This originally aired on March 14, 2012.
Orphaned by age 4, a school dropout by the ninth grade, and a cotton-picker in rural Louisiana, Ruby Duncan moved to Las Vegas for a better life. Instead, she found her aunt living with other poor African Americans in a cardboard shack in the desert.
But when Nevada cut welfare aid by 75%, and left her a single mother with six kids in 1971, Duncan decided to take action.
She rallied local mothers to demonstrate and march on the Las Vegas Strip, and became one of the city's most vocal activists for women's and children's rights.
Duncan joined State of Nevada's host at the time, Dave Becker, to talk about her longtime activism, and why her hardscrabble beginnings helped shape the woman she is today.
Guest: Ruby Duncan, activist