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State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly 2
Regular Session, 2025 HR 1025 3
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By: Representative Steele 5
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HOUSE RESOLUTION 8
TO RECOGNIZE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2025, AS DAISY 9
GATSON BATES DAY AND ALSO PRESIDENT'S DAY, AND TO 10
HONOR DAISY GATSON BATES FOR HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO 11
ARKANSAS, THE NATION, AND THE WORLD, NOW MEMORIALIZED 12
IN THE DISPLAY OF HER STATUE AT THE NATIONAL STATUARY 13
HALL COLLECTION IN THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL. 14
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Subtitle 17
TO RECOGNIZE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2025, 18
AS DAISY GATSON BATES DAY, AND TO HONOR 19
DAISY GATSON BATES FOR HER CONTRIBUTIONS 20
TO ARKANSAS, THE NATION, AND THE WORLD, 21
NOW MEMORIALIZED IN THE DISPLAY OF HER 22
STATUE IN THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL. 23
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WHEREAS, Daisy Gatson Bates Day is observed annually in the State of 25
Arkansas on the same day as President's Day to honor the life of Daisy Gatson 26
Bates, a civil rights activist who played a prominent role during the 1957 27
integration crisis at Little Rock Central High School; and 28
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WHEREAS, the life and legacy of Daisy Gatson Bates has been honored 30
previously by the General Assembly, including by Representative Steele during 31
the 2011 Regular Session in House Resolution 1013; and 32
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WHEREAS, Daisy Gatson Bates was born in Huttig, Arkansas, in 1914, but 34
her mother was murdered in a racially motivated incident when Bates was just 35
three (3) years old, prompting Bates's lifelong interest in ending racial 36 HR1025
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injustice; and 1
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WHEREAS, in 1941, Daisy Gatson Bates moved to Little Rock to start a 3
newspaper, the "Arkansas State Press" , in order to advocate for civil rights 4
and other important issues impacting Black Arkansans; and 5
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WHEREAS, Daisy Gatson Bates and her husband, Lucious Christopher Bates, 7
worked closely with the Little Rock branch of the National Association for 8
the Advancement of Colored People, and in 1952 Bates was elected president of 9
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Arkansas 10
State Conference; and 11
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WHEREAS, Daisy Gatson Bates was already well -known as a civil rights 13
advocate in the Arkansas Black community when she came to the attention of 14
the rest of the state and the entire world as an advocate for public school 15
integration during the federal court case, Aaron v. Cooper, 143 F.Supp. 855 16
(E.D. Ark. 1956), that set the stage for the 1957 desegregation of Little 17
Rock Central High School; and 18
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WHEREAS, Daisy Gatson Bates mentored and cared for the nine (9) Black 20
students, later known as the Little Rock Nine, who attended Little Rock 21
Central High School during the school year of 1957 -1958, functioning as the 22
principal spokesperson for the children and for school desegregation, as a 23
result of which she and her family suffered intimidation and physical 24
attacks; and 25
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WHEREAS, Daisy Gatson Bates never wavered in her support of the Little 27
Rock Nine during their difficult first year at Little Rock Central High 28
School, a time in which all nine (9) students suffered verbal and physical 29
assaults from classmates, teachers, and other citizens of Arkansas; and 30
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WHEREAS, in 1960, Daisy Gatson Bates moved to New York City and wrote a 32
memoir, "The Long Shadow of Little Rock", about her experience with the 33
Little Rock Nine and her efforts to desegregate public schools; and 34
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WHEREAS, Daisy Gatson Bates later moved to Washington, D.C., where she 36 HR1025
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spoke at the March on Washington in 1963 and worked in the administration of 1
President Lyndon B. Johnson on antipoverty programs; and 2
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WHEREAS, after suffering a stroke, Daisy Gatson Bates returned to 4
Arkansas in 1965 to advocate for economic self -sufficiency for poor Black 5
Arkansans, securing grants and donations for community improvements such as 6
sewer systems and Head Start programs; and 7
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WHEREAS, following the death of Daisy Gatson Bates in 1999, a crowd of 9
more than two thousand (2,000) gathered at Robinson Auditorium in Little Rock 10
to honor her memory, at which event President William Jefferson "Bill" 11
Clinton compared Bates to a diamond that gets "chipped away and formed and 12
shines more brightly"; and 13
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WHEREAS, in 2001, the General Assembly enacted a provision recognizing 15
the third Monday in February as Daisy Gatson Bates Day, an official state 16
holiday; and 17
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WHEREAS, many streets in Arkansas towns, including in Little Rock, bear 19
the name of Daisy Gatson Bates; and 20
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WHEREAS, in February 2012, the Public Broadcasting Service broadcast a 22
documentary called "Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock"; and 23
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WHEREAS, in 2019, the General Assembly passed a law to replace the 25
statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol 26
with statues of Johnny Cash and of Daisy Gatson Bates; and 27
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WHEREAS, the statue of Daisy Gatson Bates, created by artist Benjamin 29
Victor, was unveiled in the United States Capitol on May 8, 2024; and 30
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WHEREAS, the statue of Daisy Gatson Bates depicts her walking forward 32
with a folded copy of the Arkansas State Press newspaper in her left hand and 33
a pen and notepad in her right hand, with a National Association for the 34
Advancement of Colored People pin on her left lapel and a rose on the left 35
side of her jacket, which is a symbol of Bates's continually blossoming 36 HR1025
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motivation for addressing racial inequality, 1
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NOW THEREFORE, 3
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY -FIFTH GENERAL 4
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 5
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THAT the House of Representatives recognize Monday, February 17, 2025, 7
as Daisy Gatson Bates Day and also President's Day, and honor Daisy Gatson 8
Bates for her contributions to Arkansas, the nation, and the world, now 9
memorialized in the display of her statue at the National Statuary Hall 10
Collection in the United States Capitol. 11
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