Oral history interview with Eric Mendoza conducted by Holly O'Donnell on November 29, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Eric Mendoza shares his family's chain migration history from Manila, Philippines to the United States and his difficult immigration and naturalization process once arriving in America in 1996. He talks about what brought him to live in Las Vegas, Nevada, his education and professional pursuits, what his life is like in the United States compared to that of the Philippines, and the lives of his eight siblings. Eric Mendoza discusses the historical past of the Philippines, the infrastructure in place there, and government corruption. He also speaks to Filipino traditions and festivals, food and customs, his cultural identity, and assimilating to American culture.
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Interview with Alma Whitney conducted by Claytee D. White on March 3, 1996. Seeking better employment opportunities, Whitney moved to Las Vegas from Tallulah, Louisiana, at the age of sixteen. Whitney supported Westside churches and schools and was respected as supervisor in housekeeping at Desert Inn. Whitney provides information on the African American migration to Las Vegas during the 1940s, post-war race relations in Las Vegas, the daily work of hotel maids, and the Culinary Union.
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Interview with Lubertha Johnson conducted by Larry V. Buckner on February 10, 1978. Johnson moved to Las Vegas in the late 1940s from Mississippi and worked as a recreation director, nurse, and director of an anti-poverty progam, serving as a civic leader.
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Interview with Katherine Duncan and Sarann Knight Preddy conducted by Claytee D. White on November 28, 2004. Duncan moved to Las Vegas in 1977, worked with Nevada Motion Picture Services, and owned a travel agency. She started a black heritage tour of Las Vegas.
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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 Two: A conversation about “Education, Economy and Integration” MODERATOR- Sonya Horsford Ed.D. PANELISTS- Dr. Esther Langston (Professor UNLV) Verlia Davis-Hoggard (Director of Clark County Social Services-Retired) Idan M. Gaines (Regional Representative for Senator Harry Reid) Dr. Linda Young (President-CCSD Board of Trustees)
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Around the turn of the century, Ramon Sanchez emigrated from Spain to the United States where he became a rancher in Tremonita, New Mexico. Many years later, his son, Cesario, migrated to Liberal, Kansas, to work on the railroad. It was there that his daughter, Marcelina, pictured above, was born and raised and where she eventually met and married her musician husband, Gene Sandusky. In 1941, the Sanduskys moved to Las Vegas where they settled in a new housing tract called Sunrise Acres. Some 45 years later, Mrs. Sandusky stands in her back yard with the original Sunrise Acres community well and water tower looming prominently in the background. Presently, Mrs. Sandusky is working hard to gather the history of that still cohesive neighborhood, one of the earliest in Las Vegas.
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In 1981, Doris Rodriguez (center) moved to Las Vegas from Topeka, Kansas, with her husband and young son. In 1983, her younger sister, Yvette Carrero (right) and her boyfriend moved to Las Vegas from Lorain, Ohio. The next year, 1984, her brother David Carrero (left), his wife and young son also moved to Las Vegas. In 1985, Doris' sister, Elizabeth and her husband moved here with their two daughters from Lorain, Ohio. In the years since moving to Las Vegas, Doris gave birth to another son as did her brother's wife. Such interfamilial migration patterns and subsequent family expansions are responsible in large part for the impressive growth of Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Interview with Lonnie G. Wright conducted by Claytee D. White on October 23, 2009. Wright played basketball at UNLV and became a successful local educator and businessman. His grandmother worked as a maid for prominent Las Vegans.
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