Women Changemakers You May Not Know: Stopping Traffic in Las Vegas

To commemorate Women’s History Month, we are releasing a new video each week in the series “Women Changemakers You May Not Know.”

Activist Ruby Duncan and caregivers from Nevada Welfare Rights Organization led two 1971 marches on the Las Vegas Strip. Public figures, including actor and activist Jane Fonda and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, joined in. These marches exposed the plight of under-resourced Nevadan families to the American public and pushed the state government to change their policies. Duncan and fellow marchers went on to establish the nonprofit group Operation Life. For almost two decades, Operation Life provided childcare, health services, and ran a food cooperative for mothers and their families.  

If you enjoyed these stories, learn earlier stories of women changemakers with Eight Women’s Voting History Stories You May Not Know.  

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