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Community Conversations oral history panel

Identifier

OH-02650

Abstract

Oral history panel composed of University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) students Lisa McAllister, Larry Sampson, John Grygo, and Ashley Smith along with community narrators Jerrie Merritt, Geraldine Kirk Hughes, Keith Brantley, and Hannah Brown, moderated by Julia Lee and Claytee White on March 30, 2016 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: A Collaborative Oral History Project. The group discusses working with each other during the collection of oral histories for the project, the value of the interchange for both narrator and interviewer, the value of oral histories as repositories of individual and collective memory, and related stories about their experiences.

Archival Collection

Clarence Ray oral history interview

Identifier

OH-02432

Abstract

Oral history interview with Clarence Ray conducted by Eleanor L. Walker in 1991 for the African American in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Ray provides details of his ancestry and upbringing, his education, and race relations in the western United States before 1930. He then moves on to his first visit to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1922, and his movements before settling permanently in the 1940s. He explains that the main source of employment for the relatively small Black population during the 1920s and early 1930s was the railroad, but a number were also in business. Mr. Ray provides thumbnail sketches of many of the early residents, and is particularly informative about "Mammy" Pinkston, Mary Nettles, the Stevens family, and the Ensley family. Systemic racial discrimination against Blacks developed in southern Nevada during the 1930s, and Mr. Ray provides some useful details on this along with his discussion of his career in gaming and his social and political activities.

Archival Collection

Alice Key Papers

Identifier

MS-00095

Abstract

The Alice Key Papers (1936-2004) consist of documents detailing Alice Key’s life and work in the African American community, historic preservation, and labor relations in Las Vegas, Nevada. Included in the collection are awards and certificates documenting Key’s achievements, invitations and programs to events, political and civic correspondence, and magazine and newspaper articles both about Key and written by her. The collection also contains photographs.

Archival Collection

James Rogers oral history interview

Identifier

OH-01587

Abstract

Oral history interview with James Rogers conducted by Claytee D. White on June 30, 2009 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project - NAACP. Rogers discusses many issues that affected the black community in Las Vegas, Nevada, gives background on community marches against police brutality, details three controversial cases and legislation that would create a citizen's review board for police and sheriff departments.

Archival Collection

Audrey (June) Taylor Henry oral history interview

Identifier

OH-00842

Abstract

Oral history interview with Audrey Taylor Henry conducted by Claytee D. White on February 26, 2010 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview Audrey Henry discusses her early childhood, going to the prestigious New York School of Performing Arts, and becoming a dancer. She then talks about dancing around the world and in Las Vegas, Nevada. She also discusses having to leave dance to have more time with her family, becoming an on-air radio personality, and earning her undergraduate and master's degrees.

Archival Collection

Hattie Canty oral history interview

Identifier

OH-00334

Abstract

Oral history interview with Hattie Canty conducted by Claytee White on February 27 and June 17, 1998 for the Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. In this interview, Hattie Canty recalls moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in the late 1960s and working as a maid for the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino and later the Maxim Hotel and Casino. Canty discusses her tenure as the Culinary Union Local 226 President during which she faced several labor challenges and went to jail at least six times while striking. Hattie also recalls how she influenced contract negotiations for the downtown hotels, improved race relations among workers, involved more members in union operations, and implemented the Culinary Training School.

Archival Collection

Samuel Smith oral history interview

Identifier

OH-02429

Abstract

Oral history interview with Samuel Smith conducted by Claytee White on June 17, 2011 and June 22, 2011 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Smith discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1978 and working as a fire inspector until he retired in 2003. He also discusses organizing free reading and math classes to help people prepare for the firefighter exam.

Archival Collection

Reverend Jesse Scott oral history interviews

Identifier

OH-01662

Abstract

Oral history interviews with Reverend Jesse Scott conducted by Claytee D. White on April 15, 2004, May 20, 2004, June 04, 2004, and June 17, 2004 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Scott begins his interviews by discussing his personal history in Louisiana during the 1930s. He describes race relations at the time and recalls anecdotes about his experiences while he was attending college at Southern University. He then discusses the discriminatory actions, especially towards African American men, and how it affected them. Scott then talks about his involvement with the Los Angeles, California branch of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the late 1940s, women's participation in the NAACP, and the implementation of equal employment opportunities. Lastly, Scott discusses moving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1970 after receiving an offer to serve as the executive director for the Las Vegas branch of the NAACP.

Archival Collection

David L. Washington oral history interview

Identifier

OH-01922

Abstract

Oral history interview with David L. Washington conducted by Claytee D. White on March 18, 2009 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Washington discusses his personal history, education, experiences in the military, and becoming a firefighter in Las Vegas, Nevada. Washington talks about his employment at the Las Vegas Fire & Rescue department, explains the procedures for certain fire emergencies, and what it was like when women joined the department in the 1960s. Finally, he recalls becoming the City of Las Vegas Fire Chief.

Archival Collection

Coleen York Wilson oral history interview

Identifier

OH-03272

Abstract

Oral history interview with Coleen York Wilson conducted by Claytee D. White on June 4, 1996 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Wilson talks about growing up in Fordyce, Arkansas before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1953 at the age of eighteen. She mentions that her parents had moved to Nevada in 1940 to work at Basic Magnesium, Incorporated (BMI), living in a trailer before returning to Fordyce two years later. She then discusses moving to Las Vegas to join an older sister and relates that she did not remember any discrimination in seating or eating meals during her bus trip. After this, Wilson lists the jobs she held in Las Vegas before her retirement in 1984, including work at the Las Vegas Cleaners, serving as a school crossing guard, and working as a housekeeping supervisor at the Stardust Resort Hotel, the Hacienda Resort Hotel, and Circus Circus Hotel and Casino before taking a job at the Nevada Test Site. She also talks about her family, her church activities, and her regret at not attending college.

Archival Collection