Oral history interview with Lynnette Sawyer conducted by Nathalie Martinez on January 03, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Barbara Tabach and Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez also participate in the questioning. Lynnette Sawyer identifies as a Puerto Rican woman born and raised in Spanish Harlem in New York. Her ancestry extends from Spain to Africa and has helped her identity, as she became an educator and museum curator. She describes her life in New York and her journey to Las Vegas. As the founder of the Hispanic Museum of Nevada, she wanted to create a space that would teach young Latinos about their history and heritage.
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Oral history interview with Mirtha Rojas conducted by Marcela Rodriguez-Campo on December 6, 2018 the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Mirtha talks about her artistic upbringing in Cuba and how she immigrated to the Florida with her brother. She talks about relocating to Las Vegas in 2000, her membership with the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, and her employment as a guest room attendant and shop steward at the Aria Hotel and Casino.
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Oral history interview with Zoe Allison conducted by Debra Ruth on February 21, 1979 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Allison discusses her career with Central Telephone Company, working at the Sahara Hotel as a switchboard operator, and owning a dress shop on Fremont Street. She also talks about notable locations such as Craig Road Speedway, Silver Slipper Race Track, Nellis Air Base and Mount Charleston, and the politics of prostitution in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Oral history interview with Cherina Kleven conducted by Cecilia Winchell on June 9, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Cherina Kleven talks about her family and childhood growing up in Taiwan amongst six siblings. She shares her family's history and how they immigrated to Las Vegas while she was a teen, as well as her employment history and how she met her husband. Cherina talks about racial and gender discrimination and the obstacles she has overcome to be the only working female in her family, the only woman firefighter at her station house, and the first female Asian American Assistant Fire Chief in the United States.
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Oral history interview with Christian Giovanni conducted by Cecilia Winchell, Jerwin Tiu, and Stefani Evans on May 17, 2022 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Giovanni describes her early life being born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She discusses her mother, Oywan, who first worked for the casinos before turning her focus to community building. Throughout Oywan's life, she did everything from start the first temple in the city to the first Thai newspaper, Las Vegas News. Giovanni mentions having what she considers a normal childhood, especially because of her more Western appearance, and did not embrace her AAPI identity until much later in life after she started helping her mother with different organizations. Currently, Giovanni is involved in many organizations, from the AAPI County Commission to the Thai Culture Foundation.
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Oral history interview with Kochy Tang conducted by Kristel Peralta, Vanessa Concepcion, and Stefani Evans on May 26, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Kochy gives a family history of her parents and how they both came to practice medicine; her father served in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War and later practiced alternative medicine alongside Kochy's mother in San Francisco and Reno. Kochy shares her educational and employment path pursuing osteopathic medicine and how, with the help of Tony Marnell, she was able to open her pratice within the M Resort and Casino. She discusses her work as a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) and the relationships she has built within the Las Vegas medical community.
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Oral history interview with Lily Teo conducted by Stefani Evans on February 7, 2022 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Lily Teo discusses her upbringing in Singapore, her education, her religious beliefs, and converting from Buddhism to Catholicism. She talks about her husband, her early married years, and what life was like as a young mother of three children. Teo shares how she started a catering business to feed construction workers and was responsible for shopping for ingredients, preparing all meals and tea, and cooking the food on site in her temporary kitchen. She talks about her children, the faiths they practice and languages they speak including English, Malay, and Mandarin, and the customs and traditions they practice, such as celebrating Lunar New Year and other holidays. Lily's daughter, Stella, sits in on the interview and expands on her mother's recollections.
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