Thelma Mothershed Wair, Member Of Little Rock Nine, Dies At Age 83

When Mothershed Wair was a teenager, she and 8 other Black students initiated the integration of Central High School in Little Rock.

Thelma Mothershed Wair, a member of the Little Rock Nine, has died at age 83. Wair was part of the famous group of Black students who integrated an Arkansas high school in 1957.

Mothershed Wair died on Oct. 19 at a hospital in Little Rock after complications from multiple sclerosis. Her sister, Grace Davis, confirmed her death to the Associated Press.

When Mothershed Wair was a teenager, she and eight other Black students initiated the integration of Central High School in Little Rock. White segregationists frequently protested outside the school, harassing them with slurs as they entered the building.

“I didn’t think anybody was really going to hurt her because, you know, we’ve had racial incidents in Little Rock over the years,” explained Davis on her sister’s experience. “People would say things that were mean, but they never really hurt anybody.”

In addition to the protestors, Arkansas’ then-Governor, Orval Faubus, called in the National Guard to block the students from going inside. Given the U.S. Supreme Court deeming segregated classrooms as unconstitutional through their 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent soldiers to help escort the students on Sept. 25.

The group’s bravery and determination to attend the school led to their label as the Little Rock Nine. Mothershed Wair and her classmates, Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Melba Pattillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls, became symbols of the fight for racial justice in the U.S.

Davis recalled that although her sister evaded physical violence, the intimidation tactic did result in name-calling and other forms of disrespect.

“I think one time somebody put some ink on her skirt or something when she was coming through the hallway. And, of course, there was always name-calling,” shared Davis. “But she never really had any physical confrontations with any of the students up there.”

However, despite the racist encounters and internal health issues, Davis always saw her sister as a “fighter.”

“She was always a fighter,” expressed Davis. “She’s been sick her entire life. She was born with a congenital heart defect and was told at an early age that she would never get out of her teens. So, as she approached her 16th birthday, I remember Mother talking about how afraid she was because she thought she was going to die. But she did what she wanted to do. She enjoyed life.”

While Mothershed Wair did not graduate from Central High School, as Faubus closed the schools to protest the integration further, she continued her studies. She earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics education and a master’s in guidance and counseling.

She worked as a teacher in the East St. Louis, Illinois school system before serving as a counselor for elementary career education. Before retiring in 1994, she also worked at a juvenile detention center as an instructor for survival skills for women with the American Red Cross.

She married Fred Wair in 1965, and they had one son and two grandchildren. Upon her husband’s death in 2005, she returned to Little Rock.

Mothershed Wair remains ingrained in Black and American history. In 1999, she and the Little Rock Nine received a Congressional Gold Medal for their collective heroism.