Mason, Brenda

Brenda Mason was born in Texas and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1960 when she was 11 years old. Her extended family left Texas as a result of pressure from the K.K.K.. Some of her early memories of attending integrated schools in Las Vegas include serving on a panel that discussed the impact of integration in the schools. Because of zoning changes, she attended Western High School in her senior year, and served as class president.

Mason became a National Merit Scholarship finalist and applied for Chapman College in Orange County, Nevada. She traveled with the World Campus ship for a semester, and afterwards became community coordinator with the Teacher Corps Project at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). She also continued taking college courses in sociology at UNLV. In 1974, she made the decision to run for a seat on the Board of Regents.

Mason finished her undergraduate and master's degrees and applied to the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific in Sacramento, California. After attending for one year, she then transferred to a law school in San Diego, California and got a job at the U.S. Attorney's office as a paralegal. Mason retired from that position after 26 years of service.