Gwen Weeks Rahner interview, March 06, 1981: transcript

UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 1 An Interview with Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner An Oral History Conducted by Laronda D. Tinsley Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2019 UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 3 The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 4 Abstract On March 6, 1981, Laronda D. Tinsley interviewed Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner (born August 14th, 1923 in Atlantic City, New Jersey) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. In this interview, Mrs. Rahner discusses working in politics and registering people to vote in Las Vegas, Nevada. She also discusses living in West Las Vegas and her experiences there. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 5 Okay, this is the Laronda Tinsley with Miss Gwendolyn Rahner, and I'm going to start off by asking her what made her come to Las Vegas. I came to Las Vegas and to be married. I was formally in show business. And it was a big decision to make and I decided to leave show business behind me and come out to the west that I've heard so much about and start a complete new career, completely new involvement. A new life. Right, so what type of show business were you in? I was a band vocalist (unintelligible) it was the days of the late 40s with the big band era. I used to sing with Lou Jordan. And then Tiffany, I worked with throughout the United States. And did nightclubs, the theater routes, the one nighters, the days of the old Glenn Miller. But that's a whole new—that's a brand new story. That's a different story. (Laughs) Okay. So when you first came to Nevada, what did you do and where did you live? When I first came to Las Vegas— Mm-hmm. It was quite a change, a shock when I got off the Union Pacific train after traveling three and a half days. I was met at the train by a old established Las Vegan named Mister Halliburton. At that time, they owned the only black cab company, Mister Ayer Halliburton is his name. And when we turned and went under the underpass, it was pitch dark. We stayed at a lady named Misses Geneva Harrison. She has departed now. It was in her home that previously all the black entertainers had to stay because we didn't have open accommodations. So they had to stay on the Westside. And it would appear that she had the largest room in house, and that's where you UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 6 would first stay until you made up your mind you were going to stay. And then you had to search frantically for—. Housing or something? Permanent residence. Oh. Hm. In those days there were quite a few homes and people that were here primarily from the area to Lula, Louisiana, and Fordyce, Arkansas, and those areas from which they had recruited cheap labor at that time during the Depression. And they came out to work on the dam. But those people were quite indoctrinated in the value of the land. So there were some nice houses on the Westside. These people in turn reinvested in the land and they would build small rental apartments, we call them studio apartments. They were about the size of studio apartments. Mm. And when I did get a place to live a little with an adorable family, and their last names were the Hamptons. They were here before I got here. Oh. I lived with them for about four years. Even though the streets weren’t paved and no lights, living on the Westside was on the west part of Las Vegas. It seems as though it became ghetto-ized, predominantly Blacks and a few Mexicans and some Indians at that time lived on the Westside in that area. It’s approximately five square mile area. At that time Vegas Heights was in the unincorporated area. (Laughs) And yet, it was integration giveth and integration taketh away. I got a chance to know the people. It was more family. It was fun. We had fun. There were quite a few silver dollars flowing. The UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 7 only setback was in those days, a black person couldn't buy a home even if he could afford it. He could buy a Cadillac and get financing from the bank but he couldn't either buy a home or build one. So why couldn’t they buy a home? Couldn't because it was discrimination. You couldn't live in a white neighborhood. Oh. So all the houses were basically on the white side and the white neighborhoods and not in the black neighborhoods? Well, when they would start building tracks and homes, like Sproul was one of the first major builders. If I could afford it, I couldn't qualify to— Oh. Get a house— ‘Cause you're black? Just on color alone. So like when you were saying like then entertainers would have to stay on the west? Well, this was before we had the public accommodations. Oh, okay. And I know that this is common knowledge in Las Vegas. Doing—so much happened during those—that period under the ages of the NAACP and the advent of Doctor James B. McMillan. People with calm heads sat down at a round table one day at the Moulin—the now defunct Moulin Rouge—and decided that this was not healthy for the city. It wasn't fair to your fellow man and they mediated. And the next day it came out in the paper discrimination leaves Las Vegas. But that was only on the level of open accommodations. So what was the Moulin Rouge? UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 8 The Moulin Rouge was the hotel, casino hotel comparable of any on the Strip. It just had the misfortune of being in that area of the Westside of the town that was predominantly black. So it was basically for blacks then? No, it was not. Okay. No, it was not. One of our city commissioners right now, not farmer—no, he never was a farmer (unintelligible) he is now owner of the Stardust Hotel. Tobman used to work at the Moulin Rouge. Oh really? Mm-hmm. I see. So like, what was the Strip like? Well, it wasn't—no way can you compare it now as it was then. When I came, there were only approximately four hotels. There was the El Rancho, Thunderbird, Desert Inn, and oh—and the Last Frontier, which is now—no, no, it's not. I still call it the New Frontier, but now it's just known as the Frontier. I see. And then, of course, they had the Silver Slipper. So that—and that was about the size of the Strip. Most of the gaming with the freestanding gambling halls down on Fremont Street. So were the blacks allowed to go into those four? Only to work. Not— Oh, not to see entertainment or anything like that? No, not until we got it passed through the legislature. Open accommodations. So were blacks allowed to perform in those hotels? UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 9 They were allowed to perform, but they, when they left they had to go home. Oh, so they could—they could perform there but they couldn't sleep there? No, they had to leave. Oh goodness. Wow. So what about like, the black judges here or when did they come in to being attorneys? This came quite a bit later. During that time, my first black—we can—it's odd a town of this size and I can the first Black doctor that came to town. Right. That was Doctor Charles Iris. The first black dentist Doctor James B. McMillan, and the first black attorney was Mister—Attorney Charles Keller. After Mister Keller, there was attorney Robert Rita, who happened to have been a very personal friend of mine. I feel a great loss at his passing, and Attorney Earl White. Then, slowly but surely, we started to get more black people in the professions. Mm-hmm. What about the—oh, excuse me—when air conditioning, like when it first came out or how—? Oddly enough when I first came here, just about everyone had swamp coolers. Swamp coolers? And the advent of refrigeration came in with the development of the city and the county and naturally progressed. Its—air of some kind in the summer is a must. But truthfully, I kind of feel that I was healthier. I felt better with the swamp cooler than I do with refrigeration. Oh really? But it is indeed a must. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 10 So most places had swamp coolers. So back in the early 50s, what was life like living in like the Westside, or what they call the ghetto area or—? It wasn't bad at all. It was a ball. You didn't lock your doors. You didn't lock your car. Although the streets weren't lit, I used to—in fact, I didn't know how to drive when I first came here, and I enjoyed walking. I wish I was doing more of it. Mm. I used to walk the streets with a stick. It wasn't for a human being, it was just for stray dogs. Mm. Then the violence and the drug trafficking and the burglaries and robberies were almost unheard of. Until now, then they're all starting up? Well, not until now. I think most of the crime in the United States started after the Vietnam War, and the return of the field soldiers with the drugs and etc. In fact, the whole country's been in turmoil ever since. When you were saying that the streets weren’t paved, or there were no like street lights? Mm-hmm? Were there any, like, committees to petition that or to get something done over there or—? We would petition but the whole city was more or less of not too well lit. So it wasn't just the west? I wouldn't say it was predominantly just the Westside. There were a few dim lights. I can remember and the only traffic light was at the corner what is now Sahara and Las Vegas Boulevard. We call the San Francisco Avenue and Fifth Street. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 11 Oh wow. The only traffic light. Mm. So, you said you worked in the court, you were a clerk with—? Well, now that came later. Okay. I got bored when I was here, having come from back east toward systems. I've been involved primarily in the politics in Las Vegas. I have the first election they have found that no one I kept ask them, where's the parties? Where are you going to vote? And people weren't voting. At that time, you had to have a six months residency to be a registered voter. So being bored, I went down to the courthouse. The election department was on a little building on the side of the courthouse. Any resemblance of the courthouse now and then is strictly coincidental. Mm. At that time the county clerk was in charge of the—was also the registrar of voters. Her name was Helen Scott Reed. I had myself sworn in as a registrar at large. I establishment my credit on Fremont Street, just walking into the stores and telling the management I was there to register voters. I registered—we walked the whole area of the, of what they refer to as West Las Vegas. It was quite a job trying to get people to register because they had been recruited to not only to work, recruited and migrated here from areas where, at that time, the blacks were denied the right to vote. So it was quite a job to control—beat them in the head first (unintelligible) twist their arms to register to vote and by doing so I was brought to the attention of Senator Howard Cannon, who at that time was city attorney. And then from then on my involvement with politics—I haven’t had a peaceful day since. (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 12 But then, still being bored, missing the showbiz a little bit, there was a job open at the old Elle Morocco Club. That was really a spit on the floor joint. Mm. But fun with the jazz trio. And I went in and—I went, I solicited the job, I got it instantly. The man's name was Oscar Crozier. The family is—part of his family still resides here. And he said “you got it” and I said, “I don't know anything about it.” He said “that's alright—we’ll teach you our way.” A little further down the road, he tore down the old building and built a new building. It was then I became a cocktail waitress. Okay. Then the economy fluctuated and for one reason or the other, the club closed. I went to work—in the meantime, they built the Carter House, which was a beautiful hotel. That too couldn't survive. I moved up to a checker. Then from being involved—I never gave up, registered voters and being involved politically. So under—when they separated the job of registrar of voters from the county clerk, they appointed Mister Tom Malloy and I went to work for him. And it was very interesting and very rewarding. It was during that time my income tax went up so high that my husband said “quit the job.” (Laughs) Okay. Yes. So how blacks treated when they went to vote or just in the hotels that they weren't allowed to—? Now as far as voting, no one said that they couldn't vote. It was just that the majority of the people at that time were not in the habit of voting Was it because they probably couldn't read the voters ballot or—? Not necessarily. This has been something that was, I would say, ingrained. Oh, I see. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 13 So we had to really explain that. Oh, I think it was the idea at that time we paid a poll tax. But in the state of Nevada, you did—even though the men pay the poll tax, that did not take away your right to vote. It was an old obsolete bill on the books, years back during the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. So you either you worked on the road or you paid the tax, and the only ones exempted were women and uncivilized Indians. Oh. Uncivilized Indians? That’s what it says. (Laughs) Wow. So like— So we voted it out. It’s been erased. I see. That’s good. Great. Then, of course, the younger people—I watched many of the younger people grow up. Naturally, they were registered to vote, but I'm still disappointed that the eighteen year olds have still not taken full advantage of that franchise. So what type of discrimination then, as far as blacks were concerned—? Aside from not being able to patronize public places of accommodation and eating in restaurants, I remember one incident that stands out in my mind. They used to advertise, particularly during Christmas—the Christmas holidays, to shop in Las Vegas with Las Vegans. I was shopping in Las Vegas with Las Vegans. I got a hunger headache because I couldn't stop to get a hamburger or McDonald's. So I went into the White Cross Drugstore, which used to be where the Four Queens now sit, and bought some aspirins, but when I asked to go to counter for water, she turned me down. So I—you can rest assured I did not shop in Las Vegas with Las Vegans for many a year. I would go to Los Angeles. To shop? UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 14 Mm-hmm. Oh. That kind of discrimination, it was quite subtle. And particularly the signs that were really sit—really reserved the right to refuse service to anyone. Knowing that was particularly meant to blacks? Right, that was an excuse. A copout. Yes. Right. But you can buy an automobile. You could buy clothes, you could buy shoes. But you couldn't go to eat. But in the meantime, we had a few nice eateries in the West Las Vegas area. Mm. Sure miss that good soul food. (Laughs) So what about the places for black entertainment besides the Moulin Rouge? Were there any other places where blacks could go since they couldn't go into the hotels and see entertainment? No, they would patronize the black businessmen on the Westside. So that's with everything? And come over to the old Elks, the Elle Morocco, the Louisiana Club. The Louisiana Club came afterwards. The Town Tavern. Many a night you’d see Nat Cole, Sammy Davis, Chico Hamilton. Oh, you name them—Pearl Bailey. Mm. They’d come over. And entertain there? Not necessarily entertain, but socialize. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 15 Oh, because they couldn’t socialize in the white— Right. The white clubs. I see. So were they into gambling or anything like that or no? We did have casinos on Jackson Street. That is—that was in the Westside? That was the main street for the casinos. Yes, they would gamble at keno, craps, “21”. No roulette, none of the sophisticated games. But they did have slot machines. Mm-hmm. Keno. So can you tell me about the university? Like, how it was and—? The university came about a dream of a dear lady that I had the pleasure of knowing. Her name was Maude Frazier. She's—I'm sure there's much about her in the library. And this was her dream. And she was one of the first female assembly persons from the southern part of Nevada, and highly respected. And that was outgrowth of her dream. Building of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Because at that time, we had similar to like a community college, but to get your diploma you had to go up to University at Reno. Oh. But that was the style of it. Okay. Now, now it's grown to what we have now, where you're going. (Laughs) Were there very many Blacks there, do you know? Or were they discriminate against—discriminated against there? UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 16 No. I think in this area, in this field, population line, might have a lot to do with it. But after the—most of our kids went out, and as I said, in the years that I've been here, most of the kids that did go to college would go to Tempe, or leave the state or, out of town. I do not feel that the reason that the attendance is so low is because of discrimination. You think that’s why it is? No, I don't think so. Oh, you don't, you don't think that’s why? Because a lot of the graduates here like for their children to go back to their alma mater. Right. But no, I can truthfully say that a lot of our children from the southern part of the state like to go to UNL—University at Reno. Mm-hmm. Well, what about the blacks that came from like, you were saying Tolulah or—? Mm-hmm. Parts of Mississippi? What brought them here? Do you know? Yes, they were recruited during that time to come work on the dam. It was during Depression years. Did you know any people who worked on the dam or—? No, I don't. The dam was completed when I got here. It was completed. See, I don't know anything about (unintelligible) (Laughs) Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) was completed but asking the questions—when I first came here, I was treated like the bad man coming into town coming from back east. And once you earn respect in your community and the people's friendship, it's—you got it made. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 17 But when I found out, I said tell me the history. I was asking almost primarily the same questions you're asking. Yes. But now most of the people that had the fortitude to migrate here was during the Depression years. And then after World War Two. What about some of the black leaders like that, to care predominant the Westside or try to get rights for them? Who were they and maybe what kind of things did they do? Well, one of the ladies that was in the forefront of it is Misses Robertha Johnson. When I came here, they were really involved. Mister and Misses David Hogard. Mister —Commissioner Woodrow Wilson. And dear Mister McCants. They was going to dedicate this senior citizen complex, the newly built one on Eastern Avenue in his name. These were the people, and Miss Carrie Stuart. These are the people I remember more vividly. What type of things did they do for the blacks or? Well they—it was really tough getting it going and organizing. But they were always in there punching. And these are the people that were in the forefront at the time until Doctor McMillan and Doctor West came. We had no professional people so to speak. We're in the forefront. We had a lot of good white friends. Attorney Emily Wanderer, attorney George Rudy. They were always recommending us legal advice and assistance. Okay. Like, these black professionals that were here, did they have problems getting clientele or—? Oh, no. The whites came to them just as equally or—? Yes. When a man is good, you build a better mousetrap. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 18 Mm-hmm. They'll build—they’ll build the path to your door. No, we were so delighted to have a qualified—eminently qualified black doctor come to town. Yes. So did—he didn't have any trouble then, getting his practice started or—? No. Nothing like that? No. And I'm very sorry to this day. He has since retired, but he served the community well. Right. What about Marion Bennett? Do you know anything? Well, Marion came after I was here, as a young man. I would imagine, I'm not a very religious person, and I'm of—my religion is Episcopalian faith being of British West Indian descent. Yes. But I remember when Marion came, his wife's name is same as mine, Gwendolyn. And the minister before him was Reverend Massey Canard. And he went back to Chicago. So I feel that they evidently recruited this young man to come and pastor this church, which has since grown under his leadership. So is that like the basic church then for the—? No. There were quite a, quite a few churches then. There were? Believe me, there will always be churches. No, that was the—he's the Methodist preacher. We have Methodist, we have the Presbyterian, we have the Holiness churches. No, there were always plenty of churches. What about transportation? What was that like? UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 19 Transportation was a darn site better than it is now. The way—I didn't drive, and it was fun just to stand on the corner and catch the bus. I was downtown in five minutes. And I think at that time it was twenty-five cents round trip—not round trip. Think it was twenty cents Downtown. And then you catch it before to Fremont and make the circle. Okay, now before that, there was (unintelligible). Yes, back to my question. I was wondering if there was any discrimination like as far as riding the bus before that bill was passed? You mean, did you have to sit in the back? Back of the bus. No. So that was basically fine? And cabs was just as cheap as the bus. And so cab drivers will pick up a black person? Well we—yes. They would do that? Yes. Until the times changed and, as I said, the drastic changes in crime which is prevalent all over this town. So I can't—you just can't put your finger on any one place. So some drivers didn't want to take the risk of taking the person because it was dark and the streets were ill lit. But at that time, no, you had no problems. And so, the most of the blacks in that worked in the hotels, they just did maid work and wash dishes. And, were they—? They were—it was primarily culinary, maids, kitchen help, dishwashers, porters. We didn't have dealers at that time. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 20 Oh. No black dealers? You didn't have black tellers either at the banks. Oh. So what about like—so then I’m sure the pit bosses and everything like that just came way later? Well, we keep jumping in the past a period of times. It took almost, I would say in the last ten years is when the major progress started. We had a (unintelligible) order under the ages of Mister Keller who loaned his expertise in the fields of civil rights. And under the ex-governor Grant Sawyer, who is still dear to the hearts of many blacks, who dared to run on a civil rights platform. Mm. And under his term of office, we passed a major civil rights bill. So what's the major change that you can see what's happened as far as blacks are concerned here? Well first, they're able to financially to upgrade themselves because of getting into the high—better jobs and or the better paying jobs. And I would like to personally say that I had the honor of being the chairperson to organize the whole state of Nevada for the Nevada Coalition for Fair Housing. And that bill—piece of legislation was passed during the term of Michael Callahan. Mm. And that bill is approximately seven years old. Oh. Okay. So until seven years ago, if you had the money it was still that unspoken covenant between realtors to shut out blacks. Mm. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 21 Now everywhere you go, you see they go by equal opportunity. Right. So like, all right, when you were doing this registration for the court— Election (unintelligible) Yes, right. You—did you have any problems with that? With prejudice saying that you guys—you shouldn’t vote or—? No, not at all. Nothing like that ever happened? No. So Nevada then wasn't as bad as a lot of these other states then? It's just that I was surprised that my people weren't voting, having exercised that franchise all my life since I turned twenty-one. I see. So what else can you tell me about the growth of Las Vegas? It's incredible. This state has been fortunate from what I can understand when I came in. They said they never had really, breadlines or relief as I remember it back east and in Jersey. Mm-hmm. Supply and demand, growth, the changes—we have grown so fast. I sound like an old Nevadan now. I don't like it. (Laughs) I heard some stories like before there was a refrigerator, where people used to have to go down to this ice house on a corner? Well see, you’ll have to talk to someone like Woodrow, okay? Because that was before me. But that ice house happens to be an historical— Right! Building in this city. (Unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 22 (Unintelligible) Right. Yes. I see. I see. Since you were in show business and Las Vegas is the entertainment capital, did you ever plan on going back into show business or—? Well not fully as professional but I thought I would. It has since, let me rephrase it, become entertainment capital of the world. But when I came out here, you know, once you get to burn like an old firehouse, you hear the bells plan you want to dash out to station. That that was an—we used to call it going gig. But that was out of the question. Any black acts that did play here were booked from out of state booking agencies. But bear in mind, they were only four hotels when I first came. Mm. Then when the Sahara went up, the first one to open it up with Sugar Ray Robinson with an act. He too was discriminated against. He couldn't—. Stay in the hotel? Couldn’t stay at the hotels. So what finally happened to make these blacks able to stay in the hotels? Well, the, under the NAACP and the governorship of Grant Sawyer, we got a civil rights bill passed. I see. And from then things started looking up. I see. What—you said you came here to get married. What did your husband do here? He's in the industry. I have an interracial marriage, so my husband came from back east. And he went to work at the Last Frontier. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 23 Okay. And when, during those days, on Saturdays, everybody wore westerns. There's one thing I do miss in Las Vegas is during the El Dorado days, everybody black, white, blue and green, wore western. And it was so much fun. Now it's become, I feel, a bit too commercial. I sort of missed the ways of the old west. It was western in essence. Now we’ve become a cosmopolitan city with freeways. And as I said before, earlier, I don't like it so much. Okay. You said you have an interracial marriage and like, you've been married for like fifteen to twenty years now. What kind of effect did that have? Then? How did they take that? I mean, even now they still frown upon it. I’m just thinking back. Well, they didn't really take it. We were very private people. And I stayed out of the industry and he stayed out of the politics. I see. So that’s basically made it work then. But then—on the other hand, it takes all kinds of people to make a world and I didn't really have that much problem. Mm. So tell me about your childhood. How was that? Well, in my childhood it was like we didn't know we were poor. Came from a very close and loving family. Went to segregated schools in Atlantic City, New Jersey. But we had such dedicated teachers. People to this day swear I went to college. In Atlantic City during those days, if a child graduated from high school, they didn't have to take an entrance exam to any college in the United States. That's how high the criteria was for going school. Then I went to beauty school and beauty culture and resumed my license, but that was not to be my vocation. I was always wanting to sing, enjoyed sewing, gourmet cooking, and incidentally in 1976, I had the honor of being a judge in a chicken cooking contest for the state of Nevada. UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 24 Great. It was quite an experience. Uh-huh. What was that about? I mean— Oh, it’s sponsored by—I don't want to say it wrong. I think it’s Wessing Oil and Weston House. Mm-hmm. And then they publish a book on chicken recipes, of which I have a copy. (Tape one ends) Okay, so what about some of your political background since you were with the registration and—? Well, getting back to politics, I was brought to the attention of the Union because of my dedication to registered voters. And I did it just because I wasn't used to people not going to the polls. And since my name came in on so many—the bottom of so many affidavits, I was contacted by the Culinary Union and at that time asked to work for the now senior senator of the state of Nevada, Howard W. Ken, which we got together. We worked, campaigned, got him a two to one vote on the Westside, never knowing at that time he was the most disliked person. (Laughs) And I never—it's amazing to me that a man could jump from city attorney to United States senator. Why was he the most disliked person? Do you know? I never asked. Just went out and campaigned. But he's been one of our star supporters ever since. There are times when I don't ask questions. I find when I asked questions, I get myself into a lot of trouble. (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Gwendolyn Weekes Rahner 25 After I was involved with that, I was elected, served on the County Central Committee, State Central Committee and was nominated as a delegate to the National Convention in Chicago in 1968, which was quite an experience. Yes. Yes. What was that like? What happened there? Well, having played Chicago, I have a lot of friends and I was able to avoid all the confrontations in the park. That was during the flower children and the hippie area. Era. And if—let me see, Hubert Humphrey was running at that time. A very good friend. Got to know the gentleman and still grieve his passing. Now Woodrow Wilson, he’s like the— Oh, one of the greatest things we did on the Westside at that time, we formed a Women’s Democratic Club West. Comprised most of membership from the predominantly black neighborhood. I’m sorry to see that club go down the drain, because we as a bunch of women, we were able to get things done. We supported the bond issue for do the Doolittle Recreation Park. We supported the bond issue for Owens Avenue— the widening and improvement of Owens Avenue. And we were really behind them when they improved Highland because the blacks when they had to go to work—if you took the Strip you, it was always congested, but by going by Highland, although it was rough and pitted with potholes, it needed improvement. So when these bond dishes would come out, we go out and campaign for them, for the betterment of that area for access to the county and people and the jobs with Mister Wilson. It was our pleasure to get out behind and campaign to get him elected as the first black Assemblyman. But there is one oversight always. Woodrow Wilson was not the first black elected on a state level. Helen Lam Crozier