HISTORIC BLACK VEGAS: Could AI uncover the truth about Hazel Scott’s place in American history?

BY CLAYTEE D. WHITE

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was born in November 1908, three years after Las Vegas was founded. In 1945, he became the first African-American from New York elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He represented Harlem for almost three decades. 

Powell followed his father into the ministry and eventually succeeded him as pastor of the famous Abyssinian Baptist Church. He became known for his fight for civil rights, focusing on rent strikes and employment opportunities for Black Americans. 

But the reason for this article goes deeper. Powell’s second wife was Hazel Scott, an entertainer who performed in Las Vegas. A jazz virtuoso and musical prodigy, Scott was trained by her mother, a classically trained pianist and music teacher. By the age of eight, Scott was studying at the Juilliard School of Music. Once her professional career began, she performed at Carnegie Hall, starred in films, and hosted her own television program, “The Hazel Scott Show.” It is reported to have been the first television show hosted by a Black performer. 

Scott performed during an era when audiences were segregated. She spoke out against discrimination, led an actors’ strike, and took a restaurant to court for refusing to serve her. When she married Powell in 1945, they were a beautiful, powerful, and formidable couple. Scott was earning $75,000 a year at the time — equivalent to more than $1.4 million today. 

During the Red Scare of the 1950s, Scott was blacklisted and worked in Paris for several years. The Red Scare was driven by fears of an internal communist threat. Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin helped fuel those fears, contributing to the destruction of many careers, particularly in Hollywood. Scott was among the entertainers who testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Her television show was canceled the following week. She refused to be silenced. 

In Paris, Scott moved among a community of American expatriates that included James Baldwin, Josephine Baker, numerous jazz musicians, and Quincy Jones, who traveled there in 1957 to study musical theory and composition. (Much later, our own artist, Chase McCurdy, studied art there!) 

Here is the mystery: After hours of research, I still cannot establish where Hazel Scott performed in Las Vegas. Years ago, I found this information and remembered that one of her stage tricks involved playing two pianos simultaneously. After hours of searching last evening, I turned to artificial intelligence for an answer. This time, the response was different. 

According to the information AI provided, Scott performed at the Hotel Last Frontier in the early 1950s. The account went on to state that, in a 1952 interview with Jet magazine, Scott recalled being allowed to swim in the hotel’s pool, only to have management close it immediately for re-chlorination. 

Do you believe that? Why does that statement sound suspiciously convenient? And, perhaps most importantly, can we trust AI as a source for our history?