Born: November 11, 1914, Huttig, AR

Education: Huttig public schools, ninth grade

Died: November 9, 1999, Little Rock, AR

Bates challenged segregation well before the Brown decision and Montgomery Bus Boycott catalyzed the Civil Rights Movement. With her husband, she founded the Little Rock State Press in 1941 and made it a voice of protest for racial equality.

Bates emerged to be president of the Arkansas State Conference of NAACP Branches in 1952. Eventually protesting state and local noncompliance with Brown, she recruited black students, known as “the Little Rock Nine,” to apply for school transfers. When the Federal District Court ordered their transfer to Little Rock's all-white Central High School in 1957, the governor sent in the state National Guard to prevent it, many whites taunted them, and they were turned back. But the president intervened, federalized the Guard, and deployed the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the Court's order. Bates and the Nine received the NAACP Spingarn Award in 1958; the State Press lost major advertisers and closed in 1959.

Bates remained an activist. In addition to working in staff positions for the Democratic National Committee and antipoverty agencies, she helped transform the poor black neighborhood of Mitchellville, near Little Rock. Thanks to her leadership, residents obtained public water and sewer systems and paved streets. They also sponsored fundraisers for a community center.