Las Vegas Sun

November 27, 2009

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Barbara Greenspun remembers 1960: No leaving until a deal was done

Friday, Sept. 15, 2000 | 10:13 a.m.

Hank Greenspun was never a patient man, especially when it came to righting a wrong.

It was the policy of the Strip hotels to ban minorities as guests. Hank would not tolerate the injustice being foisted on our black community, so it was no surprise to me when he announced he had plans to put an end to the bigotry.

He called representatives of the Strip hotels, the black community, and local public officials to a meeting in his office at the Sun.

Hank shut the door and announced, "Now, no one leaves this office until we have an agreement."

He didn't care how long it took. Nobody was going to leave and they didn't.

An agreement was reached, and minorities were no longer banned and a move that would lead eventually to minority hirings was set in motion.

It was the beginning of a true civil rights movement in Las Vegas.

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