Born November 11 in 1914, Bates quickly became closely associated with Civil Rights. She ran a newspaper with her husband called The Arkansas State Press, which was a daily African American newspaper that promoted civil rights. The newspaper was closed in 1959 because of low revenue. In 1952, Bates
became president of the Arkansas Chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). From there she used her “power” to help advocate a further civil rights. Her real work did not set in until 1957, the year of the Little Rock Crisis.
The Little Rock Crisis of 1957 occurred when nine black students tried to integrate the all-white Central High School. Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Thelma Mothershed, and Melba Pattillo Beals were stopped by the Arkansas National Guard by order of the Governor. In retaliation, the President ordered that the army escort the students into the school to make sure no harm came to them. This whole battle became known as the Little Rock Crisis. Daisy Bates was a key force in the push to integrate the high school. She used her home as a headquarters to select the nine students and help them attend the school. She also helped the nine with the hate they received from the white staff and students, along with angry parents of other students.
In her later life, Daisy Bates continued to work with her husband on their newspaper until it was eventually closed for revenue reasons. She wrote and published a book -The Long Shadow of Little Rock- about her account of one of the biggest battles to integrate a school. Bates died in 1999 on November 4. She has gone down in history for her work in social activism for African Americans and because she was a major force in one of the biggest battles for school integration, The Little Rock Crisis.