Oral history interview with Kevin Chung conducted by Cecelia Winchell, Stefani Evans, and Jerwin Tiu on December 18, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project.
Kevin Chung discusses his upbringing in Southern Vietnam and how he and his family were forced to leave the country during the Vietnam War. Chung talks about his family's migration to Minnesota and how they adapted to American culture. He shares his educational background, his professional pursuits as a teacher, and the reasons he and his wife decided to move to Las Vegas. Chung reflects on the importance of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) in education with an emphasis on the arts and shares his teaching philosophy. He also gives details of his family's lives and talks about the importance of bringing together his Vietnamese and American cultures to connect the different generations of his family.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Erika Castro conducted by Maribel Estrada Calderon on November 12, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Castro discusses her early life in Mexico City, Mexico before migrating with her family to North Las Vegas, Nevada in 1992. She describes adapting to the city, her early education, and learning that she was an undocumented immigrant. Castro then talks about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and how DACA gave her a vision for a future for the first time. Later, Castro discusses The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act and explains objectives of the nonprofit organization, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN). Lastly, Castro talks about her involvement with Planned Parenthood, studying social work at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and immigration resources provided by the UNLV Law Clinic.
Archival Collection
Sandy C. Thomas is better known as Sonny. Sonny Thomas was born in Fordyce, Arkansas on Feburary 6, 1940. In 1959, Sonny arrived in Las Vegas looking for the promised employment opportunities. His first job was as a bus boy at El Rancho. Over the course of the next thirty years, he moved from one job to another, each time gaining more responsibility. His last hotel role was as shipping and receiving manager at the MGM. While working at the MGM, Sonny finally secured a part-time second job with Davis Funeral Home.
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Oral history interview with Rachel Gibson conducted by Kay Long and Caryll Batt Dziedziak on August 25, 1998, September 01, 1998, September 14, 1998, and April 07, 1999 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Gibson opens her interview discussing her family's migration history, living in Yerington, Nevada, and her immediate family. Gibson then describes her life in Tonopah, Nevada. She talks about education in the area, the social clubs, and recreation activities available. Gibson then discusses her elementary school teaching career and ends her interviews describing her family life and life in Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1940s and 1950s.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with Renée Marchant Rampton conducted by Caryll Batt Dziedziak on August 27, 2006, January 25, 2011, and March 03, 2011 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Rampton begins her interviews discussing her family's migration history. Rampton talks about the influences Mormonism and her mother's feminism had on her life. Rampton then describes moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1959 with her husband. Rampton discusses the musicians union, Musicians' Wives Club, and her work to keep music in the Clark County School District. Lastly, Rampton discusses becoming an elementary school teacher and her efforts to support the Equal Rights Amendment.
Archival Collection
From the Roosevelt Fitzgerald Professional Papers (MS-01082) -- Unpublished manuscripts file.
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Part of an interview with Anna Bailey by Claytee White on March 3, 1997. Bailey describes her arrival in Las Vegas and opening night at the Moulin Rouge.
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Oral history interviews with Sarann Knight Preddy conducted by Claytee D. White on June 05, 1997 and March 11, 1998 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Preddy begins her interview by discussing her upbringing in Oklahoma. Preddy then talks about moving to Las Vegas in 1942 and her first job at the Cotton Club. She then discusses moving to Hawthorne, Nevada, buying her club, the Lincoln Bar, and working for the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement Colored People (NAACP). Preddy also talks about gaining gaming licenses for her establishments and about the migration patterns of the African American community in Nevada. She describes the Westside community, education, and prejudice in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lastly, Preddy describes important places and people in the Las Vegas community.
Archival Collection
Lee Henry Lisby was born July 01, 1902 in Louisiana. In 1942, Lisby moved from Tallulah, Louisiana to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he found success in owning real estate. He retired as a sawmill worker, truck driver, construction laborer, and hotel porter. His first housing was an old Army hospital tent, and then he built a house. All of his ten children graduated from high school in Las Vegas.
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