Daisy Bates (nee Daisy Lee Gatson) was born 11 November 1922 ^[1*] in the southern Arkansas town of Huttig, in Union County. When she was a small child, her mother was attacked and killed by three white men; Daisy's grieving father subsequently left the child with friends, Orlee and Susie Gatson (or Smith), who raised her as a foster child. Daisy attended public schools in Huttig, and later studied at Shorter College and at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, where she studied business and economics. In Memphis in 1941 or 1942, she married L. C. (Lucius Christopher) Bates, a journalist working as an insurance salesman, who had been a friend of her foster father. The Bates moved to Little Rock shortly after their marriage, where they founded the weekly newspaper, the Arkansas State Press, with L. C. as editor and publisher and Daisy as co-publisher and manager.

Mrs. Bates was a member of a number of organizations, including the Arkansas Council of Human Relations, Urban League, YWCA, National Council of Negro Women, and the AME Church. Both she and her husband were active in the Little Rock and Arkansas NAACP; she served as president of the Arkansas NAACP from 1952 until 1961, and in 1963 was chosen as a member of the NAACP national board. The couple had a foster son, Clyde Cross Bates, who lived with them from 1951 to 1957. He was never formally adopted, and when the Bates came under attack in 1957, they were forced to return the boy to his own family.

In August 1956, following a suit brought by 33 parents, the United States District Court approved the Little Rock School District school desegregation plan of May 1955. Integration was ordered to begin in the senior high schools on 3 September 1957, and was to be extended to all schools by 1963. After further legal skirmishing, on 2 September, Governor Orval E. Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard and State Police to surround Central High School, which was targeted for integration by Negroes, to "prevent disorder." The all-black high school, Horace Mann, was not affected by his order. In a speech delivered that evening, Governor Faubus declared that "blood will run in the streets" if Negro students tried to enter Central High School.

In response to an appeal by NAACP attorneys Wiley Branton and Thurgood Marshall, a Federal judge ordered integration to proceed as scheduled, but the nine Negro students who attempted to enter Central on 4 September were stopped by the troops. Violent demonstrations of white opposition to desegregation ensued, and Governor Faubus daily helped spur the segregation sentiment. Finally, on 20 September, Faubus withdrew the National Guard in compliance with a Federal Court injunction obtained by the NAACP. The violence escalated in the vicinity of the high school, however, and on 24 September President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Paratroop Division to Central High School, and federalized the 10,000 men of the Arkansas National Guard, to protect the black students. Under military guard, the "Little Rock Nine" students completed the remainder of the school year.

Prior to the end of the 1957-1958 school year, the Little Rock School Board again petitioned the Federal District Court for a delay in integration at Central until January 1961. In August, the United States Circuit Court reversed the decree granting a delay, and ordered integration to begin in September. Governor Faubus responded by calling a special session of the state legislature for passage of several segregation bills, among them a bill empowering the governor to close any or all schools in any school district. After an appeal of the integration order to the United States Supreme Court failed on 11 September, Governor Faubus ordered Little Rock's high schools closed. Despite the efforts of Little Rock citizens, both black and white, to have the schools reopened, they remained closed for the entire school year.

Although the operation of the schools resumed in 1959, many of the original nine students had gone elsewhere to complete their education. Their families, too, felt the pressure of the opposition, and some left Little Rock to find other jobs and homes. Those who remained endured various forms of intimidation, including arrests, shootings, and bombings. As a friend, and as head of the Arkansas NAACP, Mrs. Bates provided support and encouragement to the students and was in daily communication with their parents, school officials, and the local and national NAACP offices. The Bates also suffered physical and emotional abuse from white opponents, and in late October 1959, were forced by declining revenues and a boycott by white advertisers to suspend publication of the Arkansas State Press.

Mrs. Bates spent much of the next two years in New York City, or on speaking engagements throughout the country. In 1962, her reminiscences of the desegregation crisis were published as The Long Shadow of Little Rock. For a time, her husband worked in Louisiana as a field secretary for the NAACP. At this writing, the Bates live in Little Rock.

The papers of Daisy Bates have been arranged in seven major series: General Correspondence; Speeches and Statements; Manuscripts and Drafts of The Long Shadow of Little Rock; the Little Rock School Integration Crisis, including newsclippings about Mrs. Bates; NAACP Records; Reference and Subject Files; and Tape Recordings and Photographs.

The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE primarily consists of letters regarding speaking engagements, honors and awards dinners and programs, and similar social correspondence. A few letters from the early 1950's are personal in nature, while correspondence from the period after publication of Mrs. Bates' book deals mainly with accolades which she received, promotion of book sales, and autograph parties. Mrs. Bates received many letters during and immediately after the 1957 desegregation of Central High School; many of the writers admired her stance and her efforts, and commiserated with her about obstacles they encountered. There is a small amount of hate mail present.

Mrs. Bates' SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS include a folder of mainly self-created biographical sketches and resumes, as well as typewritten and annotated copies of speeches delivered before clubs, organizations, awards dinners, and the like. Approximately half of the speeches are dated; others are not, and may have been drafts of later, dated versions. There is also a folder of fragments of speeches and notes, and another containing noteworthy speeches of other individuals. Two folders contain programs from many of the occasions when Mrs. Bates spoke, appeared on the program, or was a prominent sponsor of an event.

MANUSCRIPTS AND DRAFTS OF THE LONG SHADOW OF LITTLE ROCK contain notes, partial and complete drafts of many stages of the manuscript, and, for many chapters, the final version as well. These have been arranged by chapter, or by groups of chapters, where possible, but often it could not be determined which draft was early or which later. Most of the pages bear handwritten annotations, some by Mrs. Bates, some apparently by her typist, and others by unnamed reviewers. The manuscripts and drafts have been microfilmed for preservation. Included with this series is one folder containing reviews of the book and other promotional material.

Records of THE LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL INTEGRATION CRISIS contain microfilmed student files concerning the "Little Rock Nine" students. These consist of typewritten reports, apparently compiled by Mrs. Bates, of incidents, harassment, and intimidation suffered by the students. Also included are letters received by the students from supporters, copies of their replies, and other material pertaining to them or to their families. A folder of incidents, general reports, and memos contains summary reports of the events which occurred at Central and copies of memos written by the school administration and staff. A scholarship fund was established for the benefit of the students, and papers relating to donations, expenditures, and the students' college experiences, are also included. Other student records are comprised of record cards of Central High School students, 1955-1958, which may have been the official school records. With these are typewritten cards created by Mrs. Bates and indicating which white students harassed the nine black students. All of the cards are arranged alphabetically by the students' surnames, and each contains a record of misbehavior, punishments, and, occasionally, personal comments about the student. Two student directories from the high school are also included. All of the student records discussed above may be used for research, but are restricted under the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (also known as the Buckley Amendment).

Also in this series are microfilmed newspaper clippings illustrating the desegregation of Central High School and its aftermath, 1956-1963. Many of these clippings came from the two Little Rock daily newspapers, Arkansas Gazette and Arkansas Democrat, with others from the Bates' paper, Arkansas State Press, and from other papers throughout the country. A folder of printed articles, pamphlets, and clippings presents retrospective views of the events of 1957. Also included are a number of newsclippings pertaining to Daisy Bates. A few of these date from the late 1940's and early 1950's, and concern her role as publisher and manager of the State Press; the 1946 contempt of court conviction of the Bates; the 1952 "Spirit of Cotton" promotional tour, when she acted as chaperone; and her early NAACP activities. Clippings from the late 1950's and 1960's illustrate Mrs. Bates' involvement with the "Little Rock Nine" and the events surrounding desegregation, her speaking tours, awards received, publicity about the publication of her memoirs, and other material. All of the clippings are arranged in chronological order by date of publication, with undated clippings filmed at the end of each section.

The NAACP RECORDS contain a variety of material concerning both the Little Rock and Arkansas State Conference of Branches, and the national board of the NAACP. The national records include administrative papers received by Mrs. Bates during her tenure on the national board, and include minutes of meetings, printed memos, and financial statements. A file of speeches delivered at national NAACP conferences is also present. Legal documents, correspondence, and other papers regarding NAACP court cases deal primarily with the attempts of the state attorney general to force the Arkansas NAACP to register with his office. Other cases involve the Bates as officers of the NAACP. Records of the Arkansas State Conference of Branches include correspondence, both typewritten and printed; conference programs, press releases, financial records, and other administrative papers. Transcripts of phone conversations between Mrs. Bates and NAACP officials in New York, and of a tape recorded discussion between NAACP officer Clarence Laws and the nine students, reveal the close contact of the two organizations, and the assistance provided by the national office in 1957 and 1958. Newsclippings of NAACP events and activities, 1952-1962, have also been microfilmed.

A small REFERENCE AND SUBJECT FILE contains material related to the school desegregation crisis and other topics. Miscellaneous newsclippings, primarily concerning white opposition in Little Rock, copies of proposed segregation legislation, and a folder of printed items for mass distribution, comprise the collection's anti-integration records. There is also a folder regarding the Arkansas State Press, its demise, and L. C. Bates. Records of the Arkansas Council of Human Relations are included because of Mrs. Bates' work with the organization.

The tapes in the collection contain portions of an interview with Mrs. Bates, a general discussion of the Little Rock situation in 1957 or 1958, speeches from an awards presentation, and a taped political speech by Governor Faubus. Further description of the tapes may be found in the container list. Photographs include images of Daisy Bates, L. C. Bates, the "Little Rock Nine," and others involved in the Central High School desegregation in addition to depictions of the violence that occurred as a result of these efforts. There are also images of ceremonies and speaking engagements Daisy Bates attended in conjunction with the events of 1957-1960.