Woodrow Wilson (August 28, 1915 – December 25, 1999) was an American politician and banker who was the first African American to serve in the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year ...

. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, he served from 1966 to 1972 representing part of

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,265,461. Most of the county population resides in the Las Vegas Census County Divisions, which hold 1,771,945 people as of the 2010 Census, across ...

. He later served on the

Clark County Commission The Clark County Commission is the governmental organization that governs and runs Clark County, Nevada, providing services to the unincorporated areas. Its offices are located at the Clark County Government Center in Downtown Las Vegas. The commi ...

Early life and career

Wilson was born in

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, in 1915. He graduated from Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi in 1934 and, after several years as an itinerant laborer in Arizona and Chicago, moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in 1942. There he obtained employment at the

American Potash and Chemical Company American Potash and Chemical Company (sometimes abbreviated as AMPOT) was a large chemical manufacturer in the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. It produced various chemicals for US industry and the US military. It was bought by Kerr ...

, where he worked for thirty-eight years, retiring as a foreman. In 1951 he co-founded Westside Federal Credit Union to provide loans and credit to African Americans and other minorities in Clark County, serving as the credit union's treasurer-manager for 42 years and remaining on its board of directors until his death.

Political career

During the 1950s, WIlson became active in civic affairs and the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

. He served as president and board member of the Las Vegas chapter of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

and went on to chair the state advisory committee for the

United States Commission on Civil Rights The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility for ...

in 1957. Despite being a

in the heavily Democratic House 4th district, Wilson was elected to the

in 1966 and served three terms through 1972. He was the first African American to serve in the

Nevada Legislature The Nevada Legislature is a bicameral body, consisting of the lower house, the Assembly, with 42 members, and the upper house, the Senate, with 21. With a total of 63 seats, the Legislature is the third-smallest bicameral state legislature in ...

. As a member of the Assembly's education, civil defense, veterans affairs, and social welfare committees, he was instrumental in enacting the Nevada Fair Housing Act in 1971, along with bills to mandate fair employment practices and improve vocational education and workers' compensation. He also championed economic development and served as vice chair of the Clark County Economic Opportunity Board. In 1979, he was appointed to the Nevada Equal Rights Commission and went on to serve as chair. In 1980, Wilson was elected to the

, becoming the second Black man to serve on the commission.

Criminal conviction

Wilson resigned from the Clark County Commission in 1984 after his conviction on federal corruption charges stemming from an FBI sting operation called Operation Yobo, which also enshared a second Clark County commissioner and two state senators. Wilson pleaded guilty to accepting a $5,000 bribe from an FBI agent posing as an investor seeking Wilson's commission vote on a

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

change. Wilson received a two-year suspended sentence and three years' probation but spent no time in prison. He remained a respected figure within the Black community, and his supporters contended that the FBI sting amounted to an entrapment scheme. Wilson continued to work for the Westside Federal Credit Union until his retirement in 1993.

Personal life

Wilson had six children and was married to Nora Wilson until her death in 1993. He later married Addie Mae Wilson. He was the first Black

scout leader A Scout leader or Scouter generally refers to the trained adult leader of a Scout unit. The terms used vary from country to country, over time, and with the type of unit. Roles There are many different roles a leader can fulfill depending on t ...

in Las Vegas. He died from diabetes complications at

Sunrise Hospital Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center is a for-profit hospital owned by the Hospital Corporation of America and operated by Sunrise Healthcare System. It is located in the Las Vegas Valley in Winchester, Nevada. History Sunrise was founded in 1958. I ...

Winchester, Nevada Winchester is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States that contains part of the Las Vegas Strip. It is one of a number of CDPs in the unincorporated urbanized area directly south of Las Ve ...

, outside Las Vegas, in 1999 at the age of 84.

References

External links

Woodrow Wilson oral history interview (OH-02001)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Woodrow 1915 births 1999 deaths 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American politicians African-American men in politics African-American state legislators in Nevada American bankers American politicians convicted of federal public corruption crimes Republican Party members of the Nevada Assembly Nevada Republicans Nevada politicians convicted of crimes People from Morton, Mississippi Piney Woods Country Life School Politicians from Las Vegas 20th-century African-American businesspeople American politicians convicted of bribery