The Great Plains Black History Museum is dedicated to highlight the important historical and heritage aspects of people of African heritage both in the Great Plains of the United States and from all over the country and world. The museum has collections and research that is used for its exhibits and to provide a location that shows pride, education, and praise to African Americans and to the kids going to school in the area. The museum is a non-profit community organization. Not only does it keep the historic aspects of African Americans in the area but it also possesses modern aspects as well.
This statue, to be dedicated September 23, 2016, honors the career of trailblazer Marlin Briscoe. In an era when African American football players were steered towards positions such as running back and wide-receiver, Briscoe defied those who attempted to dissuade him from playing quarterback-a position of leadership that was previously reserved for white players. Briscoe became the first African American quarterback in the modern era of the National Football League. However, despite a record-setting rookie year with Denver, Briscoe would never again play quarterback. His release by the Broncos convinced him that he would need to become a position player, and he reinvented himself as a wide receiver. This statue will be the first to an athlete on the UNO campus when it is dedicated in September, 2016. In addition to this statue, West Omaha Studio is working to create a motion picture about Marlin's life and career.
Constructed in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930s, this campus building is home to the oldest college at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the College of Arts and Sciences. This college and building houses the departments of History, Geography, Anthropology, Chemistry, Biotechnology, Latino/Latin American Studies, Native American Studies, Physics, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Women's Studies, and more.
On September 28, 1919, a mob of several thousand men, women, and children surrounded and stormed the Douglas County Courthouse in order to lynch Will Brown, an African American man who had been accused but not convicted of raping a white woman. The incident was the culmination of a summer filled with economic tension that often led to attacks against African American families who had arrived in the city during World War I. After months of investigation, the only arrests were related to the destruction of the courthouse even though thousands witnessed the slow and tortuous murder of Will Brown at the hands of dozens of the city's white residents.
This site was the childhood home of Malcolm Little, who was born on May 19, 1925, and would later change his name to Malcolm X to symbolize the brutality of slavery that included the loss of the right to name one's own children. Malcolm X would go on to become one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. His parents, Earl and Louise Little lived at this home and it was here that Malcolm came into the world. Earl Little was a Christian minister and was active in the local community. In his autobiography, Malcolm X states that he and his family left the Omaha community for Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1926 because of threats of the Ku Klux Klan.
The “Omaha Two” refers to the controversial case of Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice), two Omaha Black Panther Party leaders who were convicted in 1971 of the murder of white Omaha Police officer, Larry Minard, and sentenced to life in prison under what many saw as questionable, or unjust, circumstances. The case of the Omaha Two has attracted national and international attention over the years, with Angela David and Danny Glover coming to speak on their behalf, and Amnesty International describing the men as prisoners of conscience.
Omaha's DePorres Club, one of the leading civil rights organization in Omaha, maintained an office and headquarters at this location from 1948 to 1950. The organization had two other headquarters and served the community from the late-1940s through to the early-1960s. This Catholic-centered, integrationist organization was created by a group of young people from Creighton University and the nearby North Omaha community as a vehicle to challenge racial discrimination in the city. Over the years, the DePorre's Club led a series of non-violent campaigns and protests against employment and housing discrimination, as well as educational inequality. Notably, the group led a successful protest campaign against the local bus company in the early 1950s, before the more famous Montgomery Bus Boycott. Fr. John Markoe and Denny Holland were key leaders in the group.
The Fair Deal Café from 1953 until its closing in 2003 was a pillar of the African American community through its iconic soul food and service. The more significant contribution this café had to history was that it was a meeting place for all kinds of people within the community from activists to politicians, the cafe was used as a meeting place and discussion table for everyone inside of the community. It was fondly dubbed the "Black City Hall" of Omaha during the civil rights era and became known round the midwest for its ability to be both a restaurant and meeting place.
The Dreamland Ballroom was an important jazz, blues and r&b music venue in the heart of Omaha's African-American community. Located on the second floor of the Jewell Building on 2221 N. 24th Street, the Dreamland ballroom hosted many of the top black musicians during its heyday from the 1930s through the early-1960s.
The Omaha Star is Nebraska's oldest (and only) black weekly newspaper. The Star was established on July 9, 1938, by Mildred D. Brown and her husband. Following the couple's divorce shortly thereafter, Mildred Brown took over ownership and editorial duties at the newspaper, making her one of the very few female newspaper owners and editors in American history. For more than 70 years the Omaha Star has provided "positive news" for Omaha's black community.
St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1865, two years before Nebraska achieved statehood. The first congregation for African Americans in Nebraska,
Named in honor of international jazz legend Preston Love Sr., the Center offers a space for performing arts as well as classrooms and an art gallery. The Center also includes displays that share the history of North Omaha and its place in the larger narrative of American jazz.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
This tour begins at Love's Jazz and Arts Center and concludes at the Great Plains Black History Museum, with stops at several current and former black institutions. The tour also includes the locations of several episodes of violence, including the infamous lynching of Will Brown and Omaha Race Riot that led to hundreds of attacks against African Americans in 1919.
