Stories From the Silver State: Lubertha Johnson

Lubertha Johnson (1906-1989) was a prominent civil rights leader in Southern Nevada from the 1940s to 1960s. She started her career in Las Vegas as the Recreational Director of the Carver Park Housing Project, a federally funded program that provided housing for the Black workers at the Basic Magnesium Incorporated (BMI) plant. In 1945, she became Southern Nevada’s first Black nurse and cared for her community for 17 years at Southern Nevada Hospital. That same year, she became President of the NAACP Las Vegas chapter and advocated for the expansion of employment opportunities for Black people in education and health care fields.

Ms. Johnson also founded Operation Independence, a non-profit that fought poverty through education, job training, and programs like Head Start. She served as Director of the organization for 21 years, retiring at age 81. Throughout her life, Ms. Johnson consistently dedicated herself to improving the health, education, and equality of the people in her community, leaving a lasting impact on the state of Nevada.

To learn more about Lubertha Johnson's life, read her oral history “Lubertha Johnson: Civil Rights Efforts in Las Vegas, 1940s-1960s” on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives portal. This interview was conducted by Jamie Coughtry as part of the University of Nevada, Reno Oral History Program. Ms. Johnson details her youth in Mississippi, the move to Nevada, and discusses civil rights and discrimination between 1940 and 1970.

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The Stories From the Silver State exhibit is open to the public Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Nevada State Archives. 

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Funding provided by the National Historical Publications & Records Commission.