Daisy Bates

Civil Rights Crusader

by Amy Polakow

In 1957, as the rest of the United States watched with bated breath, the residents of Little Rock, Arkansas were thrown into a civil rights battle that would forever change American history. This turmoil was a direct result of a Supreme Court decision—Brown v. Board of Education—that sought to end school segregation. At the very center of this battle was Daisy Bates, a feisty and determined woman who took nine black children and, with the help of the NAACP, paved their way to becoming the first African American students ever to integrate Central High School.

Like the “Little Rock Nine,” Daisy Bates sacrificed much for this: she was continually barraged with threats against her life; her home was riddled by bullets fired from passing cars; and crosses were burned on her lawn. Even her livelihood—the leading black newspaper she ran with her husband—was eventually snuffed out by powerful businessmen who pulled their advertising dollars when Daisy would not back down in her commitment to the cause of equal rights.

Daisy Bates’s life began in a small sawmill town in southern Arkansas. Growing up in the ’20s and ’30s, Daisy noticed the difference between the way blacks and whites were treated. Upon finding out that her birth mother had been murdered by white men, she developed a hatred and mistrust of whites that was exacerbated by the bigotry of southern society. But Daisy found a way to channel her anger, aided by her husband, L. C., and the examples of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, into a lifetime of accomplishments in the struggle for civil rights for African Americans. These hard and often dangerous efforts eventually earned her numerous awards, citations, and medals. Now, nearly fifty years later, Little Rock has named a street in her honor, and her house is a national historic site.

This is the first biography of Daisy Bates for young adults. A proud civil rights activist, she was—in every way—as instrumental in breaking down the color barriers of the South as were Rosa Parks and other African Americans who decided that they had had enough.

About the Author

Amy Polakow is a professional writer who has had access to all of Daisy Bates’s personal papers, as well as family photographs, and has visited with Daisy’s family in her research for this book. She graduated with a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin and currently resides with her two children in Illinois. This is her first children’s book.