Bates, Daisy, 1914-1999

Daisy Bates, born Daisy Lee Gatson, born on November 11, 1914, Huttig, Arkansas, was a social activist and author. She married L. Christopher Bates, publisher of the Arkansas State Press, in 1942. The couple lived in Little Rock (Pulaski County) where they published their newspaper and were active in the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP. She became the advisor to the Little Rock Nine, the first group to integrate Central High School in 1957. Following the writing of her memoirs in 1960, Mrs. Bates worked for the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. and, in 1968, moved to Mitchellville (Desha County) Arkansas where she helped organize the Mitchellville Office of Economic Opportunity Self-Help Project. Bates died on November 4, 1999, in Little Rock, Arkansas.