Flier issued to discredit Daisy Bates: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A white paper flier produced by a segregationist group discrediting civil rights activist Daisy Bates.

The flyer is designed with centered black print, Bates’s arrest mugshots and police record at an attempt to frame her civil rights activism as criminal, demean her by gender and by ethnicity.

From top to bottom the flyer reads: [“MRS” DAISY BATES / Little Rock’s “Lady” of The Year / (SEE POLICE RECORD BELOW) / CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL’S MOST PROMINENT P.T.A. MEMBER, SELF-APPOINTED PROTCTOR OF NINE NEGRO / CHILDREN, HAVING RECEIVED “SUPOENA” POWERS FROM JESS MATTHEWS, CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL PRIN- / CIPAL, AND ALSO AUTHORITY TO CROSS EXAMINE WHITE STUDENTS, UNOFFICIAL “PRINCIPAL” IN CHARGE / OF LECTURING WHITE STUDENTS AT CENTRAL HIGH WHO “CROSS” ANY OF HER “BRAVE” NINE NEGRO STU- / DENTS.].

Below Bates’s mugshots, the racist commentary continues with her police record and an appeal to parents:

[PARENTS: DO YOU KNOW - - - - / 1. THERE IS A VICIOUS FEAR CAMPAIGN AT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL. WHEREBY THE WHITE CHILDREN ARE / BEING TOLD THAT AT ANYTIME A WHITE CHILD HAS TROUBLE WITH A NEGRO STUDENTS THAT THE WHITE STUDENTS / MUST FACE DAISY BATES AND BE CROSS-EXAMINED BY HER. / 2. THAT AN IRON-CLAD CENSORSHIP HAS BEEN CLAMPED ON CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL. / 3. JESS MATTHEWS, PRINCIPAL, HAS IMPOSED AN ALMOST PRISON-LIKE FEAR UPON THE WHITE STUDENTS AGAINST TALK- / ING EVEN TO THEIR PARENTS ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON IN CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL. / 4. THAT DAISY BATES HAS FREE ACCESS TO THE SCHOOL AND JESS MATTHEWS’ OFFICE, AND IS SEEN FREQUENTLY IN MATTHEWS’ OFFICE / 5. THAT DAISY BATES WAS ALLOWED TO CROSS-EXAMINE A NUMBER OF WHITE STUDENTS RECENTLY FOLLOWING A KICK-FIGHT / BETWEEN A WHITE GIRL AND A NEGRO GIRL. BECAUSE THE WHITE GIRL WOULD NOT ANSWER DAISY BATES’ QUESTIONS. / MR. MATTHEWS GAVE THE WHITE GIRL TWO WEEKS IN THE DETENTION HALL. / WHO IS RUNNING CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL? / BLOSSOM OR BATES? – OR BOTH! / Paid for and distributed by Capital Citizens Council Julian Miller, Director]. There are no markings on the reverse of the flyer.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1957
• Distributed by: Julian Miller
• Subject of: Daisy Bates, American, 1914 - 1999
• Type: documents
• Type: fliers (printed matter)
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 14 × 8 9/16 in. (35.6 × 21.7 cm)
• Place depicted: Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Education
• Topic: Justice
• Topic: Politics
• Topic: Race discrimination
• Topic: Segregation
• Topic: Women
• Object number: 2020.26.20
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown – Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.