University Libraries to Host Prescreening of PBS Documentary Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock

Daisy Bates at a vandalized window of her home. Courtesy of Gertrude Samuels Collection.

Daisy Bates surrounded by leaders of the marching units that paraded in her honor in Roxbury, Mass.

Daisy Bates in an evening dress, posed on the floor.

Bates with LBJ

Photo Submitted

Daisy Bates with six of the Little Rock Nine. Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock. Courtesy of Independent Television Service, 2012.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. week, the University Libraries and Diversity Affairs will host a prescreening of the PBS documentary Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock on Jan. 19, at 2 p.m. in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The film’s producer and director, Sharon La Cruise, will discuss the documentary filmmaking process as well as the social and historical issues the film brings to focus.

Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock tells the story of a seven-year journey by La Cruise to unravel the life of the Arkansas civil rights activist Daisy Bates. Beautiful, glamorous and articulate, Bates was fearless in her quest for justice, stepping into the spotlight to bring national attention to civil rights issues. Unconventional and  strong-willed, she became a household name in 1957 when she fought for the right of nine black students to attend the all-white Central High School in Little Rock. Her public support divided the Little Rock community and the state itself – culminating in a constitutional crisis that pitted President Dwight D. Eisenhower against Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus.

As head of the Arkansas NAACP and protector of the nine students, Bates achieved instant fame as the drama played out on national television and in newspapers around the world. But that fame proved fleeting, and Bates paid a hefty price for her attempts to remain relevant. The film travels with Daisy Bates on her long and lonely walk from orphaned child to newspaperwoman to national Civil Rights figure to her last days in Little Rock. In 1984, the University of Arkansas awarded Bates an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

La Cruise spent many hours working with the University Libraries’ special collections faculty and staff throughout her research, notably in her use of the Daisy Bates collection. She currently works as an associate for the Ford Foundation in the JustFilms unit. She is a member of the International Documentary Association. She holds a Master of Arts in television journalism from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts in history from Adelphi University.

Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock premieres on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens on Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 9 p.m.