Daisy Bates And The March On Washington

You may not know, but there was an important and powerful Arkansas angle at the March on Washington, which celebrates its 50th anniversary on Wednesday.

While history has immortalized the spine-tingling oratory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Daisy Bates – a mentor of the Little Rock Nine – also gave a rousing speech.

She was the only female who spoke that day.

Peter Urban, with Stephens Media’s Washington Bureau, reports thats Bates was a substitute for Myrlie Evers, widow of slain Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

Bates was not originally scheduled to speak but was called upon when Myrlie Evers, the widow of slain Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was unable to make the event. During a “Tribute to Women” segment, Bates delivered a brief but forceful message affirming the role of women in the civil rights crusade.

“We will walk until we are free, until we can walk to any school and take our children to any school in the United States,” Bates said to resounding cheers. “And, we will sit-in, we will kneel-in and we will lie-in, if necessary, until every Negro in America can vote. This we pledge to the women of America.”

Bates had been a leader in the civil rights movement, gaining national attention as mentor and spokeswoman for nine black teenagers who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957 in the face of angry white mobs and then-Gov. Orval Faubus’ order for the Arkansas National Guard to block their path.

The students entered the school under escort by troops from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division deployed by President Dwight Eisenhower to enforce a federal desegregation order.

Read the full report at this link.