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Linh Fee oral history interview: transcript
Date
2022-02-04
Archival Collection
Description
Oral history interview with Linh Fee conducted by Cecilia Winchell, Stefani Evans, and Jerwin Tiu on February 4, 2022 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Linh Fee talks about her family life growing up in Oahu, Hawaii, how her parents met in Vietnam, and memories of her childhood with her six siblings. She shares how she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to find work after graduating from college at the University of Hawaii and her brief time working in the hospitality industry as a cocktail server. Fee discusses her career change to become a dental hygienist and life with her husband and three children.
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Transcript of interview with Eva Garcia Mendoza by Elsa Lopez and Barbara Tabach, September 25, 2018
Date
2018-09-25
Archival Collection
Description
On the corner of 7th street and Clark, and beside the tennis courts of Las Vegas Academy, stands the law office of attorney Eva Garcia Mendoza. Eva has worked in her office since 1982, and in this time she has helped the Las Vegas community work through civil and immigration cases besides aiding in a myriad of other ways. Eva Garcia Mendoza was born in 1950, in the town of McAllen, TX-an environment that perpetuated hatred of Mexican Americans. Eva recalls the racism she endured; for instance, being spanked if she spoke Spanish in school, and her family facing job discrimination because of her skin color or her last name. Being an ethnic and financial minority was difficult, and Eva remembers nights as a child when she would cry herself to sleep. Eva showed resilience in the face of adversity as she states, “you rise to the level of your teachers’ expectations.” With the encouragement of her band professor, Dr. L.M Snavely, she began higher education at Pan American College. She moved to Las Vegas in 1971 and began to work before being accepted at UNLV to study Spanish literature. She graduated in the class of 1973. In 1975, Eva applied to become a court interpreter, a decision that would drastically change the trajectory of her career. She earned the coveted position and began to work beside Judge John Mendoza who was the first Latino elected to public office in the state of Nevada. Several years later John and Eva would wed. Judge Mendoza passed away in 2011. Eva talks about how extraordinary his legacy is-from his professional achievements to a story about his v football days and the 1944 Dream Team, this true story even piqued the interest of Hollywood writers. Through her work, Eva began to notice how she was more than qualified to become a lawyer herself, so she applied and gained a full ride scholarship to the Law School of San Diego University. Eva describes the struggles of attending school in San Diego while her spouse and children were home in Las Vegas. Despite the financial difficulties, being one of few minority students, and becoming pregnant her second year, Eva was able to finish her remaining university credits by returning to Las Vegas and working with Judge Mendoza. Together, they started the Latin Bar Association. Eva began her own practice in 1981 and would later partner with Luther Snavely, who was the son of her band teacher that helped her to attend college so many years back. Today, Eva has a new partner at her office and hired her son to work as a secretary. Eva also tells of the office’s mysterious history, of which includes a ghostly figure many clients claimed to have seen in the reception room. Eva recounts many of her professional achievements, such as petitioning to start the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Nevada Chapter, representing celebrities, winning the unwinnable cases such as against the Nevada Test Site. Eva talks about current events, such as today’s immigration laws, the discriminatory practices of revoking birth certificates from those born in Brownsville, TX., and about the importance of the #MeToo movement. Eva and her family have a great fondness for Las Vegas. The support for the Latinx community in Las Vegas greatly contrasts that which she experienced as a child in southern Texas. She describes wanting to take her children and grandchildren to visit her old home in McAllen, TX where her family grew up on the “wrong side of the tracks.”
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Greenpeace Pacific Southwest Records
Identifier
MS-00363
Abstract
The Greenpeace Pacific Southwest Records are comprised of files and documents pertaining to environmental activism in Southern Nevada from 1962 to 1994, primarily addressing the organization of protests at the Nevada Test Site. The collection contains newspaper articles, newsletters, publications, financial records, protest information, correspondence, meeting minutes, articles of incorporation, Freedom of Information Act requests, and Nevada Test Site information. Also contained in the collection are maps and documents related to various environmental issues such as nuclear waste, land use, wildlife protection, and international environmental activism.
Archival Collection
Urban Chamber of Commerce of Las Vegas, Nevada Records
Identifier
MS-00791
Abstract
The Urban Chamber of Commerce of Las Vegas, Nevada Records date from approximately 1980 to 2009 and contains the organizational records of the Urban Chamber of Commerce of Las Vegas, Nevada (UCC), one of the many chambers of commerce in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. The mission of the Urban Chamber of Commerce is to create and foster an environment that promotes development of members and Black-owned businesses. The collection is comprised of publications, financial and administrative records, various event information, and photographs of events and membership.
Archival Collection
Equal Rights Nevada Collection
Identifier
MS-00607
Abstract
The Equal Rights Nevada (2000-2002) collection is comprised of organizational records documenting the group’s unsuccessful fight against Question 2, a referendum voted upon in 2000 and 2002 to amend Nevada’s state constitution to forbid same-sex marriage. It includes campaign files, financial records, publicity, correspondence, ephemera, and other supporting documentation from national and regional marriage equality organizations.
Archival Collection