Thelma Mothershed Wair was born November 29, 1940 in Bloomberg, Texas. She is best known as one of the Little Rock Nine, the name given to the students who first integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Following her graduation from Central High School, she went on to study home economics and get a Master of Science in Guidance and Counseling Education from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She married Fred Wair in 1965, and the couple had one son, Scott Wair. During her life, she served as an educator and advocate for the unhoused.
Thelma Mothershed Wair’s mother, Hosanna Claire Moore Mothershed, served as secretary of the Little Rock Nine Scholarship Fund, of which Thelma was a recipient.
The University of Arkansas Libraries were saddened to learn of her passing on October 19, 2024. Anyone interested in learning more about her extraordinary life is encouraged to view the Thelma Mothershed Wair Papers (MC 1868), which Thelma donated to our Special Collections Division on May 17, 2010.
This collection contains correspondence between the Little Rock Nine Scholarship Fund and individuals who worked to support the fund, as well as universities attended by the Little Rock Nine. The checkbook and check receipts included in Box 2 of the collection provide supplementary documentation of how the funds were distributed to the different academic institutions attended by the Little Rock Nine. The Thelma Mothershed Wair Papers also include media coverage of the Little Rock crisis, program materials from award ceremonies and commemorative events, and the personal papers of Thelma Mothershed Wair and other members of the Mothershed family.
Photo including six of the Little Rock Nine. From the Daisy Bates Papers (MC 582, Box 9, File 3, Item 25).
Photo from the Daisy Bates Papers (MC 582, Box 9, File 3, Item 26).