Daisy Lee Gatson Bates

Daisy Lee Gatson Bates was born in the small south Arkansas sawmill town of Huttig in 1913. When she was still a child, her mother was murdered by a group of white men and her father fled. She was raised by foster parents. This early harrowing experience of violence shaped a life-long commitment to fight for racial justice. You can find out more about Daisy Bates in a forthcoming documentary by New York filmmaker Sharon La Cruise titled Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock which will air as part of PBS’s Independent Lens series on February 2, 2012. You can catch the world premier screening at UALR’s Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, on November 30 at 7 pm, with La Cruise in attendance, in an event that is free and open to the public. I’m John Kirk of the UALR History Department and this has been an Arkansas moment.