Team effort to compile black history memorabilia
Local libraries and museums are looking for help from the community to document local black history. They will take memories, photos, artifacts and anything else to help tell the story of black people in Southern Nevada.
The expected three- to five-year project is a collaboration among University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries, the Nevada State Museum, Henderson Libraries, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, the city of Las Vegas and Vegas PBS.
Anyone with relevant information or a private collection is encouraged to contact Claytee White, director of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, at 895-2222 or claytee.white@unlv.edu.
The final product will be an interactive website with access to the digitized collection. Information that has been scattered among various private and government entities will be accessible from this site.
Vegas PBS already has filmed four panel discussions, moderated by White, that are viewable on its YouTube page at youtube.com/vegaspbs. The panels cover migration, early employment, historic West Las Vegas, civil rights, entertainment and more.
Vegas PBS general manager Tom Axtell said the project sprung from a play at the West Las Vegas Library based on a book, "Beyond the Glimmering Lights: The Pride and Perseverance of African Americans in Las Vegas," by local author Trish Geran.
Vegas PBS was asked to film it and originally planned to do only that.
"The project has evolved over a period of time," Axtell said. "As we looked at it, we said it really does tell a terrific story of African-American history and experience in Las Vegas."
Axtell said he contacted Patricia Iannuzzi, dean of UNLV Libraries, last summer about the proposed TV program. They talked, the idea snowballed and a community advisory committee was formed.
UNLV Libraries received a $100,000 grant to help with the project.
The largest migration of black people to the valley took place during World War II, White said, because of the abundance of jobs available. Many worked at Basic Magnesium Inc. producing magnesium to build war planes. Federal job programs in the 1950s through the ’70s helped them gain employment as dealers or housekeepers at Strip hotels.
White knows a lot of the history in the valley but said she loves hearing new tales from old-timers.
"I like to hear those stories because everybody will remember a different business," White said. "A candy store, a liquor store, a nightclub."
White said all interviews will be transcribed and bound, and a copy will be given to the family. Artifacts and photos can be donated to UNLV Libraries or scanned, catalogued and returned to the family.
"We want everybody to know that this is a community effort," White said. "Without the community’s participation, this is impossible to do."
For more information, visit bit.ly/LDpTRi.
Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.
Find out moreFor more information the project to document local black history, visit bit.ly/LDpTRi.
Anyone with information or a private collection to share is asked to contact Claytee White at 895-2222 or claytee.white@unlv.edu..
To watch panel discussions moderated by White on Vegas PBS, visit youtube.com/vegaspbs.
