Bill Schafer is an active member of the Las Vegas, Nevada lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. He worked at the Las Vegas Bugle and served as managing editor throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Subsequently, he was also involved with the Las Vegas Night Beat, another LGBTQ publication in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has a female impersonator identity known as Wilhelmina Parsons. He was ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church under his given name and as Wilhelmina Parsons.
The Las Vegas African American Community Conversations is a four part, one hour round table conversation with local Las Vegans. They share their powerful stories and great history, with topics ranging from “Migration, Civil Rights, Education, Church, Entertainment and the Early Legal Community”. Part Three: A conversation about ” Civil Rights and Entertainment” MODERATOR- Claytee D. White (Director-Oral History Research Center) PANELISTS- Lonnie G Wright (College Professor/Business Owner) LaVerne C. Ligon (Director- Simba Talent Development Center Inc.) Walter Mason (Director-IRA Aldridge Theater) Leonard Pock Jr. (Retired Stagehand) B.J. Thomas (Retired Stagehand)
Interview with Rev. Marion D. Bennett, Sr. conducted by Claytee D. White on January 12, 2004. Bennett grew up in Greenville, South Carolina and graduated from Morris Brown College before earning his Master of Divinity from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. He moved to Las Vegas in 1960 to pastor Zion United Methodist Church, ultimately growing his congregation to over six hundred members. Bennett speaks candidly about the racial tension that the Las Vegas community endured during integration and his fight to establish the Equal Rights Commission in Nevada. In 1973, he ran for the Nevada State Assembly and served for ten years, focusing on quality education and employment along with healthcare and equal rights.
A view of the right-hand side of the This is the Place Monument. Several individual sculptures make up the full monument. The This is the Place Monument is a historical monument at the This is the Place Heritage Park, located on the east side of Salt Lake City, Utah, at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. It is named in honor of Brigham Young's famous statement in 1847 that the Latter-day Saint pioneers should settle in the Salt Lake Valley. Sculpted between 1939 and 1947 by Mahonri M. Young, a grandson of Brigham Young, it stands as a monument to the Mormon pioneers as well as the explorers and settlers of the American West. It was dedicated by LDS Church President George Albert Smith on 24 July 1947, the hundredth anniversary of the pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley. It replaced a much smaller monument located nearby.
Julie Domonkos interviews Jack Bullock, born 1916 in Gorman, Texas, in his home about his experiences living in Southern Nevada. Bullock talks mostly about his occupations in the gaming industry, some of which included being a dealer both in Las Vegas and other cities. Bullock also describes how Las Vegas and particularly the Las Vegas Strip have changed over the years since the forties when he arrived until 1981, when this interview was conducted. Bullock discusses what it was like working in casinos prior to corporations entering the gaming industry, and he mentions how entertainment has changed over time as well. Bullock’s wife Marjorie is also present during the interview and can be heard providing input on certain questions.
On November 28, 1986, James Courtney interviewed Norman Christiansen (born 1931 in Red Lodge, Montana) about his experiences while living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Christiansen first describes his family and background before talking about moving to Las Vegas in 1956 after graduating college in Montana. Christiansen, who worked at the Nevada Test Site for two years and eventually became a teacher at various schools, talks about the various changes he has noticed over the years in Las Vegas, including those in climate, pollution, economy, occupation, and standard of living. Christiansen also discusses his political involvement, his hobbies, the advantages and disadvantages of living in Las Vegas, historical events in Las Vegas, and atomic testing in Nevada.