Henry Shepherd was born and raised on a plantation in Tallulah, Louisiana, where the primary crops were peanuts and corn. When he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1967, he worked as a bartender at the Sands Hotel. Shepherd was able to send his daughter to college because he was working for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226. Leaving the Sands Hotel, he went to the Landmark Hotel and Casino, and then went to Circus Circus Hotel. The Luxor Hotel and Casino was his final stop in a bartending career that spanned over three decades.
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Bishop James M. Rogers was born around 1951 and was raised on a plantation in Louisiana near Tallulah, Louisiana. He arrived to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1970 at the age of 19, and was mentored by Dr. F.N. Addison. He also started to attend community rallies and town hall meetings. His initial involvement in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) happened through supporting his pastor and getting involved in marches and news conferences.
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Ernest M. Fountain was born in Tallulah, Louisiana. After finishing his bachelor's degree in business administration, Fountain moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to study banking and finance. He began his banking career in 1976 when he started working for Valley Bank of Nevada. At the time, he was one of only two black lending officers in the state of Nevada. He is the former Director of the Las Vegas Minority Business Development Center, and is also the founder and past president of the Black Business Council of Nevada, formed in 1991.
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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.
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Eunice Claxton was born in 1942 in Tallulah, Louisiana. When she was ten years old, she and her mother moved to Las Vegas, Nevada for a few years. She attended the Westside Elementary School in Las Vegas, but she finished her education in Reno, Nevada. She lived in Reno until 1974 when she returned to Las Vegas. Claxton worked in a number of different establishments. She worked as a change girl at the Desert Inn and as a cocktail waitress at the Dunes Hotel. She also worked at clubs such as the Cover and the El Morocco.
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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.
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