An
African-American journalist and
civil rights activist who became the
president of the state conference for the
NAACP's branch in
Arkansas.
She is best known for her actions in the protest of the plan of slow integration of public schools in Arkansas. She took African-American kids to white schools accompanied by photographers and fellow journalists who would document the refusal of white schools to admit Black students.
Bates' involvement with the desegregation of Central High School made her nationally known after she showed fearlessness in the face of intimidation by legal authority and threats of violence from segregationalists. After the troops arrived Bates was with the first students admitted and kept watch over them for a long time after.