Dia De Los Muertos Project

Daisy Bates Born November 11, 1914 in Hitting, Arkansas – died November 4, 1999 She was an American civil rights leader, journalist, publisher, and author who played a leading role in the Little Rock integration crisis of 1957. At the age of 15, Daisy became the object of an older man’s attention. L.C. Bates, an insurance salesman who had also worked on newspapers in the South and West. L.C. wooed (dated) her for several years, and they married in 1942, living in Little Rock. The Bates decided to act on a dream of theirs, to run their own newspaper, leasing a printing plant that belonged to a church publication and inaugurating the Arkansas State Press. The paper became an avid voice for civil rights even before a nationally recognized movement had emerged. In 1952, Daisy Bates was elected president of the Arkansas State Conference of NAACP branches.Then, Bates moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for the Democratic National Committee. She also served in the administration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson on anti-poverty programs. In 1965, she suffered a stroke and returned to Little Rock. In 1968, she moved to the rural black community of Mitchellville, Desha County, Arkansas. 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 the 1980s after L.C. Bates, her husband, died in 1980. The following year she sold the newspaper, but continued to act as a consultant. Little Rock paid perhaps the ultimate tribute, not only to Bates but to the new era she helped initiate, by opening the Daisy Bates Elementary School. Daisy Bates died in Little Rock, Arkansas on 4 November 1999. I admire this woman a lot because she had the guts to do something that most people would be to scared to do. I also like that her husband supported her in her struggle against racism because most men wouldn’t pay attention to their wife’s dreams, but he supported her through all the hard work and he always backed her up no matter what, being there all the way. She never took shit from white people and never got scared when people were threatening her, she always stood strong. I want to do the same things she did, even though I don’t have the guts now, I hope that I will grow to be as brave as she was.