Roosevelt Fitzgerald Professional Papers (MS-01082)

Roosevelt "Fitz" Fitzgerald was a University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) faculty member and Director of the Ethnic Studies program. Fitzgerald dedicated his life to teaching and was well-known as a researcher and writer of the history of the Black experience in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fitzgerald was born April 4, 1941 in Natchez, Mississippi. He attended Jackson State University and Notre Dame University on the heels of a national desegregation movement in the late 1960s. In 1971, Fitzgerald joined UNLV's Anthropology Department and became director of the department's fledgling ethnic studies program. He would remain director throughout his tenure at UNLV.

In addition to his academic teaching and writing, he wrote a column on Black history for the Las Vegas Sentinel Voice newspaper during the 1980s and contributed to the UNLV student newspaper. He was a member of Governor Bob Miller's Equal Opportunity Employment Advisory Board in the 1990s and local media outlets frequently cited him as an authority on race relations in Las Vegas. He was a member of the Theta Pi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha.

The courses offered in the Ethnic Studies program reflected his passion and commitment to teaching students about the lived experiences of the Black community. Dedicated to his teaching career, Fitzgerald taught at UNLV until his health forced him into early retirement in May 1996 and he passed away later that year on October 18, 1996. After his passing, UNLV established the Roosevelt Fitzgerald Outstanding Student Award, which each year honors academic performance, campus leadership, and participation in university and community activities.

Source:

"Longtime Professor at UNLV Dies" Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 23, 1996: 20. Accessed on November 12, 2021.