DAISY LEE BATES: Civil Rights Activist
students would meet at Bates' house before school and return there after school. Although Bates had no children of her own, she cared for the Little Rock Nine as if they were her own and others often referred to them as "Daisy Bates' children."
Bates remained the escort, advisor, and mentor for the students until they received the education to which they were entitled. On May 27, 1958, one of Bates' "nine," Ernest Green, became the first black to graduate from Central High in a class of 601 white students. Just a couple of months later, on July 7, 1958, a bomb exploded in front of the Bates' home on July 7, 1958. Amidst the violence directed at the students and herself, Bates never wavered. The New York Times reported that, "When Governor Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to Central High School, Mrs. Bates immediately with into action and she has not stopped since."
After the crisis, Daisy worked in voter registration campaigns for the Democratic National Committee for over two decades. Although no women were scheduled to speak during the 1963 March on Washington, Bates was asked to say a few words.
She worked with the community Revitalization Project in Mitchelville, Arkansas to provide utilities, sanitation services, and educational opportunities for the citizens of this predominantly black city. She continued to remain involved in community activities in the black community until shortly before her death on November 4, 1999. Just a couple of hours after Bates' funeral, during a White House ceremony, President Clinton presented the nine Little Rock students with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor. During his speech, Clinton recalled a visit to the Civil Rights museum in Memphis, "We dedicated the exhibit on Central High School with the statue of Governer Faubus on one side and Daisy on the other. And even though by then she had to get around in a wheelchair, she got a big laugh out of that, and what a wonderful laugh she had." During the ceremony, former Little Rock nine, Ernest Green, asked for a moment of silence in her honor. Green expressed the sentiments of all the "nine," when he said of Bates, "We will sorely miss her, she made an enormous contribution to the civil rights movement." Addressing the Little Rock Nine, Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln said of Daisy Bates, "I know she was a guardian angel of sorts
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