Daisy Lee Gatson Bates

Born on November 11, 1914, in Huttig, Arkansas, Daisy Lee Gatson Bates was the president of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP, newspaper owner and editor, and key supporter of the nine students who integrated Little Rock Central High School during the 1957-1958 school year.

• Following the Supreme Court's 1954 “Brown v. Board of Education” decision, Bates served as the spokesperson for the students who became known as the “Little Rock Nine.”
• Bates and her husband Lucious Christopher (“L.C.”) published the “Arkansas State Press,” from 1941-1959. The paper focused on the African American community and consistently pressed for civil rights. The paper's support for school integration led to declining advertisement sales and subscriptions, and the paper folded.
• Bates recorded her experiences in her memoir, “The Long Shadow of Little Rock,” and was recognized by several organizations including the National Council of Negro Women, the Associated Press, and the NAACP.
• She was one of the few women who spoke at the 1963 March on Washington.
• Bates died on November 4, 1999, in Little Rock, Arkansas. The state proclaimed the third Monday in February Dasy Gatson Bates Day, and she was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom.