Former U.S. Rep Vic Snyder with Thelma Mothershed-Wair in a file image. Mothershed-Wair, a member of the Little Rock Nine, died on Saturday.
The eldest member of the Little Rock Nine has died, according to her family.
Thelma Mothershed-Wair, 83, died Saturday, Oct. 19, in Little Rock, her family announced Sunday afternoon on social media. No cause of death was given.
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African-American students who enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus initially blocked the students from entering the segregated school. President Dwight D. Eisenhower later intervened, allowing them to attend.
Mothershed-Wair was born in Bloomburg, Texas. After graduating from Central, she taught home economics in the East St. Louis School District for 28 years before moving back to Little Rock.
File image from the Office of former U.S. Rep Vic Snyder
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