Thelma Mothershed-Wair (born November 29, 1940) is the eldest member of the Little Rock Nine group who attended Little Rock's Central High School following the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education court case. The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Childhood Wair was born in Bloomburg, Texas and is the daughter of Arlevia and Hosanna Claire Mothershed of Little Rock, Arkansas. Mothershed had five siblings other than herself, three sisters and two brothers. She attended Dunbar Junior High and Horace Mann High schools, and despite daily torment from white students at Little Rock Central High School, she completed her junior year at the formerly all-white high school during the tumultuous 1957–58 year. She was a very successful student, and was able to graduate from Central High in the 1958–59 school year after going out of her way to complete all the necessary credits in order to graduate on time. Little Rock Nine The Little Rock Nine were a group of African American students who began the integration, or the desegregation, of all white schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. This group of brave students were tormented, ridiculed, harassed, and even assaulted daily for simply attending what would now be considered a regular public school. The governor of Little Rock, at the time, was Orval Faubus, and he set up military guards to escort these nine students to and from school, as well as between classes. In an attempt to halt the desegregation of this school, a 'lost year' had occurred, leaving some students stranded unless they were able to take extra courses (like Mothershed did). This did not work, however, and a couple of the Little Rock Nine were still able to obtain their high school diplomas from this once all white school. These original nine students eventually led to the desegregation of all public schools in the area. School Due to Little Rock's schools being closed the year following the Little Rock Nine students' integration, in order to earn the necessary credits for graduation she took correspondence courses and attended summer school in St. Louis, Missouri.