Oral history interview with Coleen York Wilson conducted by Claytee D. White on June 4, 1996 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Wilson talks about growing up in Fordyce, Arkansas before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1953 at the age of eighteen. She mentions that her parents had moved to Nevada in 1940 to work at Basic Magnesium, Incorporated (BMI), living in a trailer before returning to Fordyce two years later. She then discusses moving to Las Vegas to join an older sister and relates that she did not remember any discrimination in seating or eating meals during her bus trip. After this, Wilson lists the jobs she held in Las Vegas before her retirement in 1984, including work at the Las Vegas Cleaners, serving as a school crossing guard, and working as a housekeeping supervisor at the Stardust Resort Hotel, the Hacienda Resort Hotel, and Circus Circus Hotel and Casino before taking a job at the Nevada Test Site. She also talks about her family, her church activities, and her regret at not attending college.
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Oral history interview with Clinton Wright and Aaron Mayes conducted by Barbara Tabach on February 21, 2017 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Wright discusses being a photographer of the Westside community in Las Vegas, Nevada. He recalls creating his first photographic prints, being a freelance photographer, and experimenting with photography techniques. Wright talks about his employment with the
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Oral history interview with James Ralph “Jim” Olson conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee White on February 02, 2017 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. Olson discusses his firm, Cromer, Barker, and Michaelson; representing Las Vegas, Nevada properties such as the MGM Grand Hotel and the Las Vegas Hilton. He also talks about litigation between Hank Greenspun, Howard Hughes, and Hughes Tool Company.
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Oral history interview with Kathia Quiros Pereira conducted by Monserrath Hernández on March 6, 2020 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Pereira discusses her personal history and immigration from Lima, Peru to the United States. She also talks of her educational background as a student at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and her current work as a founding partner of Pereira Immigration Law Group where she exclusively practices immigration law in Las Vegas.
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Oral history interview with Wilma and Burt Bass conducted by Barbara Tabach on February 09, 2015 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. In this interview, Burt Bass discusses his photography business, the migration of its storefront around town, and his colorful landlords. Wilma Bass talks about her sales career in the local jewelry industry, and more extensively, she shares memories of her involvement in the Jewish community with theater productions. The couple also shares stories of friendships with local entertainers, including Jerry Lewis and Neil Sedaka.
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Oral history interview with Marion Bennett conducted by Claytee D. White on July 02, 2009 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Bennett discusses the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People’s historic involvement in the integration of casinos and other businesses, schools, and housing. He recalls the Freedom Fund dinners and the protests that were held in Las Vegas, Nevada. He then cites the process of integration in Las Vegas.
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Oral history interview with Lavern Cummings and Tony Midnite conducted by Dennis McBride on August 29, 2000 for the Las Vegas Gay Archives Oral History Project. In the interview, Cummings and Midnite discuss their work as female impersonators in Las Vegas, Nevada during the late 1960s and 1970s. They also talk about other impersonators and performance venues in Las Vegas and around the United States. They explain the distinctions between transgender and straight performers, and the perceptions of transgender and straight audience members. Other subjects Cummings and Midnite cover include their early lives and arrivals to Las Vegas, and the history of sex reassignment surgeries beginning in the 1930s.
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