On November 1, 1979, Robert Maichle interviewed Marshall Mack Dawson (born 1938 in Las Vegas, Nevada) about his experiences living in Las Vegas. Dawson first talks about his early education, his family, and the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort. He then describes the changes he has noticed over time, the atomic testing, the Helldorado parades, Red Rock, the development of the Strip, and the changes in the Downtown area. Dawson also discusses some of his work for Nevada Power, the early movie theaters, his opinions on journalism, and various other topics.

On March 19, 1978, Russell L. Ellis interviewed former postal worker, Ray Christian (born 1927 in Las Vegas, Nevada). The two discuss Ray’s family history and his experiences as a Black man in early Las Vegas. Ray Christian compares the experiences of his childhood with that of his children in Las Vegas. The interview concludes with Christian expressing how Las Vegas has grown and that there are more opportunities available for his children to pursue.

Ron Current's heart was always in the right place, with respect to social activism and his dedication to empowering the black community in Las Vegas. Inspired by Black Panther Party founders, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, Ron started the Black Panther Party Las Vegas Chapter. He was also the director of public relations for the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; an organization created to work in tandem with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, to eliminate racial inequality. Ron describes the overall atmosphere of the Westside community in Las Vegas during the early days, as chaotic, drug infested, and riddled with daily gang related shootings. He also recalls the historic preservation attempts made by leading members of the Westside community, such as Sarann Knight Preddy. Ron recalls working at the University Medical Center while recruiting for the Black Panther Party Las Vegas Chapter. This interview demonstrates the power of love. As the founder and leader of the Black Panther Party Las Vegas Chapter, Ron was named one of the most influential blacks in Las Vegas by the Sentinel Voice. He recalls utilizing his hands-on leadership approach towards capacity building and the successful implementation of community mobilization strategies and methods. He was a champion for educational equity, equal access to employment opportunities, and economic equality in Las Vegas, Nevada.

After serving as a nurse in World War II in Hawaii, Okinawa and Japan, Dorothy returned home to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She experienced a particularly bad winter and she set out for California but stopped in Las Vegas to visit the family of her traveling companion, a girlfriend from her home town. The girlfriend returned to Wisconsin and George applied for a nursing license and got it within three days. She never left. Dorothy met her husband while working the night shift at Clark County Hospital. He would come in regularly to assist his patients in the births of their babies. Their occupations and their service in World War II drew them together in a marriage that has lasted over fifty years. From 1949 to this interview in 2003, Dorothy George has seen Las Vegas grow from a town that she loved to a metropolitan area that is no longer as friendly. She reminisces about the Heldorado parades, family picnics at Mount Charleston, watching the cloud formed by the atomic bomb tests, raising six successful children, leading a Girl Scout Troop, and working in organizations to improve the social and civic life of Las Vegas.

In 1964, the year that Vincent Kethen was born, desegregation of Las Vegas schools began. Like many African-American children living in the Las Vegas Westside neighborhood, Vincent was bused out of his neighborhood in third grade to attend a white school. In his case, this meant attending John S. Park Elementary and later other predominantly white schools. He talks about these experiences. John S. Park was a neighborhood of manicured lawns, while the school bus and the classroom were places fraught with fisticuffs. The experience of growing up during that era are recalled. Vincent provides a sense of that it was like to reside in his home neighborhood and the onslaught of the drug culture altered gang-lead neighborhoods. Being bused had positive results he explains, such as athletics, which served as an equalizer. For Vincent, a solid upbringing, which included love of church and the chance to attend college, encouraged him to make good decisions about his future. He received a four-year degree and he returned to Las Vegas to "give back." For over a decade and a half, her has coached young basketball players and helped them see their options for a brighter future than they might otherwise have seen.

Dr. Darville Knowles was born in Miami, Florida, in 1948. His mother and father were schoolteachers in Dade County. After their divorce in 1962, Darville's mother relocated to Las Vegas with her two sons and took a teaching position here. Dr. Knowles comments on the differences between Miami and Las Vegas as far as segregation regarding housing, education, and job opportunities. He also mentions that his grandmother had emigrated from the Bahamas and that she impressed on them to make their own situation and community better. He recalls that track and field athletics were desegregated before the contact sports, such as football and basketball. Darville and his brother Michael (a lawyer in Miami) both graduated from college. Darville attended Howard University and Stanford University Medical School and completed his internship at the Jewish Hospital of St. Louis. Dan Wilkes, a family friend and pathologist in Las Vegas, convinced Darville to look at Las Vegas for job opportunities. After trying St. Louis, Atlanta, Houston, and Los Angeles, Dr. Knowles finally settled in Las Vegas in 1982 and "grew' his practice at Sunrise Hospital. Dr. Knowles comments on health problems in Las Vegas related to eating choices, lack of exercise, and poor air quality. He describes how HMOs have changed the practice of medicine and gives his opinions on how health care should be addressed by Congress. He also discusses the future of medicine, the research he was involved in, and the AIDS crisis. Dr. Knowles talks about how medicine has changed since 1982, the large number of respiratory problems that he treats, and comments further on HMOs and the fixture of medicine in Las Vegas. He also shares that he found time to author a murder mystery and has plans to write more.

Judge Jack Lehman is living the life we should all strive for - a wonderful family, a work ethic that has allowed him to serve others while enjoying a magnificent life and above all a great love affair with his beautiful artistic wife, Lou Lou. From Chemnitz, Germany, at the beginning of the Nazi reign to a prominent citizen of Las Vegas, Lehman lives an extraordinary Las Vegas life. Born in Germany in the late 1920s, Jack and his sister were sent to the United States in 1935 and after a series of living situations including a orphanage in New York, they were adopted by the Lehman family in Lake Arrowhead, California. As a young boy, he wanted to become a lawyer. After a degree from Berkeley, two tours of military duty, a stint in radio broadcasting, and serving as the Director of the Nevada Department of Economic Development, he entered law school at USC. Lehman's career in the legal field began at the largest law firm in the city - Lionel Sawyer and Collins - and then into private practice and on to the bench as a District Court judge appointed by Governor Richard Bryan. In February 2008, he was honored by judges and friends statewide as the founder of Nevada's Adult Criminal Drug Court Program commonly known as "drug court." Washoe County District Judge Peter Breen said it best, "The state is a much better place because of Jack. All those people came back from the abyss of addiction because of Jack."