Carol-Ann Swatling was raised in Buffalo, New York, in what she subtly calls a “non-traditional upbringing.” Her primary caregivers during her early years were her maternal grandmother, who she fondly recalls and a great uncle and aunt who operated a hearse business. Her mother was in and out of her life, but it was her mother’s sister who mentored her while working at a retail store during high school.

Helen Anderson was born Helen Eileen Herndon on May 03, 1926 in Marceline, Missouri. She attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and received her Master’s degree in speech corrections/therapy from the University of Southern California. In the early 1960s, a romance with Las Vegas, Nevada civil rights worker Jim Anderson budded in Los Angeles, California at the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) meetings. In 1964, they got married and she moved to Las Vegas.

Priscilla Scalley was born November 4, 1941 and was raised in Boston, Massachusetts. She married her husband, Joseph, on December 26, 1964. The Scalleys arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1972 with their two young daughters. The couple took out two mortgages to buy their house in the Rancho Nevada Estates section of Ward 1. As a young mother, Scalley joined the West Charleston Elementary School Parent Teacher Association and eventually became president.

Charlie McLean was born in 1932 and raised in Scotland to a family of musicians. McLean’s dad started teaching him to play the saxophone when he was eight years old. By the time he was nine years old, he was performing in his father’s band, which included playing concerts for the munitions workers during World War II. When he was 15, McLean’s family migrated to the United States. Following graduating from high school, McLean was drafted and played with the Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO) Club Band.

Hermina Washington was born December 23, 1957 in Henderson, Nevada. To take advantage of emerging opportunities for African Americans, her parents migrated from Arkansas to Las Vegas, Nevada, joining several extended family members already settled in the city. Growing up during the Civil Rights Movement, Washington was surrounded by strong, inspiring role models, including her grandmother and educators.

Sara Denton was born November 12, 1924 in Paducah, Kentucky into a family of readers and thinkers. When the opportunity arose, at 18 years of age, to move to Washington, D.C. to work in the Signal Corps, she seized the opportunity. From the vantage point of her apartment, she could see the Secret Service assisting Franklin D. Roosevelt into his limousine at the back door of the White House. His polio was hidden from the public but this diversion allowed Sara and her friends to greet and be greeted by their hero.

Israel "Icepick Willie" Alderman was a Las Vegas, Nevada casino investor and manager with ties to organized crime. Along with his associates Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Moe Sedway, David Berman, and Gus Greenbaum, he was involved in the El Cortez, the Riviera, the Flamingo, and the Las Vegas Club. Prior to living in Las Vegas, he was mob enforcer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was given his nickname based on his perfection of the icepick method of murder.