The NON-Conformist and I did this little Black History Month blog blast last year where we highlighted some unsung black heroes, some folks that did great things but may not be talked about much during the month of February or at all. We blogged about Frederick McKinley Jones or as I coined him the birth of cooler(food that is). We also blogged about Percy Julian who was the subject of an excellent NOVA Documentary entitled Forgotten Genius. Julian only owned 100 chemical patents and became the first black man to direct a chemical research laboratory when he was hired by Glidden Paints in 1936, unheard of for a black man during that time. Now that is genius!

Image Source: http://www.libinfo.uark.edu

Which brings me to my latest black heroine(unsung), Mrs. Daisy Bates of Little Rock, Arkansas. She was big in civil rights carving out her own fight in the ongoing battle for equality. Remember the Little Rock Nine, she was the one that made the push in 1957 to integrate them into the all-white Central High School. If you don’t know about the Little Rock Nine wonder on over to YouTube and check out some videos and you’ll see the ugly, ugly side of America.

A recent documentary on Bates on Independent Lens tells her story and it’s not always a pretty one including the fact that her mother was murdered by a group of white men and dumped into a local pond. Those who killed her mother were widely known but never brought to justice. Her father, fearing for his life gave her away and never returned. That scar drove Daisy to want to achieve and she had no problem doing so at a time in history when the role of women was much different from today.

For example, she campaigned for and won to become the president of Arkansas chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1952. Yes you read that right 1952 ,which sent tongues a wagging…who does she think she is pushing men aside(who were also running), she doesn’t know her role. But Daisy did know her role and it was activism at any cost even if it meant threats and being ostracized by her own people.

In addition to being instrumental in the Little Rock Nine integrating Central High School, Daisy also ran an all black weekly newspaper, the Arkansas State Press, with her husband(of 40 years) L.C. Bates and for a time she worked for the Democratic National Committee and on antipoverty projects for the Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. She was even of the speakers at the March on Washington.

The Little Rock Nine would propel Daisy into the spotlight and find her dining with dignitaries but her goal was always the activism, she never lost sight of it right up to her death in 1999.

Posted by Libergirl