“Every society honors its live conformists and dead troublemakers” — Mignon McLaughlin

Daisy Bates was a “troublemaker.” The Supreme Court ordered the integration of schools in 1954. With the community divided on whether integration should be gradual, beginning with the first grade, or all at once, integration did not happen in Little Rock, and black students were turned away from the schools.

In 1957, Daisy Bates, an official of the NAACP in Arkansas, was determined to lead nine black students, known as The Little Rock 9, into the all-white high school.

Who was this woman who flaunted anti-segregationists views and stood up against Gov. Orval Faubus and the National Guard, who dared to appeal to President Eisenhower “to give the basic protection which provides us the freedom from fear to which citizens of America are entitled?” Who was this woman?

Born in 1914, Daisy Lee Gatson was the least likely of women to be a formidable Civil Rights activist. She was raised by family friends after her mother was raped and murdered by three white men, and her father left her. At age 15, Daisy fell in love with a married insurance salesman who was an experienced journalist. She was his mistress and lived a frivolous, party life supported by her lover, L.C. Bates. In the early 1940s, Bates divorced his wife and married Daisy on her 30th birthday.

Daisy and L.C. moved to Little Rock and operated the Arkansas State Press, a weekly African-American newspaper championing Civil Rights. L.C. trained her as a reporter and taught her to use the newspaper as a weapon. Daisy joined the Civil Rights movement, becoming president of the Arkansas Chapter of the National Association of Colored People and a major force in the Little Rock integration movement. She was also a role model for the feminist movement.

Under pressure, the Little Rock school superintendent selected nine qualified black students to enroll in the high school. Marshaling these “Little Rock 9,” Daisy demanded and received help from the National Guard to see that they entered the school safely. But, integration was not without its consequences. Violence escalated; she was threatened, her home was stoned, the newspaper filed for bankruptcy. Blacks felt she might be wrong in being aggressive and did not know what to make of her. The whites hated her.

Daisy moved to New York City where she wrote a book, “The Little Rock School Crisis, The Long Shadow of Little Rock,” which was banned throughout the South. In 1988, after the University of Arkansas Press reprinted it, it won an American Book Award.

Daisy Bates divorced, lived the high life, and died almost destitute. Despite her travails, she always smiled, bloody but unbowed. She was the first African female to lie in state at the Arkansas capitol. Bill Clinton called her “the most distinguished Arkansas citizen of all time.”

For those who lived through the 1950s, this film is a stark reminder of the turbulent times of the Civil Rights movement. For those who never experienced those troublesome years, the black and white footage tells it as it was thanks to film director Sharon La Cruise, who did a thorough job of research and production.

COMMUNITY CINEMA IN THE GRAND VALLEY - JANUARY SCHEDULE

• Grand Junction

Tuesday, Jan. 10, 7 p.m. screening, 6:30 reception

Recital Hall, Moss Performing Arts Center

Colorado Mesa University

Free campus parking for this event

• Palisade

Thursday, Jan. 19, 6 p.m. screening

Palisade Branch Library, 119 W. Third St.

• Fruita

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 6:30 p.m. screening

New location: Cavalcade, 201 E. Aspen St.

Free admission. A community discussion will follow the film in all locations.