Here’s some sad news:
Jefferson Thomas, one of the so-called “Little Rock Nine,” the nine students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, has died, according to Carlotta Walls LaNier, president of the group’s foundation. He was 67.
Thomas died of pancreatic cancer on Sunday, the Little Rock Nine Foundation said in a statement. He was living in Columbus, Ohio.
As a 15-year-old, Thomas was one of the nine African-American students who braved segregationist mobs to integrate the all-white school under the protection of military forces.A retired federal accountant for the Department of Defense, Thomas “had spent the last decade of his life doing community service, traveling to promote racial harmony and supporting young people in seeking higher education,” the foundation said. In 1999, he and the others received a Congressional Gold Medal from President Bill Clinton.
Good to see he got a good education, had a nice career, and remembered to give back and promote racial harmony. May he rest in peace and his memory live on.
