Happy Birthday to Civil Rights Leader Daisy Bates
A journalist, publisher, and civil rights activist, Daisy Bates was one of the most influential figures of the Civil Rights Movement in Arkansas. Her newspaper covered major moments in history such as Brown v Board of Education and the Little Rock Nine.
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates was born November 11, 1914, and grew up in Arkansas. Racism in the United States began impacting Daisy before she could even speak. When she was a baby, her mother was killed by three white men and fearing retribution her father left town. He left Daisy with friends of the family.
In 1941, Daisy moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, with her husband, journalist Lucius Bates. The pair began publishing a weekly newspaper advocating for civil rights called The Arkansas Press. Daisy went on to join the NAACP and in 1952 became the president of the Arkansas chapter.
The Arkansas Press covered many important civil rights moments of the time including Brown v Board of Education, which in 1954 was a landmark case that ended segregation in public schools. The Arkansas Press also covered ramifications of the case known as the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957. When nine students were set to attend the all-white Central High School on September 4, 1957, whites protested outside the school and the governor even sent members of the Arkansas National Guard to keep the nine students from attending school. Eventually, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to the school in order to ensure the safety of the students.
Daisy used her home as a base for the efforts surrounding the Little Rock Nine — the nine students chosen for desegregation in Little Rock. The students finally were able to begin attending school September 25, 1957. Daisy walked to school with the children during their first school year.
After receiving threats, Daisy and Lucius closed The Arkansas Press but that didn’t mean their work halted. For her work with the Little Rock Nine, Daisy was recognized nationally. In 1957, the National Council of Negro Women named her Woman of the Year and in 1958 she was awarded the highest honor by the NAACP. Daisy also gained notoriety as a public speaker and spoke at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington, D.C.
Daisy went on to work for the Democratic National Committee and in President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. In 1987, the Daisy Bates Elementary School was opened in Little Rock in her honor and in 1996, Daisy was one of the torchbearers in the Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia.
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates died in 1999 at the age of 84. After her death, President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded her the Congressional Gold Medal. Her dedication to ensuring civil rights and fighting for desegregation continue to inspire those battling injustice to this day.
