Las Vegas History Week: Desegregation

by Bodog Casino | Jul 21 2010

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Since Bugsy Siegel and Howard Hughes put their imprint on Sin City, Las Vegas, Nevada has been the American epicenter of betting and the champagne lifestyle.

Sure, back then there were more mobsters controlling Vegas, but it was still a place filled with class and a kicking nightlife. Today, it's almost overflowing with things to do, making it probably the most storied party place in American history.

But behind the neon signs and roulette wheels there is a history that is rarely talked about in Nevada, segregation.

You didn't find it in the heart of the Vegas casino scene, it was on the outskirts -- across the Fremont Street train tracks.

In 1955 there were over 15,000 African Americans living in the state of Nevada, people who were likely looking for work amidst Sin City's economic boom.

However, these Americans weren't allowed to live in the heart of Sin City, they had to live on a segregated section called the "Westside." Amidst all the Las Vegas glitz, glamour and new-wave technologies the Westside had no running water, no sewage lines, or paved streets. Essentially, while the casinos surrounding Fremont Street displayed the progression of American industry, The Westside showed that in some ways it was still in the dark ages.

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However, the African American communities on The Westside had their own schools, churches, and thriving community. In terms of work, they had to stay on their side for employment.

African Americans were not allowed to own or sell businesses or houses beyond the Fremont tracks. If they had a job in a casino it was in the back, with as little contact with casino residents as possible. And oh yes, they even barred African Americans from gambling.

The one way you could be seen in a Vegas casino is if you already had national recognition as a singer or actor. But even then once you finished performing you were quickly given the boot.

"In Vegas for 20 minutes, our skin had no color," Vegas vet Sammy Davis Jr. said. "Then the second we stepped off the stage, we were colored again...the other acts could gamble or sit in the lounge and have a drink, but we had to leave through the kitchen with the garbage."

But it didn't take long until black entertainers refused to perform as long as segregation remained. In 1960, President of the Las Vegas chapter of the NAACP, Dr. James McMillan, told Vegas authorities that he would stage a citywide protest unless there was desegregation.

Fearing such a protest would hurt Vegas' growing tourism history they caved on March 25, 1960. Agreeing to allow African Americans, to buy, rent, own, gamble and party in Sin City just like everyone else.