Eleanor Walker served as President of the Las Vegas, Nevada Chapter of the NAACP in the early 1970s. She has held several jobs throughout her lifetime, including ones at Pan American Airways, AT&T, and Caesars Palace. She was among the first black individuals to hold a position in many of the companies for which she worked, paving the way for future generations. Some of her most noteworthy work was with Operation Independence and the NAACP, as she played a role in many positive changes made for Westside Las Vegas and the African American community.

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.

Eva Poole Whaley was born on November 22, 1942 in Fordyce, Arkansas. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1960s. She worked in the Clark County School District. She and her husband were restaurant owners before Eva worked at Nevada Power, and then for the telephone company.

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.

Kathy War was born February 05, 1945 and raised in Helena, Montana. She and her husband, Tom married in 1968 while the status of the job market was uncertain. After a short time in Seattle, Washington, they came to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1970. War applied for a job with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' library. For the next four and a half years, she worked in the Curriculum Materials Library. She also worked in the Inter-Library loan department and eventually moved to Special Collections.

Roscoe Wilkes was born in Bonanza, Colorado on Janruary 25, 1918. He moved with his family to Pioche, Nevada in 1927. He was a lead zinc miner, a grade school teacher, and a PBX operator before he enlisted in the military during World War II. Wilkes was a prisoner of war in Romania. He got a law degree and went back to Pioche where he was a district attorney and later a judge.

Monroe Williams was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1940 and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1943. He was a soldier in the Navy, one of the first black fire fighters in Las Vegas, a proud member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples, and operated a real estate company and a property management company.