Search Results
Hazel Gay oral history interview
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Abstract
Oral history interview with Hazel Gay conducted by Claytee D. White on December 02, 1995 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Gay discusses her husband being the first African-American mortician in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as being the assistant manager at the Sands Hotel and Casino and an executive at the Union Plaza. Gay also discusses running dress shops and working as a display artist and retail clerk in other shops.
Archival Collection
James A. "Jimmy" Gay oral history interview
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Abstract
Oral history interview with James A. Gay III (Jimmy Gay) conducted by Perry Kaufman on April 12, 1972 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Gay discusses becoming the first African-American mortician in Las Vegas, Nevada and his work improving race relations, social, economic, and civic issues.
Archival Collection
James A. "Jimmy" Gay III oral history interview
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Abstract
Oral history interview with James A. (Jimmy Gay) Gay III conducted by Joyce M. Wright in 1973 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Gay recalls details about his education in Arkansas and his training in mortuary science in Chicago, Illinois and discusses the nine-year delay in obtaining his license to practice as a mortician in Nevada because of racial discrimination. He recounts his move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1946, his experiences as a recreation director and as a personnel and communications director for the hotel industry, work that he took while waiting for his licensure to practice. He also talks about his career as a mortician with Palm Mortuary in Las Vegas, the atomic testing of the 1950s and 1960s, and his long involvement with the NAACP and the Freedom Fund. He closes by reciting two poems that have inspired him and express his philosophy.
Archival Collection
