Gwen Walker, owner of the Walker African American Museum and Research Center, Nevada’s first African American history museum, wants the city to help reopen her museum instead of going through with plans to build another one.
After the city of Las Vegas announced plans for an African American museum in the Historic Westside years ago, the news left Walker in utter shock. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the proposed museum is part of the Historic Urban Neighborhood Design Redevelopment Plan, which commenced in 2016 in collaboration with the UNLV Downtown Design Center. Walker, who was forced to close her museum down in 2017 due to structural issues, break-ins, and her mother’s diagnosis with dementia, said Cedric Crear, former council member for Ward 5, never communicated with her about the city’s plans to establish a new museum in the Historic Westside.
The Walker African American Museum and Research Center was located in a 1,000-square-foot home at 705 W. Van Buren Ave. The 68-year-old woman filled the museum with Black history memorabilia she had collected since she was 13.
“I probably have the largest collection of Black history memorabilia for Black people here in Nevada,” she said. The collection includes artifacts, books, business cards, flyers, dolls, figurines, clothes, magazines and newspaper articles on notable Black legislators and change-makers which date back to the 1800s.”
She opened the museum in 1991 to promote the history of African Americans locally, nationally, and internationally.
However, the museum owner has hit a roadblock after over 50 years of preserving Black history. She doesn’t understand why, after multiple conversations with Crear about a reopening for her museum, the city is moving forward with plans to construct a new one.
“I’ve been here doing the work. My mother and I, we’ve been in our community,” said Walker, who currently holds over 50,000 artifacts in her Westside home. “Why not join with us and help make us world-class?”
An original 2018 document for the Hundred Plan included Walker’s blueprints from KME Architects and plans to design and construct the Walker African American Museum. Her developed plans proposed a 10,000-square-foot space, but she needs money to fulfill the vision, which includes purchasing two surrounding parcels owned by the city and three private-owned parcels. Friends, students and community members have extended assistance to Walker.
In 2021, the City Council approved a $45,000 grant for Walker to use toward the museum. However, she denied the offer due to a last-minute repayment clause added by the city attorney.
A proposal request for a master plan for the city’s African American community was approved by the city council in 2022 following a formal report in 2023. Plans included over an acre of land for a $60 million to $90 million museum campus. The new Hundred Plan in Action, which was approved by the city in 2024, excluded Walker’s museum. The city said in a new statement that as it continues to “explore a potential African American Museum,” council members are hopeful that Walker “will want to be part of these future plans.”
Walker plans to reopen her establishment within the next six months. The city still has not determined a location for its new African American museum, but it plans to launch a case study exhibit at Civic Plaza in February 2026.
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