Search Results

Dorothy Bell Scans UNLV-Public Lands Institute. Photograph with Rex Bell (George Francis Beldam) (right) and unidentified man. Handwritten on photo: "To Rex Bell, Always on the front page of my book. [name unreadable] 8/4/56." Stamped on back: "Gross Photo. Hotel Mapes. Reno, Nevada."

Dorothy Bell Scans UNLV-Public Lands Institute. Rex Bell (George Francis Beldam) (left) with two other unidentified people at an unknown location at an event. Stamped on back: "Link's Photo Studio, Tribune Building, Al Tahoe, CA."

Dorothy Bell Scans UNLV-Public Lands Institute. Handwritten on back: "Fresno, 1956. Mrs. Cramer at their home." Stamped on back: "Compliments of Lieutenant Govenor Harold J. Powers, Sacramento, California."

Interview with Cora Williams conducted by Kathlyn E. Wilson on March 11, 1975. Born in Louisiana in 1930, Williams arrived in Las Vegas in 1952. She began working as a hotel maid and later owned a beauty shop. Williams discusses the NAACP and housing discrimination.

Interview with Woodrow Wilson conducted by Jamie Coughtry in 1989. Born in a Mississippi sawmill town in 1915 to a family that ran a boarding house, Wilson completed high school at a private boarding school and attended two years of junior college before the declining economy forced him into the Civilian Conservation Corps to work as a cook and baker. Migrating west in 1940, Wilson soon settled in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he worked for Basic Magnesium, Inc. He became a prominent Westside community activist, founding a federal credit union and serving as president of the Las Vegas NAACP. Wilson worked for over thirty years as a warehouseman for companies that occupied the Basic Magnesium site. In 1966, he was elected to the state assembly, becoming the first black legislator in the history of Nevada, advocating open housing legislation, anti-discrimination regulations, welfare reform, and civil rights.

Third interview in a series of five with Nevada State Senator Joe Neal conducted by Claytee D. White on March 3, 2006. Born in Mounds, Louisiana, in 1935, Neal joined his family in Las Vegas as a young man shortly before serving in the United States Air Force from 1954 to 1958. Following his military service, he earned a bachelor's degree in political science at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Neal continued his education at the Institute of Applied Science in Chicago, Illinois, with postgraduate work in law. From 1973 to 2001, he served in the Nevada Legislature as the Senator from Clark County Senatorial District No. 4. In the third interview, Neal shares details of his service to Nevada. He recalls legislation enacted to achieve integration of the hotels and unions, his efforts to increase state taxes on the gaming industry, and his successful campaign strategies. Neal also relates the history of the Economic Opportunity Board in Nevada and predicts the outcome of the 2006 gubernatorial race.