Daisy Bates
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates was born on November 11, 1914 at Huttig, Arkansas. Huttig was referred to as a "plantation town". People in town made a living at the mill, rented houses owned by the mill and even bought their food from mill-owned stores. Daisy was an American who made enormous contribution to civil rights. She was also a journalist and wrote her own book entitled "The Long Shadow of Little Rock".
Bates' mother was killed while resisting three local white men. They brutally attacked and killed her, throwing her body into a nearby pond. Her father was forced to leave shortly after her mother's death because his life was threatened if he stayed. Daisy was raised by friends of the family, Orle and Susie Smith. Daisy first experienced predjudism against black people when she was 7 years old. She went to buy meat and a butcher called her a "nigger". It wasn't until later that Daisy learned the Smith's were not her real parents. When she relized that her mother had been killed in such a tragic way, she secretly vowed to vindicate her mother's death. She harbored much hatred toward white people.
At her father's bedside, shortly before his death, he spoke these words to her, "Hate can destroy you. Don't hate white people just because they're white. If you hate, make it count for something. Hate the humiliations we are living under in the South. Hate the discrimination that eats away at the soul of every black man and woman. Hate the insults hurled at us by white scum—and then try to do something about it, or your hate won't spell a thing." 2
Daisy later remarked that those words never left her, and that it would drive her on to do something for her race.
When Daisy was only 15 years old, she fell in love with an insurance saleman named Lucius Christopher (L.C.) Bates. Three years later, they were married. It was her husband's desire to start a newspaper and eventually, he took the opportunity to do that. Daisy and L.C. started the "Arkansas State Press", renting space at a local church. On May 9, 1941 they printed their first issue. "The Arkansas State Press" was a channel for many persecuted people to get their stories told. These included many black soldiers who, even though they fought for their country during WWII, were riduculed and even sometimes tortured when they returned home. Arkansas State Press, publicized violations of the US Supreme Court's desegregation rulings.
In 1952, Daisy Bates was elected president of the Arkansas State Conference of NAACP branches.
Bates and her husband L.C. Bates were important figures in the Little Rock Integration Crisis in 1957 known as the "Blossom Plan". Nine students, age 14-16, attempted to enroll in Little Rock Central High School. This provoked a confrontation with Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, who called out the National Guard to prevent the students from enrolling. Bates guided and advised the nine students, known as the Little Rock Nine. She took them into protective custody. On their first day of school September 23,l957, the students were escorted by the Federal National Guard to school. The students were greeted by mobs of angry white students, photographers, and reporters. Daisy continued to supervise the education of these students. Although she never had any of her own children she considered these children her own. Ernest Green was the first black student to graduate of the "nine" among 601 students.
Daisy's involvement in the Little Rock Crisis resulted in the loss of much advertising revenue to their newspaper. They were accused of not providing proper identification for the students. Public sentiment was aggitated to such a degree that business with the paper dropped off. Closure of the Arkansas State Press,(1959 ), was imminent. The following year Bates' then moved to New York City. Here Daisy worked on her memoirs for her book.
Their next move was to Washington, D.C. where Daisy worked for the Democratic National Committee. She served in the administration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson on anti-poverty programs. In 1965, she suffered a stroke and returned to Little Rock. After L.C.passed away, she kept on with her mission as a civil rights leader.
In 1968, she moved into a mobile home in a rural black community of Mitchellville, Arkansas, in Desha County. She concentrated on improving the lives of her neighbors by establishing a self-help program which was responsible for new sewer systems, paved streets, a water system, and community center.
Bates revived the Arkansas State Press in 1984. Her memoir, The Long Shadow of Little Rock, won a 1988 American Book Award. It was on a reprint which is almost unheard of.
Daisy Bates died in Little Rock, Arkansas on 4 November 1999. She was 88 years old. Vice President Al Gore provided a final tribute to Daisy Bates a twentieth century civil rights pioneer: "Her commitment to civil rights was a life-long endeavor. She served as the president of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP and spoke with eloquence at the March on Washington in 1963. Over the course of her life, she received many awards for her work. But I think most Americans agree that Daisy will be remembered more for what she gave than what she received." 2
Honors and awards
- 1988 American Book Award
- Arkansas General Assembly Commendation
- Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree, University of Arkansas
- Diamond Cross of Malta from the Philadelphia Cotillion Society
- Arkansas has established the third Monday in February as "George Washington's Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day," an official state holiday.
- The street that runs in front of Little Rock Central High School has been renamed for her.
- The Daisy Bates Elementary School in Little Rock is named in her honor.
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