Black Reno in the 1930s

When Langston Hughes visited Reno in 1934, the city had just a few hundred Black residents. The Black community had been growing steadily for six decades, as they established homes and businesses and built enduring social and religious institutions in the face of mounting racial prejudice and discrimination. Historian Alicia Barber will share new research about the Black community of 1930s Reno, made possible by a National Park Service Underrepresented Communities Grant received by the City of Reno in 2024.

Dr. Alicia Barber is a professional historian, author, and recognized authority on the cultural history and built environment of Reno and the state of Nevada. She researched the Northern Nevadan designs of African American architect Paul Revere Williams for the Nevada Museum of Art’s 2022 exhibit, Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams in Nevada. In collaboration with the nonprofit organization Our Story, Inc., she has intensively researched the history of Black Springs, a traditionally African American neighborhood north of Reno founded in the late 1940s. She is the co-founder and editor of the website and smart phone app Reno Historical and the author of Reno’s Big Gamble: Image and Reputation in the Biggest Little City and The Barber Brief, a weekly e-newsletter about urban development in Reno.

Photo courtesy of the Nevada Historical Society

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