Daisy Lee Gatson Research Paper

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Daisy Lee Gatson was born on November 13, 1914 in Huttig, Arkansas. She never knew her birth parents, John Gatson and Millie Riley, according to a birth certificate that was located in 1962. Rumors about her natural parents explained that Daisy’s mother was murdered after being raped. Her natural father moved away from Huttig shortly after the incident. No formal charges were ever brought against the alleged attackers and no one sought to locate those who harmed her family. She was adopted and reared by her natural father’s best friends, Orlee Smith and his wife Susan Smith, who raised young Daisy until she reached her late teens. Moreover, Bates lineage remained a subject of discussion for many years to come. There was belief that she …show more content…

Not long after Daisy Bates affiliated herself with the popular community associations, becoming a trusted community leader. Bates was chosen for the position of president of the local Little Rock branch of the NAACP in 1952. Two years later, Daisy Bates would use the increasing debates for segregation and desegregation to launch an attack on the Arkansas Public School System’s segregation. With the 1954 Board v. Board of Education ruling mandating school integration, she pursued nine African-American children that she could mentor for the social project. Locating students that she could train for the racial exercise was particular choosing children with strong academic ability able to adapt to strenuous emotional strains. It was at a weekly NAACP meeting, where Bates’ charm and beauty convinced nine Little Rock parents to buy into the proposition of challenging the racist authorities to effectively coerce the Arkansas governor along with the Arkansas Public School System to desegregate its Central High School. The nine students would be withdrawn from their respective schools to enroll in the Little Rock Central High School. The children were instructed by Bates, who viewed these behaviors as tremendous social …show more content…

The children: Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Jefferson Thomas, Terence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Minnijean Brown, Gloria Ray, Thelma Mothershed, and Melba Beals arrived at the Little Rock Central High School. Governor Faubus interrupted the successful implementation of racial integration ordering the National Guard 101st Airborne Division to block the one African-American girl who made her way to the steps. Arkansas closed all of its schools for a year. A legal battle brought the situation to a halt for whites supremacist’s children for a

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