Hello, Keith. Slight correction, which you might want to note. It's a popular misconception that Rosa Parks sat in a seat in the white section. She actually set in a middle section, which permitted the driver to move back if the number of white passengers required additional seats. When the white section was filled to capacity and more white passengers boarded, the driver (James F. Blake) increased the size of a white section to accommodate the new passengers through placement of a movable sign, as was standard practice. Parks and three other passengers were ordered to give up their seats. The other three passengers complied. Rosa refused.

It's not that she was told not to sit in a particular seat. She was ordered to give it up.

Another interesting thing about this is that James Blake, who died in 2002 at age 89, continued to defend his actions. I would have liked to have seen him apologize to Rosa Parks, and perhaps meet with her, but after their fateful encounter, they never saw each other again.

Kind of an irony that her first name is "Park," isn't it?