Marzette Lewis Photograph Collection (PH-00372)

Marzette Lewis was born in 1940 in Quitman, Mississippi. She first visited Las Vegas, Nevada in 1953, and moved to Las Vegas permanently in 1960. Lewis is best known for her educational activism in Nevada. Lewis publicly opposed Clark County School District's lack of attention given to end racial and economic discrimination of students and employees of the district. Lewis coordinated her efforts by creating two organizations, Westside Action Alliance Korps - Uplifting People (W.A.A.K-U.P) and Concerned Citizens. She served as president of both organizations. Lewis was also a member of the Las Vegas branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Board of Directors, a member of the Foster Parents of Southern Nevada Association, and a part of the Attendance Zone Advisory Commission for Clark County (AZAC). Lewis helped create the first magnet elementary school in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the 2012 Nevada state election cycle, ballot question 2 was posed, which aimed to renovate Clark County School District schools through raising property taxes within the state. Nevada voters did not approve the measure.

Source:

The Guinn Center for Policy Priorities. Expanding Financing Options for Nevada’s K-12 Facilities . Last modified February 2015. Accessed March 27, 2020. https://guinncenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Guinn-Center-K-12-Education-Facilities-Policy-FINAL.pdf.