Oral history interview with Nancy Houssels conducted by Claytee D. White on March 19, 2014 for the West Charleston Neighborhoods--an Oral History Project of Ward 1. Houssels discusses going to school at Berkley University and the University of California Los Angeles, and then migrating to Las Vegas, Nevada. She discusses dancing at the Dunes Hotel and later at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino where she met her husband. She then discusses her part in starting the Nevada Dance Theatre and being a “prime mover” in the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
Interview with Arlone Scott conducted by Glen Ette Davis on July 3, 1975. Born in Louisiana, Scott moved to Las Vegas in 1951, eventually becoming a hotel maid supervisor. She shares her early experiences of positive race relations among churches in Las Vegas and notes that the Culinary Union improved job opportunities for minorities. Scott concludes with comments on the effects of discrimination and segregation on entertainment and recreation for blacks.
Interview with Clarence Ray conducted by Jaime Coughtry in 1991. Having arrived in Las Vegas in the 1920s, Ray provides a rare perspective on shifts in race relations over the years. He shares stories of early businesses and efforts at organization within the black community. From his arrival, Ray worked to secure equal opportunity and civil rights legislation. During the 1960s, he served two terms as president of the Voters League, formed in 1928 to increase black voting power.