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." Began by Rosa Parks, a boycott against Montgomery, Alabama's buses for the racial injustice that occurred. Who was the bus driver in the incident? James Blake Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like What was Rosa Parks job?, Besides working for Montgomery Fair department store, What else was Parks interested in?, Which section of the bus did Parks sit in? and more. James Frederick Blake (April 14, 1912 – March 21, 2002) was an American bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, whom Rosa Parks defied in 1955, prompting the Montgomery bus boycott. Quick Facts Born, Died On that famous day, Rosa Parks was seated just behind the white-only section of the bus. The bus driver, James F. Blake, demanded that all four Black people in the fifth row move so that a white Rosa Parks (center, in dark coat and hat) rides a bus at the end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Montgomery, Alabama, Dec. 26, 1956. Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images. Most of us know Rosa Parks as the African American woman who quietly, but firmly, refused to give up her bus seat to a white person Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama. That small act of James F. Blake (April 14, 1912 March 21, 2002) was the Bus driver whom Rosa Parks defied in 1955, prompting the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Blake was drafted into the Army in December 23, 1943. He was enlisted and sworn in at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. His enlistment record states he was married and had
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