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Larry Cooper oral history interview

Identifier

OH-03404

Abstract

Oral history interview with Larry Cooper conducted by Claytee D. White on March 05, 2018 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Cooper discusses his early life in Las Vegas, Nevada and growing up in the Westside. He talks about his educational experiences in Las Vegas, attending the Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College (now University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff), and teaching mathematics. Cooper recalls his employment at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, becoming Vice President of Emerging Markets, and relocating around the United States for work. He remembers moving back to Las Vegas in the mid-2000s, his friendship with civil rights leader Jimmy Gay, and the contributions Gay made for the African American community. Cooper describes Westside businesses, and casinos on Jackson Street. Lastly, Cooper discusses the future of the Westside.

Archival Collection

Bob Stoldal oral history interviews

Identifier

OH-02625

Abstract

Oral history interviews with Bob Stoldal conducted by Claytee D. White on May 22, 2014, May 23, 2014, and March 3, 2016 for African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In these interviews, Stoldal discusses his upbringing in California before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1957. He talks about pursuing a career in journalism including working at Channel 3 and Channel 8, his interest in history, and involvement with cultural organizations including the Nevada State Museum, the MOB Museum, and Las Vegas Centennial Commission. Stoldal comments on the experiences of African Americans in Las Vegas including the 1969 Westside protests, sixth grade centers, and the treatment of entertainers.

Archival Collection

Las Vegas African American Community Conversations round table interviews

Identifier

OH-03599

Abstract

The Las Vegas African American Community Conversations is a four-part conversation with local Las Vegans. The first part of the round table is moderated by Trisha Geran with a central theme of "Migration, Work and Community Emergence." The panelists discuss the early history of the African American community in Las Vegas, Nevada. They also discuss how and why their families moved to Las Vegas, most citing the economic opportunities as a major factor. The participants share their personal histories and family histories building up the African American community in downtown Las Vegas and the Westside. The second part of the round table is moderated by Sonya Horsford with a central theme of "Education, Economy, and Integration." The panelists discuss the Clark County School District pre- and post-integration. They discuss the hardships of the Sixth Grade Center Integration Plan on the African American community as well as discussing the differences in the school facilities. The round table participants also discuss the social services and social programs and the history of those programs from the African American perspective. They also discuss civic involvement and the various civic groups started by the panelists, and share discrimination they faced.

The third part of the round table is moderated by Claytee D. White with a central theme of "Civil Rights and Entertainment." The panelists discuss the racism and segregation present in Las Vegas and discuss how African American community leaders worked to integrate African Americans into the Las Vegas community. They discuss the 1969 riots in detail, and discuss African American entertainers and the entertainment industry. They share personal experiences working in the entertainment industry and discuss the importance of the local unions, such as the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 720, and their contributions to the unions. The fourth and final part of the round table is moderated by Rachel Anderson with a central theme of the "Early African American Legal Community." The panelists discuss the foundations of the professional legal community in Las Vegas, noting the contributions of Charles Keller, Dr. William Bailey, and the Reverend Marion Bennett as driving forces for civil rights activism in Las Vegas. They share their experiences growing up in Las Vegas facing discrimination and segregation. Lastly, they share the changes they have seen and how both the legal and African African communities have grown.

Archival Collection

Community Conversations oral history panel

Identifier

OH-02650

Abstract

Oral history panel composed of University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) students Lisa McAllister, Larry Sampson, John Grygo, and Ashley Smith along with community narrators Jerrie Merritt, Geraldine Kirk Hughes, Keith Brantley, and Hannah Brown, moderated by Julia Lee and Claytee White on March 30, 2016 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: A Collaborative Oral History Project. The group discusses working with each other during the collection of oral histories for the project, the value of the interchange for both narrator and interviewer, the value of oral histories as repositories of individual and collective memory, and related stories about their experiences.

Archival Collection

Catherine Buchanan oral history interview

Identifier

OH-00983

Abstract

Oral history interview with Catherine Buchanan conducted by Claytee D. White on March 26, 1997 as part of the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. In this interview, Buchanan speaks at length about her child and young adulthood in Louisiana and explains how she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1971. She discusses her first job as a maid at the Landmark Hotel and Casino and how she applied to the Teamsters Union to move into front desk work in the hotels, which led to a job at the Sahara Hotel and Casino. She then talks about discrimination and the small percentage of African Americans in the more "visible" jobs at the hotels.

Archival Collection

Geraldine Kirk-Hughes oral history interview

Identifier

OH-03587

Abstract

Oral history interview with Geraldine Kirk-Hughes conducted by Claytee D. White on April 28, 2011 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project.

In this interview, Geraldine Kirk-Hughes discusses her educational background, previous occupations, and her decision to attend law school in Reno, Nevada in 1984. Kirk-Hughes shares details of passing the bar exam in 1988, opening her one-woman law firm shortly thereafter, and her affiliation with the National Bar Association (NBA). She recalls how she met Charles Kellar, various cases she represented, and her experiences with racism both directed at herself and her clients of color.

Archival Collection

Geraldine Kirk-Hughes oral history interview

Identifier

OH-02200

Abstract

Oral history interview with Geraldine Kirk-Hughes conducted by Larry Sampson on November 28, 2014 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview Kirk-Hughes relates her birth and upbringing in Simmersport, Louisiana, becoming a teen mother, earning a GED and earning her first college degree before marrying and moving to Greece and Dubai. She then explains how she returned to the United States to earn her masters degree before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1978. She discusses her second marriage, her decision to attend law school, and her decision to go into private practice instead of working for a law firm. She talks about cases she worked on, people in the community she knew, and the effects of discrimination on her work and career. She ends by talking about her third marriage and sharing thoughts on how the Las Vegas African American community has lost some of the cohesiveness and unity of earlier decades.

Archival Collection

Claytee D. White oral history interview

Identifier

OH-02214

Abstract

Oral history interview with Claytee D. White conducted by Jessica Avila Pifferrer on December 01, 2014 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, White discusses her career as the Director of the Oral History Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries. She describes why she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1992, enrolling in the American History master's program at UNLV, and participating in the Women in Gaming and Entertainment project. She talks about memorable interviews she has conducted, including interviews with the African American community of Las Vegas.

Archival Collection

Foothill High School oral history interviews

Identifier

OH-03595

Abstract

Oral history interviews with Foothill High School students conducted by Claytee D. White on March 24, 2009 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project.

Students from Foothill High School in Henderson, Nevada are interviewed in front of one another as part of a class by Claytee D. White. Those interviewed include Shardé Smith, Evan Roquemore, Whitney Welch, RosAnne Ritchie, and Lindsay Gingrich. Claytee D. White is also interviewed by unnamed students. Each participant talks about their life, what brought them to live in Las Vegas, details of where they may have lived previously, and their interests and hobbies.

Archival Collection

Claytee D. White oral history interview

Identifier

OH-03904

Abstract

Oral history interview with Claytee D. White conducted by Stefani Evans on November 2, 2023 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Claytee D. White, founding directory of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries, celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the OHRC by contributing her oral history to the collection.

She begins by explaining how the system of sharecropping worked in her family near rural Ahoskie, North Carolina, and she talks about the field work involved in raising cotton, tobacco, corn, and peanuts. The fifth of eight children and the first daughter, she shares memories of going into town with her mother, of admiring her women teachers, and of attending North Carolina Central College (now University) for two years before moving to Washington, D.C., and working for the telephone company.

After recalling her two years in D.C. and 22 years in Los Angeles, California, she describes "running away" to Las Vegas, Nevada in the early 1990s. Here, at the History department at UNLV, she recalls learning to conduct oral histories. White shares memories of her first interviews with Hazel and Jimmy Gay and Lucille Bryant. She talks of matriculating to the College of William and Mary for her PhD and of returning to Bertie County to live with her mother and administer the office of The Shaw University Center for Alternative Programs in Education (CAPE). She describes how she was offered the position of OHRC founding director, why it matters that she was an "opportunity hire," and how it feels to be the only Black person in a room.

Archival Collection