Earth Angel
Who was Daisy Bates?
Besides another historical figure we didn't learn about in school, or see in our text books: Daisy Bates was an American civil rights activist, publisher, journalist, and lecturer who played a leading role in the Little Rock Integration of 1957.
When Bates was just an infant, her mother, Millie, was raped and murdered by three local white men. Her father, Hezakiah, also abandoned her and Bates never saw him again. Her adoptive father, Orlee Smith, told her about her mother's murder at the age of 8, and that the killers were never found. According to Wikipedia, she began to hate white people and wanted vengeance. Concerned but hopeful, Smith gave her some advice from his death bed, that she believed supported her strength for leadership in the course of civil rights.
On May 9th, 1941, Bates and her husband, Lucius Christopher Bates founded the Arkansas State Press: A weekly statewide newspaper that became the voice for civil rights before a nationally recognized movement had emerged. They became outspoken critics of segregation, using the paper to call for an improvement in the social and economic conditions of African Americans throughout Arkansas.
In September of 1957, the court ordered the school board to integrate the schools of Little Rock. Nine brave students, now known as the Little Rock Nine were the first African American students to enter Little Rock's Central High School. The night prior to their enrollment, governor Orval Faubus ordered the state's National Guard to block the students form entering the school. The mayor of Little Rock, Woodrow Wilson Mann, then asked President Eisenhower to send federal troops to "enforce integration and protect the nine students."
By the end of September 1957, the nine students were admitted to Little Rock under the protection of the 101st Airborne Division, however as stated by Wikipedia, the verbal and physical abuse continued for a year. Bates then planned for ministers to escort the students into school. Her house also served as a haven for the nine students. It became their official pick-up and drop-off place before and after school. During this time her house became a center for violence, and was often damaged by segregation supporters, yet she never lost hope.
On November 4th, 1999, in Little Rock, Daisy Bates passed away due to a heart attack.
Books
*Kids*
The Long Shadow of Little Rock | Daisy Bates
*Adults*
Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader from Arkansas | Grif Stockley
Daisy Bates in the Desert: A Women's Life Among the Aborigines | Julia Blackburn
Source(s)
"Daisy Bates." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 May 2021, https://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Bates_(activist)#Little_Rock_Integration_Crisis
"Little Rock Nine." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 May 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine
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