Little Rock Nine

Little Rock Nine

Thelma Mothershed Wair

Wair was born on November 29, 1940, to Arlevis and Hosanna Mothershed. She was the only member of the Little Rock Nine that was not born in Little Rock, as she came from the northeastern Texas town of Bloomberg. She was one of six children. As her father joined the U.S. Army and fought in World War 11, her mother, a native Arkansan , brought the children to Little Rock to be close to family. Her mother remained a homemaker. Returning from the war, her father worked as a psychiatric aide with the Veterans Hospital in Little Rock. The family home at 1313 Chester Street was largely integrated neighborhood. She attended Dunbar Junior High School and later Horace Mann High School until her registration at Central High School as a junior. After the 101st Airborne intervened and allowed the Little Rock Nine to attend a full days' worth of classes, she received torment from other students . In one case, a white girl alleged that Wair kicked her upon leaving the cafeteria. Wair denied it, but the accuser called in to a local television station. During the Lost Year, Wair finished her high school education through correspondence and summer courses with a school in St. Louis, Missouri. She majored in home economics at Southern Illinois University. She later received a Master's Degree in Guidance and Counseling from Southern Illinois University. She taught in the East St. Louis public system for twenty-eight years and volunteered at a Red Cross shelter, where she offered lessons to women about survival skills.

Minnijean Bown Trickey

Trickey was born in Little Rock on September 11, 1941, to Willie and Imogene Brown. Her parents moved Minnijean and her three siblings around the city. Her father worked as a mason and landscaping contractor. Her mother was a homemaker and was active in the Parent Teacher Association and the Girl Scouts. She attended Dunbar Junior High School, where she competed with Terrance Roberts to get better grades, and sang in the school choir. She attended the newly-opened Horace Mann High School before transferring to Central High School. White students tormented the Little Rock Nine throughout the school year, Minnijean included. She made headlines while attending Central High for an incident in the school's cafeteria. After an exchange with antagonists, she unintentionally dumped a bowl of chili on a white students head. The school suspended her. Two month's later, another confrontation resulted in her expulsion. She moved to New York City and lived with two prominent members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark. She finished her high school education at a private school in Manhattan, New Lincoln School. She received her college education in Canada. She earned a Bachelor's of Social Work in native human services from Laurentian University in Canada and attended graduate school at Carleton University. Social justice had long been an interest of hers as she worked on environment, gender, and workplace issues. She taught social work courses at Carleton University and several community colleges. Most prominently, she served in President William Clinton's administration as the deputy assistant secretary for workplace diversity at the Department of Interior from 1999 to 2001. Years later, she reunited with the student involved with the chili incident. They both attended a chili-cookoff at the Central High School cafeteria.

Jefferson Thomas

Thomas was born in Little Rock on September 19, 1942, to Ellis and Jessie Thomas. He lived om 1219 W. 20th Street with his six siblings. He attended Dunbar Junior High School before transferring to Central High. he recounted being protected by the 101st Airborne and Later the Arkansas National Guard. The federal soldiers were professionals who served as their protection. He believed they followed their orders to protect the Little Rock Nine and keep order in the school. When the 101st returned to their base at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, the National guard took over. Thomas noticed the difference and felt the Guardsmen did not care to protect the Little Rock Nine due to their part-time commitment and that many had connections with the school. He witnessed Guards associating with female students and their family members and friends who were Central students. When Little Rock's high schools reopened after the Lost Year, he returned to Central High School alongside Carlotta Walls. He graduated in 1960. He majored in business administration at California State University in Los Angeles. He participated in the student government, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Associated Engineers, and Progressive Baptist Youth Convention. He was a devout Christian who attended Sunday school every week. During his time in Columbus, Ohio, he served on the board of directors for the First Church of God Fay Care Center. His working career included the Thomas family-owned Retail Sales Business, the Mobil Oil Corporation, and twenty-seven years in the Department of Defense. He married and had a son.

Terrence Roberts

Roberts was born in Little Rock on December 3, 1941, to William and Margaret Roberts. His father served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and later worked as a shoemaker and in the Veterans Hospital. His mother ran a catering service at the home and solicitated her children to help cook. He was the oldest of seven children and lived at 1654 Izard Street. It was a neighborhood full of kids, he once recalled. "Everyone constantly played hard," he said. He attended Dunbar Junior High School and Horace Middle School before registering at Central Horace High School for his junior year. He experienced regular acts of targeting as a Central student including verbal harassment and being hit with baseballs during physical education class. During the Lost Year, he moved to Los Angeles, California, and completed his high school education from Los Angeles High School. He majored in sociology at California State University in Los Angeles. He continued his education at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and received a MS in social welfare and later a Ph.D. in psychology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. His working career included teaching at Pacific Union College in Napa Valley, California. He was director of mental health at St. Helena Hospital and Health Center. He served as assistant dean at the UCLA School of Social Welfare. He later joined the Antioch University Los Angeles' faculty where he taught psychology. He later founded the Terrance J. Roberts and Associates Management Consulting Firm and worked as a desegregation consultant to the Little Rock School District. He wrote two books, Lessons from Little Rock and Simple not Easy: Reflections on Community Social Responsibility and Tolerance.  He married Rita Roberts and had two daughters.

Carlotta Walls LaNier

Lanier was born in Little Rock on December 18, 1942, to Cartelyou and Juanita Walls. Her father was a brick mason, who was involved in several projects in the city such as schools and churches. Her mother worked as a secretary at the Office of Public Housing. She had two sisters. African Americans comprised her neighborhood, considered the West end of the city at that time. An open field separated her neighbors and a predominately white neighborhood. Children in both areas played baseball games together during the summer months, when schools were out of session. She attended Dunbar Junior High School, where her parents graduated from the junior college once established there. Other relatives taught at Dunbar. Her cousin was the school's librarian. Her aunt was the gym teacher, She passed Central High School often while attending Dunbar and envied the great education that Central students received. The signs of inequality among the all-white and all-black schools were clear to her. She held a strong interest in the sciences and heard from white students near her neighborhood about Central. She once recalled feeling excited when Centrals students received new textbooks. This meant Dunbar would get Central's discarded books that were still newer than those used in the all-black schools. Like Dunbar, Central's biology classes included lessons about dissecting frogs. At Central, two students paired. At Dunbar, there were teams of ten. She attended Central High with the Little Rock Nine for her sophomore year. She returned to the school after the Lost Year and graduated in 1960. She attended Michigan State University for two years before moving with her family to Denver, Colorado. She finished her college education at what was later called the University of Northern Colorado. She remained in the Denver area and founded LaNier and Company, a real estate brokerage firm. She worked as a real estate broker for thirty years and wrote a book, A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School, in 2009. She married Ira LaNier and had two children.

Gloria Ray Karlmark

Karlmark was born on September 26, 1942, in Little Rock to Harvey and Julia Ray. Both of her parents worked in the government as bureaucrats. With the U.S. Department of Agriculture, her father launched the Arkansas Agriculture Extension Service for Negroes. Her mother worked for the State of Arkansas as a sociologist. She had two siblings. She grew up on 2111 Cross Street near a forest, where she played with other children. She went to school at Horace Mann High School before attending Central High School for her junior year. Her only year at Central forged habits she kept for the rest of her life, she once said. When walking down a corridor, she majored in chemistry and mathematics at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The school issued all of its students a specific social curriculum. Since she was the only African American female on campus, the school issued her the curriculum for foreign students. Her working career included work as a public school teacher and a research assistant at the University of Chicago Research Medical Center. In 1970, she moved to Stockholm, Swede, to work in International Business Machines Nordic Laboratory as a systems analyst. She married Krister Karlmark and had two children.

Ernest Green

Green was born in Little Rock on September 22, 1941, to Lothaire and Ernest, Sr. His father passed away during his teenage years, leaving his school teacher mother to take of him and his two siblings. He grew up on the corner of 21st and Pulaski streets, a middle-class black neighborhood. He attended the nearby African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was active in the Boy Scouts and rose to the rank if Eagle Scout. He attended Dunbar Junior High and Horace Mann High School before registering at Central High School. He was the only senior among the Little Rock Nine. He, like the others, received violent harassment from segregationist students. People called in death threats to his house in the middle of the night, left broken glass on the gym floor, broke into his locker, and verbally abused him. At age sixteen, he graduated from Central High School. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sat with his family during the graduation ceremony. He attended Michigan State University an received a scholarship from an anonymous benefactor. He later learned that John Hannah, president of the university and first chairman of Unites States Commission on Civil Rights, provided the personal scholarship. During his time at the university, Green majored in political science and earned a master degree in sociology. He served as president of the campus branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. His mother was also active in Little Rock issues, as she helped a woman sue a school board for equal pay for black and white teachers. She also housed Thurgood Marshall when he was in Little Rock, as the city's hotels did not serve African Americans. His career included working for the International Ladies' Garments Workers Union, the A. Philip Randolph Education Fund, and the Lehman Brothers. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated him as he assistant secretary of Labor for the departments employee and training section. Green served until 1981. He had three children.

Elizabeth Eckford

Eckford was born in Little Rock on October 4, 1941, to Oscar and Birdie Eckford. Her father was a maintenance worker for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Her mother taught at an all-black state school for the blind and deaf. Together they supported their six children. At the time of the Crisis, the Eckford family lived at 4405 W. 18th Street. She once described the neighborhood by blocks of ethnic groups and a large pine forest. The area was made up of dirt roads that the city covered with oil around every election time. Elizabeth went to school at Dunbar Junior High School, like her mother, until she sought to attend Central High School. She later attended Horace Mann. The Central High School Crisis propelled her to television screen and above the fold on newspaper dailies around the world, when she attempted to enter the school by herself and faced the hatred of a mob. There are images of her wearing a white dress and a pair of sunglasses, as Hazel Bryan snarled racist threats. The moment, captured by Arkansas Democrat photographer Will Counts, represented the Crisis. It was a moment of a black student who was turned away from receiving a good education, demeaned by segregationists, while other remained silent. In later years, Bryan apologized to Eckford. Sitting stoically on a bus bench and surrounded by reporters and the same segregationists who had screamed at her earlier, several people tried to offer he assistance. Once reporter laid his hand on her and said, "don't let them see you cry." Fellow Little Rock Nine-member Terrance Roberts offered to walk with her ack home. Eckford refused since such a journey meant separating after Roberts turned to his street. L.C. Bates, the husband of the prolific Daisy Bates, sat next to her for a moment and revealed that he carried a gun. He offered her a ride home, but Eckford had followed the standing advice from her mother to never ride home with strangers. During the Lost Year, Eckford took night classes and earned enough credits to receive her high school diploma. She majored in her long-held interest of history at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Self-described as shy, th traumatic year of attending Central High School followed her. Apart from a stint in the U.S. Army, she largely remained in the Little Rock Area. She styed at the house on 18th Street. She held several positions in Little Rock including a history teacher, welfare worker, and a probation officer. She had two sons.

Melba Pattillo Beals

Beals was born in Little Rock on December 7, 1941, as the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor. Her mother, Lois Pattillo, was a high school English Teacher and held a doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas. Her father, Howell Pattillo, worked on the Missouri Pacific Railroad as a hostler's helper but was one class away from gaining a college degree. She had one brother names Conrad. The Pattillo family, grandmother India included, lived in Little Rock on 1121 Cross Street. Melba took ballet and piano lessons as a child and was a girl scout. A family that loved education, their home housed books ranging from Shakespeare to Langston Hughes. She was sitting in a Dunbar Junior High classroom when her teacher told the students about the Unites States Supreme Court's decision, Brown v. Board of Education.  She later attended Horace Mann High School. Entering her junior year, she registered to attend Central High School. On September 4, when the Little Rock Nine first attempted to enter the school, her mother escaped the grasp of an angry mob that pursued them. One segregationist chased them with a rope. She attended Central High School for only one year. During the Lost Year, she moved to Santa Rosa, California, and gained her diploma. The media that had swarmed Little Rock during the Crisis inspired her. She majored in journalism at San Francisco State University and earned a master's degree from Columbia University's School of Journalism. She worked at a NBC affiliate as a television reporter and wrote two acclaimed books, Warrior's Don't Cry and White Is a State of Mind, about her experiences during the Central High Crisis and the following years. She married John Beals in 1961. They had a daughter named Kellie together. She later adopted two boys.