MONTGOMERY, Ala. (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 Dec. 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.
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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.