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Transcript of interview with James A. Gay III by Joyce M. Wright, December, 1978

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Gay, James A., III Wright, Joyce M

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Interview with James A. Gay III conducted by Joyce M. Wright in December, 1978. Arriving in 1946 from Fordyce, Arkansas, Gay became the first African-American mortician in Las Vegas. He later worked as Assistant Manager of the Sands Hotel and Casino and Union Plaza while serving as an executive board member of the Culinary Union. Instrumental in the Las Vegas community, Gay worked to improved race relations, addressing social, economic, and civic issues. Gay was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1988.ORAL INTERVIEW of JAMES A. GAY III Edited by Elizabeth Nelson Patrick Transcribed for the project Black Experience in Southern Nevada Donated Tapes Collection, James R. Dickinson Library- University of Nevada, Las Vegas December, 1978 ABSTRACT JAMES A. GAY III, 1919- Mr. Gay, born in Fordyce, Arkansas, came to Las Vegas in 1946. He narrates his experiences in southern Nevada since then. Mr. Gay reminisces about his education in Arkansas and his train-ing at Worsham School of Mortuary Science in Chicago, Illinois. He discusses a nine year delay in obtaining a license to practice his profession and attributes the delaying tactics to racial discrim-ination. Mr. Gay tells of his work experience as a recreation director for the city and as a director of personnel and communications in the hotel industry prior to his re-employment as a mortician at Palm Mor-tuary in Las Vegas. He recalls atomic testing at the Nevada Test Site and his participation as an employee on loan from the cJames...
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