Melba Pattillo Beals
Born December 7, 1941
Melba Pattillo Beals was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and was raised in a middle-class black neighborhood. Her mother, who supported the family as a school teacher, and her grandmother, who taught Melba non-violent resistance, were the primary influences in her life. As a young girl, Melba wanted to be an actress or a reporter and believed that she could attain her goals by receiving the finest education possible.
After going to Central for a year, she moved to San Francisco where she finished high school and went to college. She then worked as a news reporter and journalist in San Francisco.
Ernest Gideon Green
Born September 22, 1941
Ernest Green was born in Little Rock to Lothaire and Ernest Green, Sr. His parent, similar to Beals, valued the importance of education. Ernest has a brother, Scott, and a sister, Treopia Washington. He was the oldest of the Little Rock Nine, and in 1958, was the first African-American to graduate from Central High School.
He then attended Michigan State University with a scholarship provided by an anonymous donor. After college, Green worked for A. Phillip Randolph Education Fund and Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs under President Jimmy Carter.
Carlotta Walls
Born December 18, 1942
The oldest of three daughters, Carlotta LaNier was born on December 18, 1942 in Little Rock, Arkansas to Juanita and Cartelyou Walls. Her father was a brick mason and a World War II veteran, and her mother was a secretary in the Office of Public Housing.Carlotta was inspired by Rosa Parks to fight for desegregation. She was the youngest of the Little Rock Nine and was the first female African-American to graduate from Central High School.
She attended Michigan State University and Colorado State College. After graduating she joined the Young woman's Christian Association. Carlotta currently live in Englewood, Colorado
Minnijean Brown-Trickey
Born September 11, 1941
Minnijean Brown was the eldest of four children of Willie and Imogene Brown . Her mother was a homemaker and nurse’s aid during the crisis, and her father was an independent mason and landscaping contractor. Minnijean was suspended from Central High School twice for retaliating against the daily torment. She was later expelled and moved to New York where she finished high school.
Brown later attended Southern Illinois University and majored in journalism. She worked as a social activist, speaking at different colleges and conventions. She has also received multiple awards for her bravery at Central High School.
Jefferson Allison Thomas
Born September 19, 1942
Died September 5, 2010
Jefferson Thomas was born the youngest of seven children on September 19, 1942, in Little Rock to Mr. and Mrs. Ellis Thomas. Thomas was a track athlete at all-black Horace Mann High School. After Little Rock high schools reopened, he came back to finish high school. Jefferson then attended California State University.
After finishing college, he served in the army during the Vietnam War and later worked for Mobil Oil. He finally got a job as an accountant for the United States Department of Defense. He died of pancreatic cancer on September 5, 2010.
Elizabeth Ann Eckford
Born October 4, 1941
Elizabeth was born in Little Rock to Oscar and Birdie Eckford. Her father worked nights as a dining car maintenance worker for the Missouri Pacific Railroad’s Little Rock station. Her mother taught at the segregated state school for blind and deaf children, instructing them in how to wash and iron for themselves. On the first day of integrating Central High, Eckford was separated from the rest of the group. She was followed by an enormous mob of angry segregationists and news reporters. The famous photo of Hazel Bryan yelling at Elizabeth was taken that day.
After finishing high school at home, Elizabeth went to Knox College in Illinois. She then served in the U.S. Army for five years, serving for her first two as a pay clerk and then, upon reenlisting, worked as an information specialist and wrote for the Fort McClellan, Alabama, and the Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, newspapers. Eckford has held various jobs throughout her life. She has been a waitress, history teacher, welfare worker, unemployment and employment interviewer, and a military reporter.
Gloria Cecelia Ray Karlmark
Born September 26, 1942
Gloria Ray was one of the three children of Harvey C. and Julia Miller Ray. By the time Ray entered Central High, her father was retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he had founded the Arkansas Agricultural Extension Service for Negroes, and her mother was a sociologist working for the state of Arkansas. After one year at Central, she moved with her family to Kansas City, Missouri where she attended Kansas City Central High School.
Following high school, Gloria attended Illinois Institute of Technology and received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and mathematics. She then joined the International Business Machine’s Nordic Laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden, where she worked as a systems analyst and technical writer.
She also taught at University of Chicago Research Medical Center. She is currently retired.
Thelma Mothershed-Wair
Born November 29, 1940
Thelma Mothershed was born on November 29, 1940, in Bloomberg, Texas, to Arlevis Leander Mothershed and Hosanna Claire Moore Mothershed. Her father was a psychiatric aid at the Veterans Hospital, and her mother was a homemaker. She has three sisters and two brothers. Despite the fact that she had a cardiac condition since birth, she had a near perfect record for attendance.After she attended Central for one year, in was closed, but Thelma earned the necessary credits for graduation through correspondence courses and by attending summer school in St. Louis, Missouri. She received her diploma from Central High by mail.
She attended Southern Illinois University at Cabondale in 1964 with a B.A. in home economics. Thelma then taught home economics in the East St. Louis school system for twenty-eight years before retiring in 1994.
Terrence James Roberts
Born December 3, 1941
Terrence Roberts, the eldest of seven children, was born in Little Rock to William and Margaret Roberts. His father was a World War II naval veteran who worked at the Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospital in Little Rock and his mother ran a catering service from home. Terrence moved to Los Angeles during the Lost Year where he finished his last year in high school. Following his graduation from high school, Roberts attended California State University at Los Angeles and earned a BA in sociology in 1967. He is the CEO of Terrence J. Roberts and Associates Management Consulting Firm and he he maintains a private psychology practice and is a desegregation consultant to the Little Rock School District. On May 17, 1979, Roberts was able to meet Orval Faubus face to face on ABC’s Good Morning, America. He said, “I really feel it was a violation of public trust to practice your own personal policies of racism in that position. You endangered not only my life, but the lives of hundreds of other people, both black and white.”