Oral history interview with Marietta Robertson Turner Whitaker conducted by Claytee D. White on March 23, 2022 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Whitaker discusses living in Stockton, California. As a young girl, she performed as a majorette in high school, and found school integration very challenging since the family lived in a non-Black neighborhood. Whitaker was a Girl Scout, entered talent shows, and participated in radio call-in contests to win prizes. Her early work was in retail at J.J. Newberry's and Macy's. Instead of college, Whitaker married, divorced and remarried. After her move to Las Vegas, Nevada, she worked on the Westside for the Town Tavern, Uncle Ben's Barbeque, and Seven Seas.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Paulette Canty conducted by Claytee White on July 02, 1998 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Canty opens her interview by discussing her life in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1960s. Canty talks about being one of the first students to be integrated in the Las Vegas school system. She discusses how the Clark County School District prepared African American and white students for integration. She describes how integration was positive for herself, but that it was a negative experience for her sister and other African American students. Canty also talks about how African American children were raised at the time, discussing the values instilled in boys versus girls. She also talks about her experience working in the gaming industry including as a manager at Bally's Hotel and Casino. She discusses the treatment of African American employees by the gaming industry and labor unions.
Archival Collection
Newspaper article featuring Donnie Ensley. "Aunt Donnie" Ensley was 84 at the time the article was written and came to Las Vegas in 1931. She and her husband, Jake, operated a cafe on First St.
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Series of two color Polaroid photographs of Marzette Lewis with her math students.
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Series of two color Polaroid photographs of Marzette Lewis with her students in the cafeteria.
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Oral history interview with Arthur Williams Jr. conducted by Claytee D. White on April 19, 2011 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Williams discusses his employment with Reynolds Electric and Engineering Company and his career in law. He talks about his experience as an African American in law school, aiding African American and Hispanic students getting into law school, and the establishment of the Las Vegas Chapter of the National Bar Association (LVNBA).
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Ron Smith conducted by Claytee D. White on May 10, 2022 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: A Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Ron Smith discusses his early life in Queens, New York and his Catholic school education. Smith served as a Red Cross volunteer at the hospital where his mother worked, and after one year at St. Johns University he volunteered for the Air Force to avoid being drafted by the Army. Soon after basic training and being trained as an aircraft mechanic, Ron Smith volunteered to go to Vietnam. Later, Smith talks about his experience owning seventeen McDonald's restaurants throughout Las Vegas, Nevada and future plans to construct a mall and residential complex on Boulder Highway in partnership with the City of Henderson.
Archival Collection
Leandrew Winston is best known for his work in public broadcasting. He was born in Grady, Arkansas where he lived on a farm with his family. He migrated first to California and then to Las Vegas. Once in the city, Winston became a well-connected figure in the African American community and often tells stories about his experiences with police brutality. He chose to work in public broadcasting and in 1971 became the first African American to work at PBS at Channel 10. He started hosting Ten on the Black Side, his own television news talk show, in 1975 and later became the Minority Affairs Director at Channel 10. In 1984, Winston created a documentary for PBS called The Road to Las Vegas, a Black Perspective. He returned to school in 1987 and received his MBA from National University. Upon returning to Las Vegas, he helped found KNPR. Winston left Channel 10 and took a job with KCEP in 2001.
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Oral history interview with Rejoyce Williams conducted by Claytee D. White on June 12, 1996 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Williams discusses coming to Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and six children in 1960, working in several positions at hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, and participating in the Culinary Union strike in 1970.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with James Tate conducted by Claytee D. White on April 23, 2013 and May 10, 2013 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Tate begins by discussing his upbringing in Illinois and later Connecticut, his family, and how his father being a member of the Communist Party affected how he views the world politically. He describes his education, what lead him to pursue a career in medicine and eventually become a surgeon, and the hospitals he worked at before arriving in Nevada during the 1980s. Tate details his career as a surgeon in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as in Reno, Nevada, and the difficulties he faced with the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.
Archival Collection