Bobby Morris (born Boruch Moishe Stempelman) was born June 30, 1927 and immigrated from Wilno, Poland to Brooklyn, New York in 1937. His passion for drumming was ignited soon after, and he began shining shoes to pay for drumming lessons from Henry Adler. At the age of thirteen, Morris got his first gig playing at the Musicians Union in the Catskill Mountains during the summer. He soon developed a career playing jazz around town with different artists while simultaneously studying at the Manhattan School of Music.

Hattie Canty was born and raised in St. Stephens, Alabama. She moved to California as a young woman to seek employment, and married and started a family. Canty's family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in the late 1960s and she found work as a maid for the Thunderbird Hotel and later the Maxim Hotel and Casino. Canty became a Culinary Union Local 226 member. Over the years, she became involved in securing better salaries for women and increasing the number of African Americans in high-paying positions in the casino industry.

Reva Giles grew up in the little town of New Carlisle, Indiana and was one of twelve children. Her mother stayed home with the children while her father worked for Studebaker, a large automobile manufacturer. Right after high school, Giles moved to Redland, California, to live with a sister, working first at an ice cream shop and then a bank.

Ruby Amie-Pilot was born April 03, 1932 and raised in Karnack, Texas. In 1952, Amie-Pilot boarded a train with her two young sons, Curtis Rufus Jr. and Herbert, to join her high school sweetheart and husband, Curtis Amie, in Las Vegas, Nevada. His family had moved to Las Vegas in the 1940s, seeking better job opportunities. Upon arriving, however, Amie-Pilot found the living conditions quite appalling.

Danny Cassella was a Las Vegas, Nevada big band performer and orchestra leader from the 1940s to the 1960s. Cassella grew up in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, where he studied violin and drums. It was shortly after he graduated from Newcastle High School that a traveling musical show gave him the opportunity to fulfill his dreams. After gaining experience with the traveling production, Cassella's musical ability was noticed by a number of orchestras. He decided to go to Hollywood. He appeared in the 1933 movie Flying Down to Rio with Fred Astaire.

Al Freeman was instrumental in building the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada into one of the most renowned resort hotels of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He served as the the promotion director for the Sands Hotel from the time it opened in 1957 until his death in 1972.

Fred Houghton was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 27, 1894. Houghton attended the University of Chicago Law School, and passed the Illinois State Bar examination at the age of 25. He received his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1919. The next year, Houghton opened his own law practice and maintained the law firm until 1943, when he moved to California.