Oral history interview with Elizebeth Dewey Russell conducted by Claytee D. White on March 23, 2024 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Russell talks about her mother, Ruth Bradshaw Dewey, a white woman, who taught at the Westside School (1949-1955), saw Josephine Baker at the El Rancho in 1952, attended the opening night of the Moulin Rouge in 1955, and served as the secretary of the Las Vegas branch of the NAACP for several years. Russell describes living with her mother in the Mayfair deveopment just south of 17th Street at Charleston and graduating from Las Vegas High School. She recalls spending summers with her father, John Bradshaw, in Caliente, Nevada, where he worked as a mechanic for the Union Pacific Railroad.
Oral history interview with D. D. (Ethel Dolores) Cotton conducted by Claytee White on February 14, 1997 and March 21, 1997 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. In this interview, Cotton discusses the beginnings of her dance career in New York City, New York. Later in the interview, Cotton discusses working in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Cotton Club and her interactions with other African American entertainers. Cotton also discusses race relations and her experiences as an African American dancer in Las Vegas. Cotton later goes on to discuss her career change in the service industry.
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.
As International Counsel to UNITE HERE, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, Richard McCracken is a true union man whose law firm represents labor. He is an independent thinker who prefers direct action rather than the strategies and negotiations of the National Labor Relations Board. This interview covers union activity in several locations throughout the country but concentrates on Nevada with stories about Las Vegas and Reno labor connections that are profound. Once which organizing in Reno after the murder of two organizers, Richard was given a spiked drink. An older, more seasoned organizer instructed him to eat a cigarette forcing him to cough up everything in his system. Very early in his career, Richard learned that direct action was better and the strategies and techniques of the National Labor Relations Board. The Culinary Workers Union’s fight with the Showboat was one of unusual direct action. The union interfered directly in a matter of with the casino’s shareholders. Union work takes courage. McCracken admires that courage in D. Taylor, Hattie Canty, Jim Arnold, and many other local union leaders. His life is also an example of that same courage, determination, and legal savvy.