Hannah Brown

President
Urban Chamber of Commerce

My mother moved our family from Stamps, Arkansas to Las Vegas when I was six-years old. Las Vegas was segregated at that time and remained so until shortly after my 21st birthday, so most of my memories from those years are limited to life on the "Westside."

School days were the highlight of my youth. It was my outlet to get involved and really shine. In 1954 I attended Rancho High School and served as Student Body Secretary. That was the first year that Rancho took students and the first year I attended an integrated school.

At 15-years I took a job as sales associate at Larry's Music Bar which later became Larry Wilburn's Sight and Sound Center. I worked my way to manager and remained in that position until 1968 when I went to work for Western Airlines, which was later purchased by Delta Air Lines. Between Western, Delta, and McCarran Airport, I served 35 years in the airline industry.

When I was growing up, the El Rancho Vegas and the Old Frontier were the only two hotels on the Strip. Gradually I remember more being added-the Flamingo, Sahara, Riviera, Stardust, Tropicana, Dunes and Hacienda, but I don't remember the order they came in.

Over the next 100 years, I envision Las Vegas becoming one of 8 to 10 major cities in the United States.

Editor's Note: Ms. Brown was profiled in Ebony Magazine's "100 Most Promising Black Women in Corporate America" and earned the "Black Women of Achievement" award from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She supports the Las Vegas community in many capacities-as president of the Urban Chamber of Commerce, vice president of Caucus of African-American Nevadans, assistant Sunday school superintendent of Holy Trinity AME Church, member of the board of directors for the Las Vegas /Clark County affiliate of the National Urban League, and more.