One-on-one interview with Tyler D. Parry, Associate Professor of African American Studies, UNLV.

On June 17, 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday in America. But in many pockets of the country it has been celebrated since long before then. Juneteenth, a portmanteau for June and nineteenth, began on that date in Galveston, Texas in 1865 when General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3.

Storytelling is the centerpiece of good entertainment, and our city has a lot of stories to tell. Las Vegas has been long obsessed with being ahead of the curve in all things entertainment, food and gaming. But with a reputation for building up new resorts as fast as it tears them down, Las Vegas is a city in constant flux. Often, important stories of our past are simply forgotten.

Google “West Las Vegas Riots” and you’ll be shown stories about an uprising that erupted in the historically Black part of Las Vegas — in response to the Rodney King verdict in 1992. Though that tragic event cost one person his life, another riot in the same place 23 years earlier, was deadlier.

These colors were not chosen by random or just for their look. They have important significance and each symbolizes pride in the culture and experience of Black people.

King’s legacy became entrenched in the Las Vegas area during the ’80s through youth events and parades, followed by passage of long-fought legislation.

Four of the juveniles arrested in connection with the fatal group beating of a Rancho High School student made their initial appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court on Friday.

Since its founding in 1801, African Americans have played an integral, if too often overlooked, role in the history of the University of South Carolina. Robert Greene and Tyler D. Parry's edited volume Invisible No More: The African American Experience at the University of South Carolina (U South Carolina Press, 2021) seeks to recover that historical legacy and reveal the many ways that African Americans have shaped the development of the university.