Black History Month Festival in Vegas, Uplifts Blacks

The Black History Month Festival, held in Spring Reserve in Nevada, is really a spectacle to behold. The event featured music, dance, soul food vendors, face paintings, caricature drawings and arcade games. The Festival came to fruition around 2010, thanks to Nicole Lise who was the one who helped create the Black History Month Festival. She is also the festivals vice chairwoman. Stella Mason Parson was honored as being the first African-American woman to graduate from college in Nevada.
Naida Parson, Parsons daughter, said that her mother opened the door for other black women to achieve a higher education, in Nevada. Before then, black women in Nevada didn’t even think about going to college: “Their life was to be domestic. They graduated high school and went on to become maids.” said Naida Parson.
Contrary to popular belief, Las Vegas was very segregated once upon a time, according to Lise. Areas around the town were very restricting. Most blacks had a hard time finding work and so forth. She also stated, “You couldn’t even walk into, as an African-American, the front of the casinos. You had to go through the rear, whether you worked there or you wanted to play there.” In addition, the civil rights movement was a national movement that had taken place right in Las Vegas. Very important people in the Black community speak at the function as well.
“I think that this should continue and it should be expanded,” said Gene Collins Former president of the NAACP, who served it twice, 73. “I think some of the schools should be able to teach the contributions and why we are celebrating Black History Month because there are a lot of individuals who don’t have a clue.”
He also stated that school curriculums don’t acknowledge many black contributions to America. He then told an untold story about Benjamin Banneker. He was a scholar and urban planner who assisted in surveying the nation’s capital in 1791. Naida Parson wants her people to never stop trying to achieve their goals.