The Napkin In Between

Fighting for Justice: The Legacy of Daisy Bates

• Daijné Jones • Season 1 • Episode 10

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In today's episode, we take a powerful journey into history by focusing on the life of Daisy Bates. As an unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement, Daisy's advocacy for the Little Rock Nine showcases her unwavering strength in the face of adversity. 

Throughout the episode, we explore how Daisy's childhood experiences shaped her drive to fight against racial injustice, making her a pivotal figure in the integration of schools. Join us as we honor Daisy Bates and her unwavering support and fight for civil rights.

Daijné:

Is this thing on? Hello, hello. Uh-oh, another yapper with a mic. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Napkin Inbetween podcast. I am your host, Daijné Jones. I hope everyone is having a good week, except for that orange drink lady. I have been having a stellar week because I have had this entire week off of work. This is the peak of my week. By the way, obviously, apart from doing content creation, I am a full-time nanny, and the family that I nanny for are avid skiers. So they went to Aspen for a ski trip and um gave me the whole week off because they weren't in town.

Daijné:

And when I tell you that this is really just the life for me? I've said this to my mom several times and she laughs at me every time. But I'm dead fucking serious. I was not born to work. Like working. I've tried it for the last 13 years. Her and I we're just not kiki-ing like we're supposed to. I don't like her, she don't like me. We have major fucking beef. Yet, unfortunately, you have to work to survive. And it's just like I want to be a stay-at-home daughter. Like I don't want to work. I really don't want to work. I'm too pretty to work. I say that to my mom too, and she laughs at me and I'm like I'm dead serious, like she does not take me seriously. But it's like anytime you're ready to have a stay-at-home daughter, you let me know and I will move in, I will clean the house, I'll take care of everything. Let me know when you're ready for me and Luna to come and we will come.

Daijné:

Like I'm not kidding, but I've had this whole week off and so I had so many things planned that I wanted to do Like I wanted to film a few podcast episodes. I wanted to film a few YouTube videos, just so that I would have things in my arsenal that I would just need to edit and then I could put out. I've done none of those things. I have done none of those things. To give you a little bit of context, I usually film my podcast episodes on Sunday so that it gives me the whole week to edit them and then I can put them out the next Sunday. I did not film last week's podcast episode until Wednesday because I was just like I have off, like I can just relax, I can put them out the next Sunday. I did not film last week's podcast episode until Wednesday, because I was just like I have off, like I can just relax. I can watch TV, I can hang out with my dog, and I feel like I just never get time to relax.

Daijné:

If I'm not at work, nannying, I'm editing my podcast. If I'm not editing my podcast, I'm filming my podcast. If I'm not filming my podcast, I'm filming for YouTube. If I'm not filming for YouTube, I'm editing for YouTube. If I'm not editing for YouTube, I'm making a TikTok. Like I never just get a chance to relax because literally I don't care what you bitches say.

Daijné:

Content creation is a full-time job and it's basically like, currently I have two full-time jobs because content creation unfortunately is not paying all of my bills right now, so I still have to work. So I basically have two full-time jobs, but one of those jobs pays me part-time. You know what I mean. And so I just feel like I never get a time to relax or settle down. And don't get me wrong, I love both of my jobs. I love content creation and I love nannying, but sometimes a bitch just wants to fucking relax. You know what I mean.

Daijné:

Like, so I was pretty lazy all week. I did not film any YouTube videos. I was hella late filming my podcast episode for last week. Do I feel bad about it? No, no, like part of me is like feeling a little like shit, like I had all this stuff planned out that I should have been doing and I didn't do any of it. But the other part of me is just like, because of the way the world is set up and and I think it was that Ford bitch who put out the 40 hour work week like I just never get a chance to relax and just sit down and just be lazy, and so that's what I did instead. And and do I have a few regrets? Maybe, but mostly I don't have any regrets, because just as important as it is to work, it is equally as important to rest, and so that's what I did. I rested and, honestly, I feel a lot better because, like I said, I'm always moving. I never get to sit down and you know, sitting down was what I needed. That's exactly what I needed, so that's what I did. So if anyone was expecting some YouTube content soon other than my podcast, obviously this will always go up every week, but my personal YouTube channel where I vlog and stuff like that. So sorry, I know I've left y'all in the dust a little bit. I'm trying, I'm not trying, but I'm trying, I'm trying. But anyway, tell me the peak of your week. What did you do this week that kept you grounded, made you smile, kept you present? All that good stuff? Please leave it in the comments.

Daijné:

So what are we gonna talk about today? Continuing on with our series of shedding light on figures in black history who, I feel like, do not get the recognition they deserve. I would like to take us back to a well-known story of the Little Rock Nine, and if you're not familiar with that story, I'll go into it in brief detail. But I do encourage you to do some more research on the little Rock Nine. I want to focus on a person who was an integral part of the Little Rock Nine and that story and integrating into the Little Rock High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. So today we're going to talk about Daisy Gatson Bates, and I want to give a quick trigger warning there is mention of sexual assault in this episode.

Daijné:

Daisy Gatson was born November 11th 1914 in Huttig, arkansas. She was born to Hezekiah Gatson and Millie Gatson. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom and her dad worked as a lumber grader at a local mill when she was just an infant, three white men came to her mother's home and told her mother that her husband had been injured and she needed to come with them and see about him. And so, obviously as a caring wife, she went with these three men to go see about her husband. These three white men ended up raping and murdering her, and so, after this happened, her father was afraid and felt like they would come after him next, and so he gave Daisy to two of her mother's closest friends, Orlee Smith and Susie Smith, and abandoned Daisy, and she never seen him again. And so, because she was given to her mother's close friends to raise at a young age, she didn't know at first that she was not being raised by her biological parents. She actually learned at the age of eight, through a cousin who was talking about, you know, her biological mother and the murder, that Orlee and Susie were not her biological parents. And so, learning about her mother's rape and murder and how the police, you know, never investigated or arrested or no one was charged or held legally responsible for any of this, a fire for fighting social injustice was ignited in Daisy, and from this moment on she knew that she wanted to, you know, be an advocate and fight for social injustice towards black people. And not only did it ignite this fire for fighting social injustice, but she was also very vengeful and she wanted vengeance on these men who had raped and murdered her mother.

Daijné:

She wrote a book and she talks about how, later on in her life, she was at a commissary and met one of the men who alluded to the fact that he may have been involved with her mother's killing. And so after that, she would go to the commissary and belittle him. Only with her eyes, she would just stare at him to let him basically know, like I know what you did. And it got to the point where he, you know, went to her and he was like please leave me alone. Like stop staring at me, you know, stop tormenting me. She didn't as she shouldn't and eventually he drunk himself to death.

Daijné:

And I just need to say, like she's so fucking real for that. She's so fucking real for that. Like if somebody ever did something to my mother bitch, it would take mary joseph, baby jesus, the three wise men, the little drummer boy and the workers at the inn to get me off of them. I fear. Daisy is just like me for real, because one thing I don't play about is my mother. It is literally me against the world over that lady. I swear.

Daijné:

Daisy knew that her mother never got the justice that she deserved, so she handed out justice in a way that she could, and she's so real for that and I stand ten toes behind my girl for that. But not only did she have this vengeance for you know the three men who had raped and murdered her mother but she grew to hate white people and Orlee her father, the man who raised her, saw that this hatred was like taking over her, and so on his deathbed he gave her some advice and I want to read it to you. So he says to her you're filled with with hatred. Hate can destroy you. Daisy, don't hate white people just because they're white. If you hate, make it count for something. Hate the humiliations we are living under in the South. Hate the discrimination that eats away at the South. Hate the discrimination that eats away at the soul of every black man and woman. Hate the insults hurled at us by white scum and then try to do something about it, or your hate won't spell a thing. And so after she was given this advice, she channeled this into her civil rights advocacy and fighting for the civil rights of black people.

Daijné:

So then, at 17, she starts to date Lucius Christopher Bates, who was more commonly known as LC Bates, and in 1942 they ended up getting married. After they get married, they move around a little bit and then they decide to settle in Little Rock, Arkansas. So after they moved to Little Rock, they decided to follow what was one of their dreams, which is to open a newspaper, and so they start this weekly statewide paper called the Arkansas State Press. In their paper they decide to focus on the hardships of black people and the civil injustices that happen to black people in the South, and they did not sugarcoat anything. They told their stories exactly how they were, about the police brutality. There were black soldiers at a nearby army base who were treated improperly, and so they would talk about that as well, just telling the stories of black people. Because at the time, and even still so today, the stories of the injustices that black people face often go unnoticed, and so they wanted to bring more light to the injustices that were being faced by black people. And so, because of the things that they're writing in their paper, they are struggling with ad revenue because white businesses did not want to pay for ad space in their papers while they were talking about the shit that white people were doing and how they were treating black people and different things like that.

Daijné:

So in 1952, daisy becomes the president of the arkansas chapter of the NAACP, which we know is the national association for the advancement of colored people, and so once she becomes president, she decides that she wants to hone in on inequality when it comes to education. And so two years after she became the president of the NAACP was when the supreme court ruled on Brown versus the Board of Education, which said that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional even if they were deemed quote unquote equal. Because, as we know, in 1896 was Plessy versus Ferguson, which said that segregation was legal as long as the facilities were deemed equal, which became what we know separate but equal. And so with Plessy versus Ferguson, it was legal for businesses to be racially segregated, so like restaurants, schools, water fountains, the buses, different things like that, as long as they were equal. And then with Brown versus Board of Education, it was found that businesses and schools and everything like that were separate, but they were definitely, damn sure weren't fucking equal. And so that's when, in 1954, Brown versus Board of Education it was ruled that segregation of schools was unconstitutional. And so, with the decision of Brown versus Board of Education, the Supreme Court decided that segregation within schools was unconstitutional and that schools needed to be integrated. But they left it up to federal judges and the states to facilitate this integration.

Daijné:

And so the governor of Arkansas at the time Orval Faubus, was a well-known person who was in opposition to school integration. And so they came up with this plan called the blossom plan, where they said that they would first integrate high schools and then it would trickle down to, like you know, middle school, elementary, different things like that. But Daisy realized that the blossom plan was not a plan of integration at all, but rather it was a plan to stall integration. It was basically like a "here damn, you know what I mean. Like they were like okay, we have this plan, but they really had no intention of putting the plan in place and in action. And so Daisy then went and selected nine students, known as the Little Rock Nine, who would be the students that would integrate the Little Rock High School. I was reading about this process and it said that she carefully vetted the students that she had selected and then they also went through intense counseling to prepare for what they would face when they were trying to integrate. Mind you, these are high school students, 14, 15 years old, just want to go to school, just want an equal and appropriate education, and they had to be prepared for what they would face, ie angry mobs yelling at them and protesting against you know them integrating the school simply because they just wanted an education and Daisy was with them every step of the way for this process.

Daijné:

Her house became known as, like the safe house or the house of organization, and so they would all meet there to talk about, you know, the plan and to prepare these students for what they were going to face. And because her house became the central place for all of these things, there were multiple times where her house was vandalized. There was a time where a rock was thrown through her window and written on the rock was this time a rock, next time it'll be dynamite. There were crosses burned in her front yard. One of them was etched in and it said go back to Africa, the kkk. Another one was leaned against her house in an attempt to, you know, make the fire spread from the cross to her house. And through all of this, daisy persisted. She had a goal, she knew what she wanted to do and she didn't let any of this stop her.

Daijné:

And so in 1957 is when the Little Rock Nine were enrolled in the school and you know they were trying to go to class and the governor of Arkansas called out the National Guard to prevent these nine students from going into the school. And he said it was to protect the students. But obviously everyone knows that he just didn't want integration into the school. And so daisy's showing up with these kids every day, you know, trying to walk them into the school. The national guard is there preventing them from getting into the school.

Daijné:

And this is where we get, you know, that infamous picture of one of the students, Elizabeth Eckford, who was trying to walk into the school and the white woman is behind her yelling. And I wasn't aware of the backstory of this photo. So what had happened was Daisy wanted to be there to walk all of the students into school and to help them try to integrate right. And so the night before the morning of this picture and the kids going to school, she had called eight of the nine students to let them know like hey, we're gonna all show up together, I'm gonna be there with you to to walk you into school. Elizabeth's family didn't have a phone, so daisy wasn't able to reach her to let her know of the carpool plan. And so Elizabeth arrives at the school by herself, you know, tries to walk in and is met with this angry mob. And daisy said that this situation really hurt her and she felt like she had let this student down because she hadn't let Elizabeth know. You know that we're all going to show up together, we're all going to carpool.

Daijné:

And so after that, you know, Daisy found a way and made sure that you know that would never happen again. So she used her organization skills in order to ensure the safety of the students. So she would have ministers escorting the students into the school. So two ministers would walk in the front of the nine students, two ministers would be in the back escorting them into school. She would talk with the parents of the little rock nine multiple times throughout the day just to let them know like, hey, your kids are safe, they're okay.

Daijné:

While they were in school she joined the parent teacher organization for the school even though she had no children enrolled in the school. She joined it so that she could make sure that she was there to ensure the safety of the Little Rock Rine. She was just doing everything that she could in order to ensure these students safety and make sure that they could go to school as peacefully as possible. And every day Daisy and the students were there to integrate into school. The mobs were there as well, screaming at them, physically assaulting them, spitting at them. You know, fighting back on desegregation. And it got to the point where President Eisenisenhower had to enlist the arkansas national guard to ensure the children's safety and so that they could integrate into the school. And even with the national guard there, daisy was still very much present, walking the students into school, talking with their parents, let them know how they were doing in school and, you know, being as involved in the school as possible to ensure the kids safety and education.

Daijné:

And I think that sometimes it can go overlooked because you know we talk about the Little Rock Nine, but the behind the scenes of it all was so integral to the desegregation and these students being able to go to school and one of the people who fought tirelessly to make sure that these children were safe and educated. And so I just wanted to bring more light to her and her civil rights work. Even after, you know, desegregation, she still continued her civil rights advocacy in Arkansas and she even moved to DC for a little bit and continued her advocacy work and civil rights work there and then after DC, she moved back to Arkansas because she had a stroke and even after her stroke she still fought tirelessly as a civil rights activist and, you know, talked about the systematic injustice that black people face until she passed away at the age of 88. And I just wanted to bring more light to Daisy Bates Gatson and her work in, you know, education and the NAACP and her civil advocacy. If you would like to learn more about Daisy and her story, she did write a memoir it's called "The Long Shadow of Little Rock, where she talks more about, you know, her work with the little rock nine and all of her other civil rights advocacy and different things like that. So feel free to check that out.

Daijné:

But I just wanted to shed more light on the story of the Little Rock Nine, which I feel like is a very well-known story, right, but I feel like sometimes we can forget about the people who worked in the shadows and on the back end, and so I just wanted to bring more light to Daisy, who fought tirelessly to ensure the safety and the right to education for these students. Okay, I'm done talking now. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode. I hope that it was educational. I hope that everyone is having a good day, except for that orange drink lady, and I will talk to you in the next episode. Peace and love. Talk to you later.