Search -
Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader from Arkansas (Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies)
Daisy Bates Civil Rights Crusader from Arkansas - Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies Author:Grif Stockley Daisy Bates (1914-1999) has long been renowned as the mentor of the Little Rock Nine, the first African Americans to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. For her work guiding the Nine through one of the most tumultuous civil rights crises of the 1950s, she was selected as 1957 Woman of the Year in Education by the Associated Pres... more »s, and was the only woman invited to speak at the Lincoln Memorial ceremony in Martin Luther King?s March on Washington in 1963. But her importance as a historical figure has been overlooked by scholars of the civil rights movement. Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader from Arkansas chronicles her childhood, her marriage, her co-founding of the Arkansas State Press with her husband L.C. Bates, and her political advocacy before, during, and well after the Central High School crisis. An orphan from the southern Arkansas mill town of Huttig, she eventually rose to the zenith of civil rights action in the South. In 1952, she was elected president of the NAACP in Arkansas and traveled the country speaking on civil rights and political issues. During the 1960s and 1970s, she worked as a field organizer for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson to get out the black vote. Even after a series of strokes, she continued her work, orchestrating the affairs of numerous self-help and economic initiatives in Arkansas. Using interviews, archival records, contemporary newspaper accounts, and other materials, author Grif Stockley reconstructs Bates's life and career, revealing her to be a complex, contrary leader of the civil rights movement. Her struggles with family, marriage, and community leaders are given the nuanced treatment they deserve. Ultimately, Daisy Bates paints a vivid portrait of an ardent, overlooked advocate of social justice.« less