Last updated: November 20, 2020
Lesson Plan
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates (1914-1999)
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- Grade Level:
- Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 90 Minutes
- Thinking Skills:
- Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words.
Essential Question
Who is Daisy Gatson Bates, a woman synonymous with the 1957 Central High Crisis, and what was her impact and influence on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement?
Objective
· To identify major civil rights leaders.
· To learn that ordinary men and women struggled for their beliefs and the beliefs of others during the Civil Rights Movement.
· All the participants of the Civil Rights Movement -famous or otherwise - deserve to have their stories told.
· All persons have the obligation to pass stories related to the Civil Rights Movement to younger people.
Preparation
- Writing instrument
- Paper
- Copy of 14th Amendment
- Copy of "I Have A Dream" speech
- Internet access (preferred, but not required)
Materials
Text of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered this iconic ‘I Have a Dream' speech at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
Download I Have a Dream speech
Procedure
- Preread the information Daisy Lee Gatson Bates
- Review the list of activities to find one appropriate for your grade level, amount of time allotted for exercise
Vocabulary
Arkansas Gazette: Arkansas’s oldest newspaper (1819) –now known as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette – covered the crisis at Little Rock Central High School in 1957; received both the Pulitzer Prize and the Freedom Award for unbiased news reporting of events.
Arkansas State Press: Weekly newspaper printed for the African American community by L.C. and Daisy Bates. Debuted on May 9, 1941 and became the largest and most influential black paper in the state. It criticized racism, attacked police brutality, segregation, and the inequities of the criminal justice system. The paper closed in 1959 after the Bateses were involved with the Little Rock Central High crisis. After L.C. Bates’ death in 1980, Daisy Bates reopened the newspaper in 1984 and served as an advisor after she sold the paper in 1987.
Daisy Lee Gatson Bates: (born in Huttig, Union County, Arkansas in 1914 and died in 1999; married L. C. Bates [1901-1980] and settled in Little Rock) Bates and her husband published the Arkansas State Press, the most influential African-American newspaper in Arkansas. Bates also served as a member of the NAACP and served as president of the Arkansas State Conference of NAACP branches. It was in this capacity that Daisy Bates became the advisor to the Little Rock Nine. In 1960, Bates moved to New York City and spent two years writing her memoirs of the Central High crisis. The former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, wrote an introduction to The Long Shadow of Little Rock, which was published in 1962. After completion of the book, Bates moved to Washington, D. C. where she worked for the Democratic National Committee and for the Johnson administration’s antipoverty programs. After suffering a stroke in 1965, she returned to Little Rock.
Lucius Christopher (L.C.) Bates: (born in 1901 and died in 1980) Husband of Daisy Lee Gatson Bates; civil rights activist, and original owner of the Arkansas State Press.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka: Landmark court case of 1954 in which the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously declared that it was unconstitutional to create separate schools for children on the basis of race. The Brown ruling ranks as one of the most important Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. At the time of the decision, 17 southern states and the District of Columbia required that all public schools be racially segregated. A few northern and western states, including Kansas, left the issue of segregation up to individual school districts. While most schools in Kansas were integrated in 1954, those in Topeka were not.
Wiley Austin Branton: (born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on December 13, 1923 and died in 1988) Prominent attorney, noted civil rights activist, and a strong advocate of voting rights for all Americans. An Army veteran of World War II, Branton spent time during the postwar period teaching African Americans how to mark an election ballot. His efforts resulted in his being convicted of a misdemeanor for “teaching the mechanics of voting.” Branton attended Arkansas A.M. & N. College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1950. As a law student at the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville, he received the Doctor of Law degree in 1952 and was the fourth African American student to enroll at the institution, as well as the third to graduate. Branton achieved national prominence when he served as the chief counsel for the nine African American students in the 1957 Little Rock desegregation case. However, during his distinguished legal career, he made significant contributions in the voting rights arena as both a public officer and private citizen. In 1962, Branton became the first Executive Director of the Southern Regional Council’s Voter Education Project based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Project was a cooperative effort that successfully registered over 600,000 African American voters in 11 states and helped create the momentum for the 1965 Voting Rights Act. During the early 1960s, Branton also represented “freedom riders” in Mississippi and African Americans engaged in voter registration drives throughout the South.
Civil Rights: The rights belonging to an individual by virtue of citizenship, especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress, including civil liberties, due process, equal protection of the laws, and freedom from discrimination.
Governor Orval Faubus: (born in Combs, Arkansas in 1910 and died in Huntsville in 1994; Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967) A schoolteacher, Faubus served in World War II and became an Arkansas state highway commissioner. Elected governor, Faubus initially pursued a liberal course in office but to combat his political opponents (who were staunch segregationists) he adopted a hardline civil rights position. In 1957, Faubus gained national attention when he called out the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, but he was eventually forced to withdraw the Guard. After rioting broke out, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent U.S. troops to Little Rock and put the National Guard under federal command in order to ensure the integration of the school. Faubus’s political expediency resulted in his repeated reelection as governor but also prevented him from moving into the national political arena. In 1970, 1974, and 1986 he sought reelection as governor of Arkansas but was unsuccessful in each attempt at a political comeback, the last time losing to Bill Clinton.Little Rock Central High School: High school built in 1927 that served as the scene for the desegregation crisis of 1957.
Thurgood Marshall: (born in 1908 and died in 1993) American civil rights lawyer, the first African American justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. Throughout his long and varied career, Marshall was a tireless advocate for the rights of minorities and the poor.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): Organization founded in 1909 in New York City for the purpose of improving the conditions under which African Americans lived at that time. Although these conditions have improved enormously, many differences still exist in the rights of U.S. citizens solely because of race or ethnic origin. The NAACP continues to seek a single class of citizenship for every American.
Segregation: The act of segregating, or the state of being segregated; separation from others; a parting.
Shorter College: Founded in 1886 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Shorter College is the oldest institution of higher learning in North Little Rock, Arkansas. For many years, Shorter College has maintained its status as a liberal arts college. The school provides access to general education and professional programs to persons regardless of race, national origin, creed, and political persuasion. The college also recognizes its institutional responsibility to serve the community by making institutional resources available to assist in its cultural, economic, and spiritual development.Racism: The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others; discrimination or prejudice based on race.
Assessment Materials
Teacher Strategies and EvaluationSee lesson plan