The 1962 Nevada Civil Rights Commission Investigation
By Brandon Kyle March 15, 2024
In 1962, the Nevada Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, in partnership with the newly established Nevada Equal Rights Commission, held a series of open meetings in Hawthorne, Reno, and Las Vegas, Nevada to investigate racial discrimination. By holding these hearings, the Advisory Committee and Equal Rights Commission hoped to inspect the civil rights record of each area and investigate their shortcomings.
Reno, Nevada, 1962
Housing
The commission found that the housing available in Reno for people of color was “practically all sub-standard.” A lot of the Black population at the time was relegated to the worst forms of unmaintained and dilapidated housing. As the report documents, many black families were displaced as a result of Reno’s 1960 urban renewal plan without protections or guarantees for alternative housing. Like housing, rental options in Reno were also severely restricted to those were not White. It is worth noting that the Commission offered evidence to suggest that the banking establishments of Reno also concentrated minority populations in the most urban and impoverished parts of the city; fearful of lending to areas that were perceived as “risky.” Equally as widespread, the report notes the popularity of racist covenants.
Employment
In terms of employment, Reno offered little opportunity for people of color. While the commission noted the efforts of a handful of casinos that were beginning to offer employment to Black folks, examples were few and far between; more often than not the jobs offered to Black folks were menial or unskilled. A representative of the Culinary Union argued to the Commission that culinary establishments in Reno discriminated on the basis of race and exclusively offered employment to members of the White race. It is for these reasons that the Commission found that people of color in Reno were often relegated to the lowest-paying jobs and the lowest social classes. The report notes how many businesses that were trying to desegregate their hiring and customer service had internalized old patterns of discrimination that short-circuited their ability to offer equal employment opportunities or fairly service people of color.
Public Accommodations
Without going into specifics, the report explains that most places in Reno at the time of the open meetings were limited to White people. While a handful of casinos — such as Harold’s Club, the Riverside, and the Nugget welcomed Black patronage — the majority of public accommodations, including restaurants, retail centers, and grocery stores did not welcome Black customers.
Hawthorne, Nevada, 1962
In 1930, when the United States established an Army Depot in Hawthorne, many poor southern Whites and African Americans migrated to Hawthorne for employment, contributing to the racial tension in the area. As the Nevada Advisory Committee noted in their report, Hawthorne represented the “blackest mark against the State of Nevada with regard to human and civil rights.” As they would further explain, the situation for Black folks in Hawthorne was especially disappointing, noting that, while the general public was not opposed to racial integration, powerful forces — such as hotel and casino owners — were preventing Black folks from integrating into Hawthorne.
Housing
Housing in Hawthorne was completely segregated at the time of the report. Black folks who wished to work at the Army depot lived in Babbitt, a racially integrated community two miles outside of Hawthorne. The temporary housing in Babbitt, constructed by the federal government during the 1940s, was meant to house army depot workers. While Babbitt was racially tolerant, the Black population was small. The authors of the report note their confusion as to why — given the proximity to one another — Babbitt was racially tolerant whereas Hawthorne was not.
Employment
The report notes the two most influential economic forces in Hawthorne at the time — the Hawthorne Army Depot and the El Capitan Hotel. While some Black Army depot workers who attended the meeting reported feeling discriminated against at the federal depot, the Committee concluded that no serious discrimination problem was present at the Hawthorne Army Depot. The El Capitan, which supplied 40% of the employment in Hawthorne, was a market leader, whose practices many small businesses in Hawthorne followed. As a result, many small businesses in Hawthorne started to practice the same patterns of discrimination that the El Capitan exercised — claiming they felt they had no choice if they wanted to remain competitive with other local businesses in the area and not be ostracized for allowing Black patrons. These patterns of discrimination — such as not hiring or serving African Americans — were reproduced throughout the town, which is why the report notes that Hawthorne was “at least 90% discriminatory in terms of…employment.” The Advisory Committee struggled to find examples of Black employment in Hawthorne, noting only a handful of Black people who could find employment, almost entirely in service jobs.
Public Accommodations
Public accommodations in Hawthorne enforced Jim Crow policies against people of color in the region. While most business owners endorsed desegregation, they felt they could not allow Black patrons if they wanted to remain competitive with White-only establishments, namely the El Capitan. For these reasons, the Commission finds that 90 percent of public accommodations, such as movie theaters, grocery stores, casinos, and retail stores in Hawthorne were discriminatory against African Americans.