Sherrill and Samuel Coleman moved to Las Vegas during the 1990s after both enjoying a full life and numerous careers in other parts of the United States. They met each other through church in 1998 and married each other in April 1999. Now retired, both Samuel and Sherrill remain active in their church community. Samuel Coleman was born in Durant, Mississippi in 1928 to a sharecropping family. His father died when he was 13 months old, leaving his mother to raise seven children by herself. Over time, his family slowly migrated to Chicago and he joined them when he was 15. For eight months, Samuel worked a number of different jobs until he began to work for Burlington Railroad as a four cook. The United States Army drafted him in 1951 and sent him overseas to work in a motor pool for a military hospital in Korea, despite his status as a conscientious objector. At war’s end, he returned to work for Burlington. During his last 17 years with the railroad, Samuel successfully petitioned to join the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the union for railroad cooks, porters, and waiters, to improve the working and sleeping conditions at Burlington Railroad. He retired from the railroads in the 1970s and chose to pursue other careers. Until his official retirement in 1993, Samuel worked in real estate, as the owner of a liquor store, a firefighter, a restaurant inspector, and a deacon for his church. His daughter from his first wife moved to Vegas to pursue a career as a teacher and after a number of visits, Samuel decided to follow her in 1999. Sherrill Coleman was born in Newton, Kansas in 1941. Like many other African American women in her community, she worked as a housekeeper for a number of years. She and her first husband moved to Los Angeles County in 1964 where she took a temporary job in the elections department of the local government. In 1967, Sherrill became a file clerk for Los Angeles County’s Department of Public Social Services. By the time she left the department, she was middle management in the auditing department. She moved to Vegas in 1993.
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Oral history interview with Barbara Jean Drew conducted by Claytee D. White on May 17, 2021 for African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Barbara Drew is the Dean of the Academy for Ministers, teaches Bible study, and performs other spiritual work at New Jerusalem Worship Center. Drew migrated to Las Vegas from Fortune Fork, Louisiana, just two miles outside the city limits of Tallulah.
This interview covers life in the Black community beginning when Drew arrived in 1961. She spoke about the importance of businesses like the Brown Derby, Hamburger Heaven, and the Town Tavern that hosted jazz on Sunday afternoons with a dance floor that she enjoyed. She discussed her first job running American Linen, a Dry Cleaners owned by Phil Shapiro; Shapiro mentored Drew, teaching her about business operations, purchasing property for her family, bookkeeping, and the importance of having a bank account. She also spoke of a neighborhood where neighbors helped neighbors and opportunities that flourished throughout the Black community. Subjects discussed include: Jackson Ave, Town Tavern, New Jerusalem Worship Center, Kasper Park, Berkley Square, and Phil Shapiro.
Archival Collection
From the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Theta Theta Omega Chapter Records (MS-01014) -- Chapter records file.
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Part of an interview with Mary Louise Williams conducted by Claytee D. White on June 19, 1998. Williams recalls working as a showgirl at the Moulin Rouge and traces her subsequent careers as a social worker and school teacher.
Sound
From the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Theta Theta Omega Chapter Records (MS-01014) -- Chapter records file.
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