Daisy Bates was born on Nov. 11, 1914, in Huttig, Arkansas. Friends of her family raised her because three white men sexually assaulted and murdered her mother, and her father left the family. Regardless, this didn’t hinder her aspirations. At age 25, she met an insurance agent and experienced journalist by the name of Lucious Christopher “L.C.” Bates. They began dating and eventually married in the early 1940’s. They moved to Little Rock, AR and together they operated the Arkansas State Press, an African-American newspaper.
After ten years of working on the paper, Daisy Bates became the president of the Arkansas Conference of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branches. Two years later, the Supreme Court announced that segregation was unconstitutional through the court case. African American students, however were still denied enrollment in white schools in AR.
The whole ordeal was captured in the Bates’ newspaper. Being that her newspaper was mainly focused on the rights of African Americans, in 1957, she assisted nine African American students to become the first to attend the all-white High School in Little Rock, who became known as the Little Rock Nine.
The Arkansas State Press continued in the fight for equal rights until ultimately it was shut down in 1959 due to low advertising revenue.
Four years after her husband died in 1980, Bates rehabilitated the newspaper. During this time in her life,  Bates received many awards, including an honorary degree from the University of Arkansas, named Woman of the Year in 1957 by the National Council of Negro Women, and received the 1988 American Book Award. Because of the contributions Bates made to her city, Little Rock opened the Daisy Bates Elementary School and by made the third Monday in Feb. George Washington’s Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day an official state holiday. After a successful life in journalism, Daisy Bates passed away in Little Rock at age 84 in 1999.