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Women of Clark County
Bernice Moten
1934 - 2000
Bernice Moten had a distinguished career in education within Clark County schools and made history as the first Black person elected to the Clark County School Board. Originally from Georgia, Moten moved to Las Vegas at the age of 24 and began teaching at Madison Elementary School, where restrictions at the time mandated that Black educators had to teach at predominantly Black schools.
Moten taught in the Clark County schools from 1958 to 1972, during which she taught social sciences. In 1970, she was appointed as an equal education consultant to the state Department of Education. She began her term on the Clark County School Board in 1972, having campaigned for more schools in the Black community, more opportunities for teachers to improve their skills, and lower teacher-student ratios. Moten played a significant role during her term, notably opposing the school desegregation plan that included bussing students, expressing concerns about its impact on students’ sense of community in West Las Vegas. She resigned five months before her term ended in 1976 to pursue further education at the University of Pittsburgh under a Carnegie Foundation grant.
Moten returned to Nevada and continued her public service as an administrative assistant to Governor Richard Bryan. She also actively participated in organizations such as the NAACP, League of Women Voters, PTA, and Frontier Girl Scouts.
Pictured: Bernice Moten, 1965. Clinton Wright. Clinton Wright Photographs. UNLV University Libraries Special Collections & Archives.
Sources
- Koch, Ed. “Moten, First Black Member of School Board, Dies at 66.” Las Vegas Sun, April 20, 2000. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2000/apr/20/moten-first-black-member-of-school-board-dies-at-6/.
- Carpenter, Jami, and Denise Gerdes, eds. Unforgettable Nevada Women: One Hundred Biographical Profiles of Nevada Women in History. Las Vegas: Southern Nevada Women’s History Project, 2020.
For questions or comments, please reach out to the Clark County Museum at ccmuseum@clarkcountynv.gov.