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Review
| Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader, by Amy Polakow. North Haven, Connecticut: Linnet Books, 2003. xii and 108 pages. $25.00, cloth.
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| Despite the significant role played by Daisy Bates as a leader in the civil rights movement, her story has received little attention. Aside from her memoirs, first published in 1962, and Ann Beard's 2002 book, Daisy Bates: Champion of Little Rock Nine (which is also for a school-age audience), no significant texts have been published about the forces behind the integration of Little Rock's Central High School. This careful study helps remedy the gap in the historical literature and will be extremely useful for secondary teachers wishing to explore the civil rights struggles through more in-depth focus on the key protagonists of change. |
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Daisy Bates experienced the hatred of segregation and discrimination as a child growing up in a small "company town" in rural Arkansas. Her family situation was especially difficult—her parents were not married, her mother was killed during an attempted rape, and her father left Arkansas while Bates was just a small child. Raised by foster parents, Bates saw firsthand the prejudice of her white neighbors as she attempted to carry-out minimal chores such as buying meat at the butcher shop, but was instead rebuffed with racial epithets. Polakow does not shy away from presenting the uncomfortable realities of African-American life in the Deep South. Throughout the book, quotes from a variety of sources help to illustrate for students the depths of the white hostility to the cause of black civil rights. At the same time, the reader comes to appreciate the leading role Bates played in bringing about the integration of Little Rock's public schools. Although not a historian, the author expertly combines primary source material with well-researched and well-written narrative to present a compelling story. |
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Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader is an excellent tool for classroom teachers to employ in leading students to a more in-depth understanding of the events and conflicts surrounding the integration of public schools. Students at both the junior high and senior high level will find the book accessible and interesting. While personal experiences of Daisy Bates are conveyed, the focus remains the civil rights movement. Polakow effectively describes Bates' involvement with the African-American newspaper association and the hostility her articles brought from whites, as well as her activity in the local NAACP. Students will easily be able to follow the chronology of the book and will be better able to understand the overall national situation by exploring the case study of prejudice and discrimination in this account. This book is best suited to high reading level students at the junior high level (grades 8 or 9). Students at the high school level would also find it interesting, although the reading level would probably be somewhat low for many of those students. Classroom teachers will be able to help low-level readers by creating reading guides and designing comprehension activities to make the text even more accessible. Most students should have few problems, however, as the text is written on a reader-friendly level. The greatest drawback from an educator's point of view will be the cost of the book. It is a very rare school district that will be willing to order a classroom set of supplemental texts at a cost of $25.00 each. Hopefully, Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader will be published soon in a low-cost, paperback version. |
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This short biography of Daisy Bates, written specifically for school students, is an excellent addition to the resources on the civil rights movement available to teachers. Polakow provides readers with several pages of additional resources that will be an excellent starting point for assigning students additional investigation or research projects based on themes in the book. One area of weakness is the presentation of the students who participated in the Central High School integration efforts. Although an excellent "Afterword" describes, "What happened to the Little Rock Nine?" (p. 91–94), little background information is provided about the nine students before the 1957 efforts began. While the focus of the account of those efforts is properly on the actions of Daisy Bates, it would have made for a more well-rounded story to briefly introduce each of the students in a more personal and individual manner. Overall, however, Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader is an excellent option for junior and senior high school teachers to consider as they explore resources for leading their students to a better understanding of the civil rights movement from an individual and powerful perspective. |
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Indiana Area School District
Indiana, Pennsylvania |
William E. Doody |
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