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.

She and eight other students integrated Central High School in Little Rock in 1957 while a mob of White segregationists yelled threats and insults.

Many are mourning the loss of an Arkansan who inspired change for the better and changed African-American education across the nation.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Thelma Mothershed-Wair, the eldest member of the Little Rock Nine passed away on Saturday. Mothershed-Wair was born on November 29, 1940, in Bloomberg, Texas and became a national hero as one of nine African American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

News came this weekend that Thelma Mothershed Wair, one of the Little Rock Nine, has died. She was 83.

Mothershed Wair would eventually earn her high school diploma at Central High School, before going on to earn both her bachelor’s degree in home economics and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling.

Thelma Mothershed Wair, a member of the Little Rock Nine that integrated an Arkansas high school, has died at age 83.

In 1957, she and eight other Black students — the Little Rock Nine — enrolled in a high school in the face of racist mobs and a resistant Jim Crow governor.

Thelma Mothershed Wair, the iconic member of the Little Rock Nine who helped integrate an Arkansas high school in 1957 despite opposition from white protesters, has died at the age of 83.