Bates, Lucius Christopher

Lucius Christopher Bates, (born 1901, Mississippi, U.S.—died August 22, 1980, Little Rock, Arkansas), African American newspaper publisher and civil rights leader.

Bates was the publisher of the Arkansas State Press, a weekly pro-civil rights newspaper. In 1957, after Governor Orval Faubus called out the state’s National Guard in an attempt to thwart the racial integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bates and his wife, Daisy, ushered nine African American students into the school with the aid of federal troops. Thereafter, Bates’s home was the target of attacks by segregationists who hurled stones, bottles, and bombs. Also, his newspaper was boycotted by advertisers, and Bates closed the paper in 1959. During the 1960s, however, Bates and Faubus joined forces: realizing that federal aid was crucial to the state, Faubus asked Bates to recommend qualified African Americans to work in federally funded state agencies. Bates also served as field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) between 1960 and 1971.