On the city buses of Montgomery, Alabama, the front 10 seats were permanently
reserved for white passengers. The diagram shows that Mrs. Parks was seated in
the first row behind those 10 seats. When the bus became crowded, the bus driver
instructed Mrs. Parks and the other three passengers seated in that row, all
African Americans, to vacate their seats for the white passengers boarding.
Eventually, three of the passengers moved, while Mrs. Parks remained seated,
arguing that she was not in a seat reserved for whites. Joseph Blake, the
driver, believed he had the discretion to move the line separating black and
white passengers. The law was actually somewhat murky on that point, but when
Mrs. Parks defied his order, he called the police. Officers Day and Mixon came
and promptly arrested her.