Virginia Bates was born in Baltimore, the only child of William and Elinor Neumann. She earned a degree in Literature from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio before returning to teach 5th grade in Baltimore. She later worked for the humanitarian organization CARE and then moved to New York City where she married Abraham Bates in1950. She re-located with her husband and two children to Howard County, Maryland in 1961 and continued to live in her home in Woodbine until moving to California in 2012 to be near her daughter and grandchildren.
Virginia was an accomplished poet, winning several awards including the 1979 Grand Prize in the World of Poetry contest. Her poetry appeared in numerous books, magazines and newspapers. She read her work on television and radio, and at various Poetry and Literary Societies. A copy of her poem, "Benjamin Banneker" is hanging at the Banneker Museum in Ellicott City where her book of poetry, "Black Notes from a White Piano" is available in the gift shop. In 2010 her anthology of 350 new and collected poems was published under the title “Palette of Life.”
Virginia was co-founder of the Howard County Peace Action Community in 1968. A longtime member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Howard County, she led the program committee for many years. In 1983 Virginia received the Howard County Human Rights Commission Individual Achievement Award for her work on peace and human rights. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom honored her with the Peace and Freedom Award for artistic achievement and commitment to peace in 1990, and in 2005 she was elected to the Howard County Women’s Hall of Fame.
The poet was also a painter. Her paintings were exhibited at many galleries and art centers in Maryland. A number of her paintings addressed social issues: war, alcoholism, AIDS, domestic violence, and overpopulation. In May of 2000, she was asked to remove seven of her seventeen paintings hanging on display in a well-known
bookstore due to their alleged disturbing content, an occurrence that generated media coverage and discussion about the messages contained in the paintings and the overall role of art. As of 2010, twenty-four of her paintings are owned by the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
She was married to Abraham Bates and had two children, a step-daughter, and two grandchildren.