Members of Daisy Bates family at unveiling of her statue
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates, an Arkansaw civil rights icon was honored last week, in a bi-partisan ceremony, by placing her statue in the Nation Statutory Hall in the Rotunda of the U. S. Capitol in Washington D. C. Each of the 50 states has two statutes of people representing their state in this prestigious location.
Her statute and a statue of country music singer, Johnny Cash, to be added in the Fall, replace two statutes of Arkansas 19th century leaders, with a segregationist past, who are not well known today.
Daisy Bates was an influential civil rights activist, journalist, and educator who played a pivotal role in the fight against racial segregation in Arkansas.
In 1954, the Supreme Court, in Brown vs The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, ruled segregated schools unconstitutional. According to her bio, Bates began gathering African American students to enroll at all-white schools after the ruling. Often, the white schools refused to let black students attend. Bates used her newspaper to publicize the schools that did follow the federal mandate. Despite the continuous rejection from many Arkansas public schools, she pushed forward.
When the National NAACP office started to focus on Arkansas’ schools, they looked to Bates to plan the strategy, her bio noted. She took the reins and organized the Little Rock Nine. She selected nine students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock in 1957, whom she regularly drove to school and worked tirelessly to protect them from violent crowds. Bates also advised the group and even joined the school’s parent organization. She was also instrumental in convincing President Dwight Eisenhower, to send Federal troops to Little Rock to enforce the Supreme Court’s decision.
Daisy Bates’ unwavering commitment to equality and justice led her to work closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent leader in the civil rights movement, in advocating for desegregation and equal rights for all. She worked closely with DR. King and the NAACP to non-violently integrate the schools in the face of white sometimes violent resistance.
Ben Victor, the statue’s sculptor, also shared his perspective on Bates. “Her courage really stands out to me,” Victor said. “I’ve depicted her in motion because she was a woman with a cause. She is smiling, showing her optimism in the face of great adversity.”
Bates, who died in 1999 at age 84, played a crucial role in desegregating Arkansas public schools in the 1950s. Along with her husband, she published an Arkansas newspaper dedicated to the civil rights cause and served as the president of the state’s NAACP chapter. “Every high school, every middle school, every elementary school, every college in this country is the pattern of America today because of Daisy Gaston Bates,” remarked Charles King, President of the Daisy Bates House Museum Foundation, during the unveiling ceremony.
Some of Daisy Bates, close relatives have worked with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in Arkansas on the Black Farmer lawsuits and recent Discrimination Farmers Assistance Program to get justice for Black farmers in Arkansas and across the South.