Archive obit: James Blake, Bus Driver had Rosa Parks Arrested
deb...@comcast.net
March 24, 2002 Posted: 8:27 AM EST (1327 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/03/24/blake.parks.ap/index.html
MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- James F. Blake, the Montgomery bus driver
who ordered Rosa Parks to give up her seat to a white passenger and had
her arrested when she refused, has died at the age of 89.
Blake died Thursday of a heart attack at his home, his family said.
On December 1, 1955, Blake confronted Parks and three other black
passengers on the bus and told them to "make it light" by moving to
make room for whites. He had Parks arrested after she refused to
surrender her seat near the front of the bus.
Parks was fined $10 for violating a city ordinance. Her arrest set off
the Montgomery bus boycott, bringing national attention to the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. and helping forge the civil rights movement.
The 381-day boycott eventually resulted in the 1956 U.S. Supreme Court
decision that made segregated transportation illegal.
Blake's wife, Edna, said her husband was "a good man" who shouldn't be
remembered just for that historic role.
"All that mess got out on him -- I don't appreciate it at all," she
said. "None of that mess they said was true. Everybody loved him. He
was a good, true man and a churchgoer."
Blake's role in history shouldn't taint the life of a kind man who
changed with the times, said Kem Holley, Morningview Baptist Church's
children's minister.
"I know that a lot of people make a big deal out of it, but Mr. Blake
grew with the times and he loved everybody," Holley said.
Blake served in the Army in Europe during World War II and worked for
Montgomery City Lines until 1974, said his son, James E. Blake.
"He was just a dedicated employee that did his job and retired after
many years of service," the son said.