In early August, the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall flashed a sign that read, “Welcome R.D. Talley Books,” the first Black-owned bookstore on the Las Vegas Strip. The welcome is a full-circle moment for Black Americans who fought for the right to shop and dine in the city’s most famous area. It’s here on the Strip where Black Americans weren’t even permitted to walk inside the hotels and casinos until 66 years ago.
Black History On The Las Vegas Strip
Picture this: It’s the 1950s in Las Vegas, and Sin City is experiencing explosive growth in the casino industry. State leaders are developing laws to protect the gaming industry, and more than a dozen hotels and casinos have opened since El Rancho Vegas opened the first hotel casino on the Las Vegas Strip in 1941. By 1959, there were at least eight on the Las Vegas Strip, according to the Nevada Resort Association, and tourists are supplying the city with $200 million in profits each year.
While commercial gambling is surpassing mining and agriculture to become Nevada’s largest revenue-producing industry, there’s something else happening behind the glitz and glam of Las Vegas: racial segregation. You didn’t see Black people enjoying the casinos because they were not allowed. And it didn’t matter that Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sammy Davis Jr. headlined at casino stages. They used back door entrances and kitchen entryways to entertain people who didn’t want them closer than an arm’s reach at these venues.
Dr. James B. MacMullian gave city leaders an ultimatum: integrate public accommodations or prepare for massive Civil Rights protests on the Strip. The city took heed and integrated public spaces. Black people were finally allowed to spend their money on gambling, shows, and dining by 1960. Moulin Rouge was the first hotel-casino to integrate its public accommodations, allowing Black patrons to enter.
Still, it took 11 years to see Black Americans working in the casinos. Charles Kellar, recognized as Nevada’s first Black attorney, filed the 1971 consent decree, mandating that 12% of all jobs in the resorts industry would go to Black Americans.
This history is why Talley’s store is as poetic as his published works.
From A Home Store To The Las Vegas Strip
Talley isn’t new to the Las Vegas literary scene. He frequently hosts pop-ups across the city and is well-known as an author. “On The Battlefield” and “A State of the Creative Juices” are just two of his published works, along with children’s books and other projects.
In 2019, Talley opened his home-based publishing company, R.D. Talley Books, in California. He later became an online retailer to support and promote other authors. Then in 2023, he opened his first physical storefront in Las Vegas inside the Fashion Show Shopping Center.
“I created this company as a hub for carrying positive-oriented books and artwork, as well as providing a welcoming and safe environment for all people,” he shares on his website. “I’m a firm believer in ‘practicing what you preach’; therefore, I strive to live by example as a God-fearing man and apply Godly principles in my business practices, as well as my personal lifestyle. This has enabled me to create a safe, welcoming environment and attract people from all different backgrounds and beliefs.”
There’s no better place for bringing people together from different backgrounds than the 4.2-mile stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Las Vegas Strip. The Strip is Vegas’s main attraction and one of the most visited in the world, with an estimated 40 visitors annually from all over the world.
If you find yourself in Vegas, be sure to support R.D. Talley Books. The bookstore is on the Second Floor of the Fashion Show Las Vegas Shopping Center near Dillard’s and Brad’s Toys & Windsor.
