Nathaniel Whaley was born on July 01, 1934 in Tallulah, Louisiana. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1943. He married his wife Eva, in 1984. Before leaving high school to provide for his new wife and son, Nathaniel had a successful high school career as an accomplished athlete and Eagle Scout in the first black Boy Scout troop in the area. Nathaniel would go on to have a fruitful career as a mason and contractor, literally helping build the city of Las Vegas. His jobs included the Dunes, the Sands, Union Plaza and the Maxim Hotel.

Isadore Washington was born in Tallulah, Louisiana, the son of Isadore Washington, Sr., and Destelle Washington. His father came out to Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1930s to work on Hoover Dam, and the family followed in 1942 when Isadore was eight years old. His mother worked at the El Rancho and Last Frontier Hotels, the Shaw Apartments and Harrison boarding house on the Westside where black entertainers were expected to stay. Washington recalls playing with Wayne Newton when they were children and life on the Westside where he attended the Westside School.

Eugene Buford came to Las Vegas, Nevada from Birmingham, Alabama, when he was two years old with his mother and grandmother. He held a variety of jobs, including washing dishes at the Last Frontier and delivering ice to casinos like the Flamingo and the Stardust, and ultimately retired after thirty-six years with the Post Office. Buford's great grandmother, Mary Nettles, was instrumental in the formation and growth of the NAACP chapter in Las Vegas, and he recalls meetings in her house and his own role as president of the Junior League NAACP.

Barbara Bates Kirkland was born 1934 in Shreveport, Louisiana. On a sunny day in 1946, Kirkland and her mother stepped off the train from Shreveport and onto the Western street of Fremont in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Kirkland’s mother, Atha Toliver, found employment as a maid. Toliver, who was determined that her daughter would get an education and a finer future, saw this as her opportunity to achieve this for her daughter. Later, she opened Eva’s Flower Basket, a floral shop that Kirkland would operate after retiring from teaching.