Oral history interview with Pat Spearman conducted by Lisa McAllister on March 03, 2016 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Spearman discusses her experiences in the military and becoming a minister at United Methodist Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. She describes what it was like to serve in the military as a gay woman and telling church members about her sexuality. Spearman then talks about the African American gay community in Las Vegas and the intersectionality of race, class, religion, sexuality, and politics. Lastly, Spearman discusses her plans to get re-elected as a Nevada State Senator.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Eddie Anderson conducted by Dennis McBride on October 11 and 14, 2000 for the Las Vegas Gay Archives Oral History Project. Anderson speaks about his role in advocating for LGBT rights, specifically his participation in the various political and social movements during previous decades. Additionally, Anderson speaks about his experiences and involvement with the Democratic Party and the various individuals and political figures who assisted with his cause.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Kitty Wright conducted by Dennis McBride on January 25, 2004 for the Las Vegas Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Archives Oral History Project. In this interview, Wright discusses the life of her friend Suzanne Daly and the court cases that Daly faced. Wright recalls her memories with Daly, the court case regarding the custody of Daly's child, and her life after having a sex reassignment surgery.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Kelly McFarlane-Smith conducted by Dennis McBride on October 07, 2008 for the Las Vegas Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Archives Oral History Project. In this interview, Smith discusses her involvement with the magazine
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Mary Hawkins conducted by Bill Murphy on June 22, 1972 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In her interview Hawkins discusses her reasons for moving to Las Vegas, Nevada and the developmental changes she has seen occur in Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Claytee D. White conducted by Stefani Evans on November 2, 2023 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Claytee D. White, founding directory of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries, celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the OHRC by contributing her oral history to the collection.
She begins by explaining how the system of sharecropping worked in her family near rural Ahoskie, North Carolina, and she talks about the field work involved in raising cotton, tobacco, corn, and peanuts. The fifth of eight children and the first daughter, she shares memories of going into town with her mother, of admiring her women teachers, and of attending North Carolina Central College (now University) for two years before moving to Washington, D.C., and working for the telephone company.
After recalling her two years in D.C. and 22 years in Los Angeles, California, she describes "running away" to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1990s. Here, at the History department at UNLV, she recalls learning to conduct oral histories. White shares memories of her first interviews with Hazel and Jimmy Gay and Lucille Bryant. She talks of matriculating to the College of William and Mary for her PhD and of returning to Bertie County to live with her mother and administer the office of The Shaw University Center for Alternative Programs in Education (CAPE). She describes how she was offered the position of OHRC founding director, why it matters that she was an "opportunity hire," and how it feels to be the only Black person in a room.
Archival Collection