The Moulin Rouge was Las Vegas’ first integrated hotel-casino in the 1950s.
Monday, March 23, 2020 | 12:01 p.m.
The Historic Westside Chamber of Commerce announced today that the annual Moulin Rouge Agreement Day panel will be held virtually on Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is the 60th anniversary of the Moulin Rouge Agreement, when local leaders agreed to desegregate Las Vegas casinos. The chamber said it wasn’t possible to host the event live amid the coronavirus outbreak, but decided the event would continue online.
The virtual forum will be hosted by SoulCity.us from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Participants can watch on YouTube, as well as call in to 702-483-3619 and text questions during the panel.
“We had to do something. We couldn’t let the day go by unrecognized,” chamber President Katie Duncan said. “This is a day that we need to recognize the people who live in distressed communities who were already facing challenges and now with the coronavirus on top of it, it seems like we would be making a special attempt to get to these communities first.”
Panel participants include American Slaves Inc., the Universal Peace Federation, the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation and the Historic Westside Chamber of Commerce.
In 1955, during a period of desegregation in Las Vegas, the local sheriff closed the Moulin Rouge Hotel & Casino, the first multiracial resort in the country.
To avoid a protest on the Strip in 1960, local government leaders, black leaders, the NAACP and hotel owners met at the Moulin Rouge to forge the agreement. Hank Greenspun, founder and then-publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, moderated the meeting.
The United Nations has recognized March 25 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The Moulin Rouge is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Moulin Rouge stood in what is now known as the Historic Westside neighborhood, which incorporates parts of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. The chamber “was organized to bring resources to the businesses located within the zone,” according to the chamber.
The Moulin Rouge Agreement panel every year seeks to bring recognition to the area.
“We want to transform this distressed community to a place where everyone is clamoring to come to,” Duncan said. “There’s so much fear and misinformation and bad images about our neighborhood, and we just want to have an opportunity to correct that.”
