Thelma Mothershed Wair, a member of the Little Rock Nine who integrated an Arkansas school, has died

One of the nine Black students who integrated a high school in Arkansas’ capital city in 1957 while a mob of white segregationists yelled threats and insults at them has died at age 83. Thelma Mothershed Wair died Saturday at a hospital in Little Rock after having complications from multiple sclerosis. Her sister, Grace Davis, confirmed the death Sunday to The Associated Press. For three weeks, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block the Black students, known as the Little Rock Nine, from enrolling in Central High School. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort them into school on Sept. 25, 1957.