LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – From the first Black doctor in Las Vegas, the first Black Nevada legislator and civil rights leaders, a local community activist wants to help kids can learn the legacy of icons in the Las Vegas Black community with a children’s book.
Minister Stretch Sanders, an activist and local historian, penned “Las Vegas Black Figures” with easy lessons and pictures for children. He hopes that this is the first of ten books highlighting leaders past and present.
“They know about Martin Luther King, Jr. They know about Sammy Davis Jr. But do they know about Lubertha Johnson? They must know about the men or women who made a way in their own community,” Sanders said.
Stretch said Las Vegas Black History can be found in various books and records, but nothing was available in a digestible form to pique the interest of children.
“Children will indeed be inspired by this book. I want black children to see the first black nurses, first black judges, first black doctors and say, ‘Hey, Dr. James McMillan did it. I can do it to,’” Sanders said.
Notable leaders include a welfare rights advocate Mary Wesley, the first Black physician Dr. Charles West, the first Black district attorney Judge Addeliar D. Guy III and Anna Bailey, a Moulin Rouge showgirl and the first Black showgirl on the Strip.
The book is available on Amazon. Sanders hopes to make it available in local libraries.
The first book is 24 pages, and Sanders hopes to create a series of ten to help children digest the lessons.
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