Search Results
Eugene Buford oral history interview
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Abstract
Oral history interview with Eugene Buford conducted by Claytee White on September 12, 2006 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview Eugene Buford talks about his great grandmother, Mary Nettles, who was instrumental in the start and growth of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP) in Las Vegas, Nevada. He speaks about his experiences with prejudice and discrimination, while reflecting upon what it was like being an African American growing up in Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Carter Family oral history interviews
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Abstract
Oral history interviews with Leon Carter Sr., Ruth Jimerson-Carter, Leon Carter Jr., and Herman Jimerson Jr. conducted by Claytee D. White on January 18 through March 18, 2021 for African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Leon Carter Sr. talks of his childhood, time spent playing baseball after graduating high school, and the various professions he's held including working at the Nevada Test Site, working in construction, and entering the casino industry as a dealer. The Carter Family discuss life on the Westside and their respective histories.
Archival Collection
Transcript of interview with Vicki Richardson by Claytee D. White, August 19, 2003
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Archival Collection
Description
Interview with Vicki Richardson conducted by Claytee D. White on August 19, 2003. As a high school junior in Wilmington, Delaware, Richardson was one of twelve African American students chosen to integrate the school system. A civil rights activist in high school and college, Richardson wrote letters to local newspapers and engaged in protests to desegregate public spaces. Inspired by Harlem Renaissance painters, Richardson paid her way through college by teaching art at a recreation center. She went on to Vanderbilt University and later the University of Chicago where she had a Ford Foundation Fellowship to study inner-city education. She taught at Forestville High School in Chicago where she was Chairwoman of the Art Department and later at Rancho High School in Las Vegas. Richardson owns Left of Center Art Gallery in North Las Vegas and several other local businesses.
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Ricky Lee Towers oral history interviews
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Abstract
Oral history interviews with Ricky Lee Towers conducted by Claytee D. White on May 02, 2017 and May, 24 2017 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In the first interview, Towers discusses his upbringing in Las Vegas, Nevada and growing up in the Westside. He describes businesses on Jackson Street, the opening of the Moulin Rouge, and his experience as an African American card dealer. Towers talks about organized crime influences in the gaming industry, and the decrease of business on the Westside. In the second interview, Towers discusses the redevelopment of the Historic Westside community.
Archival Collection
Transcript from interview with Waldemar Jackson conducted by Claytee D. White, May 5, 2013
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Archival Collection
Description
Transcript from interview with Waldemar Jackson by Claytee White on May 5, 2013. Jackson's family was one of the first black families in the West Las Vegas neighborhood Vegas Heights. Jackson joined the Air Force and traveled overseas, encountering racism. He returned to Las Vegas and his employment history includes construction, slot floor man at the Marina, aircraft fueler and baggage screener. He discusses his troubles with substance abuse since his mother's death in 1999.
Text
Photograph of guests at Eddie and Johnie Wright's wedding reception, April 25, 1957
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Archival Collection
Description
Black and white photograph of guests at the wedding reception for Eddie and Johnie Wright, April 25, 1957.
Image
Anna Bailey oral history interview
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Abstract
Oral history interview with Anna Bailey conducted by Claytee White on March 03, 1997 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Bailey opens her interview by describing her early life, family, and dance training. She discusses moving to Los Angeles, California at age fifteen, her first dancing gigs, and touring in London, England. She also talks about her experiences as an African American dancer including issues with segregation while touring in the southern United States. Bailey then discusses her life in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1950s, and working as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge. She describes the club, the other dancers that performed there, and how the African American community felt when the club closed. Bailey then discusses how her husband and the entertainers Josephine Baker and Frank Sinatra helped integrate Las Vegas. She ends her interview by describing the last hotel she danced at, the Flamingo, where she performed in an integrated dance line.
Archival Collection
Audio recording clip of interview with Mary Louise Williams by Claytee D. White, June 19, 1998
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Archival Collection
Description
Part of an interview with Mary Louise Williams conducted by Claytee D. White on June 19, 1998. Williams recalls working as a showgirl at the Moulin Rouge and traces her subsequent careers as a social worker and school teacher.
Sound
Lee White oral history interview
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Abstract
Oral history interview with Lee White conducted by Claytee D. White on May 18, 2021 for African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Lee White played professional football for the New York Jets, Los Angeles Rams, and San Diego Chargers. A promising career as a first round draft pick resulted in an injury in his first professional game. He retired from football at the age of 28 and moved back to Las Vegas where he had grown up on the Westside. Lee entered the hotel and casino industry as a dealer, retiring twenty-five years later as a Vice President of Casino Operations. His career in the tourism industry included work at the Sands, MGM, Desert Inn, and the Tropicana.
Subjects discussed include: Westside School, Weber State College, and the Sahara Hotel and Casino
Archival Collection
Photograph of Lonnie Wright with co-presenters (left to right: Chef Bow Hampton, Warden Hatcher, Board of Regents member Linda Howard, Lonnie, and Chef Jeff Henderson) outside High Desert Prison, circa 2001
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Archival Collection
Description
Color photograph of Lonnie Wright (second from right) with prison staff. Wright gave a presentation to young offenders in the prison system along with the others in this photograph.
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