Daisy Bates (civil rights activist)
| Daisy Lee Gatson Bates | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Daisy Lee Gatson November 11, 1914 Huttig, Union County Arkansas, USA |
| Died | November 4, 1999 (aged 84) Little Rock, Arkansas |
| Occupation |
Newspaper owner |
| Known for | Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957 |
Newspaper owner
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates (November 11, 1914 – November 4, 1999) was an American civil rights activist, publisher, journalist, and lecturer who played a leading role in the Little Rock Integration Crisis of 1957.
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates was born on November 11, 1914. She grew up in southern Arkansas in the small sawmill town of Huttig. She was raised by the closest friend of her father, who had left the family shortly after her mother's death. In The Death of my Mother, Bates recounted learning as a child that her birth mother had been murdered by three local white men. Learning of her mother's death and knowing that nothing was ever done about it fueled her anger.
Daisy's adoptive father Orlee Smith gave her some last advice while on his death bed.
He said, "You're filled with hatred. Hate can destroy you, Daisy. 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 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."
Bates said she had never forgotten that and it is from this memory that Bates claimed her strength for leadership came.
Daisy was 25 when she started dating Lucious Christopher Bates, an insurance salesman who had also worked on newspapers in the South and West. They dated for several months before moving to Little Rock (Pulaski County) in 1941; they were married on March 4, 1942.
In 1952, Daisy Bates was elected president of the Arkansas Conference of NAACP branches.
After their move to Little Rock, the Bateses decided to act on a dream of theirs, the ownership of a newspaper. They leased a printing plant that belonged to a church publication and inaugurated the Arkansas State Press, a weekly statewide newspaper. The first issue appeared on May 9, 1941.
The Arkansas State Press was primarily concerned with advocacy journalism and was modeled off other African-American publications of the era, such as the Chicago Defender and The Crisis. Stories about civil rights often ran on the front page with the rest of the paper mainly filled with other stories that spotlighted achievements of black Arkansans. Pictures were also in abundance throughout the paper.
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