Sharon La Cruise remembers forgotten female civil rights hero in ‘Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock’

Explore Our Galleries

A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali.
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC

African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie

Kidnapped: The Middle Passage

Image of the first black members of Congress

Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom

The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200

One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice

NOW: Free At Last?

Memorial to the Victims of Lynching

The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall

Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville

Special Exhibits

Breaking News!

Today's news and culture by Black and other reporters in the Black and mainstream media.

Click Here

Ways to Support ABHM?

Click Here

May 30, 2012

by Olu Gittens, TheGrio

Black journalist and filmmaker Sharon La Cruise has taken a seven-year journey to tell the story of Daisy Bates, the activist and former Arkansas NAACP head who helped organize the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The advocate for a group of students historically called the Little Rock Nine, Daisy Bates was glamorous, outspoken, divisive and at times mysterious.

[…]

Daisy Bates is the subject of La Cruise’s documentary

Bates was an central part of organizing one of the most memorable events of the Civil Rights Movement, yet as a woman her name is largely forgotten in black history. The tale of Daisy Bates is an important one for all those interested in advancing the social perspectives of black women, while filling in the gaps left in our political memory.

Read an interview with the filmmaker here.

Learn about the Little Rock Nine. Read one woman’s journey to discovering her family’s racist history.

The Black experience in news.

Comments Are Welcome

Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors – adults and youth –– can exchange informed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits.

Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Such comments are posted in the exhibit Hateful Speech. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Submissions longer than 120 words will be shortened.

See our full Comments Policy here.