Timeline of racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska
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{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
The timeline of racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska lists events in African-American history in Omaha. These included racial violence, but also include many firsts as the black community built its institutions. Omaha has been a major industrial city on the edge of what was a rural, agricultural state. It has attracted a more diverse population than the rest of the state. Its issues were common to other major industrial cities of the early 20th century, as it was a destination for 19th and 20th century European immigrants, and internal white and black migrants from the South in the Great Migration. Many early 20th-century conflicts arose out of labor struggles, postwar social tensions and economic problems, and hiring of later immigrants and black migrants as strikebreakers in the meatpacking and stockyard industries. Massive job losses starting in the 1960s with the restructuring of the railroad, stockyards and meatpacking industries contributed to economic and social problems for workers in the city.
19th century
class="wikitable"
!align="center" colspan="6"|Events reflecting racial tension in 19th century Omaha (in chronological order) |
Date
! Issue ! Event |
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1804
| Slavery | The first recorded instance of a black person in the Omaha area is York, who arrives in Omaha area as a slave of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. |
1854
| Slavery | Nebraska Territory created by Congress with condition that the area stay free of slavery. |
1855
| Slavery | Ongoing debate occurs in the early Territorial Legislature regarding slavery.Bristow, D. (2002) A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tale of 19th Century Omaha. Caxton Press. |
1859
| Slavery | "The bill introduced in Omaha City Council, for the abolition of slavery in this Territory, was called up yesterday, and its further consideration postponed for two weeks. A strong effort will be made among the Republicans to secure its passage; we think, however, it will fail. The farce certainly cannot be enacted if the Democrats do their duty." - From an 1859 Daily Nebraskan newspaper.A Daily Nebraskan newspaper editorial from 1859, as quoted in Bristow, D. (2002) A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tale of 19th Century Omaha. Caxton Press. |
1860
| Slavery | The Omaha-based Nebraskan newspaper quotes the Chicago Times and Herald regarding a slave named "Eliza" who ran away from an Omaha businessman to Chicago and was arrested there under the Fugitive Slave Act. |
1860
| Slavery | Census shows 81 Negroes in Nebraska, 10 of whom were slaves.(1938) [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field(DOCID+@lit(wpa116041210+)) Arthur Goodlett]. American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940, American Memory, Library of Congress |
1865
| Racism | A clause in the original proposed Nebraska State Constitution limited voting rights in the state to "free white males". This kept Nebraska from entering the Union for almost a year. |
1867
| St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church organizes as the first church for African Americans in Nebraska.(2003) [http://www.memoriallibrary.com/NE/Ethnic/Negro/church.htm "The Negroes of Nebraska: The Negro goes to church"] Memorial Library |
1891
| Lynching | A man called Joe Coe, an African-American, is lynched by a mob for allegedly raping a white woman. No one was charged or convicted for his murder. |
1894
| The first African-American fair held in the United States takes place in Omaha in July.Nebraska Writers Project (1938) [http://www.memoriallibrary.com/NE/Ethnic/Negro/ Negroes in Nebraska] Workers Progress Administration. |
1899
| A local black singer named J. A. Smith died while in custody at the Omaha jail. Arrested for "loud talking" on a public street, Smith and an accomplice were moving through the building when he and an officer had an altercation, and he struck out. The officer struck back at Smith, who fell against a bench and later died. A police examiner thought there was something resembling a stiletto wound in the back of his skull. Anton Inda, the officer, was charged with murder.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/08/14/102575273.pdf "Policeman held for murder"], The New York Times. August 14, 1899. Retrieved 4/20/08. |
1900 to 1950
class="wikitable"
!align="center" colspan="6"|Events reflecting racial tension in Omaha from 1900 to 1950 (in chronological order) |
Date
! Issue ! Event |
---|
1905
| More than 800 students, children of European immigrant laborers in South Omaha, protested the presence of Japanese students, the children of strikebreakers. Protesting students locked adults out of their school buildings.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/04/18/101412042.pdf "Revolt over Japanese; South Omaha School Children Want Them Expelled"], The New York Times. April 18, 1905. Retrieved 4/20/08. |
1907
| | Mayor "Cowboy" James Dahlman lassoed the editors of the Law Journal of Tokyo during their diplomatic visit to Omaha after they asked him about cow punching.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/05/12/101031674.pdf "Dahlman lassoes [sic] Japanese; Cowboy mayor of Omaha frightens Japanese"], The New York Times. May 12, 1907. Retrieved 4/20/08. |
1909
| The Greek Town Riot destroyed a successful Greek immigrant community in South Omaha. A mob of 3,000 men burnt the community to the ground after a Greek immigrant shot an ethnic Irish policeman while being taken into custody. Greek residents were forced by the mob to leave town.{{cite web |title=South Omaha mob wars on Greeks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1909/02/22/archives/south-omaha-mob-wars-on-greeks-smashes-stores-and-homes-in-revenge.html?sq=omaha+riot&scp=8&st=p |website=The New York Times |access-date=16 April 2008 |date=21 February 1909}} |
1910
| African Americans build an "Old Colored Folks Home" in North Omaha.(1936) Henry Black: Life Histories from the Folklore Project, WPA Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940; American Memory. U.S. Library of Congress. |
1910
| After a tremendous upset victory by African-American boxer Jack Johnson in Reno, Nevada, mobs of whites roamed throughout Omaha rioting, as they did in cities across the U.S. The mobs wounded several black men in the city and killed one.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/07/05/105082296.pdf "Omaha negro killed"], The New York Times. July 5, 1910. Retrieved 4/20/08. |
1912
| Omaha chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People opens.(n.d.)[http://www.ketv.com/150thbirthday/3400699/detail.html Timeline: Omaha's 150th Birthday.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091526/http://www.ketv.com/150thbirthday/3400699/detail.html |date=2007-09-29 }} KETV.com |
1917
| George Wells Parker founds the Hamitic League of the World in Omaha. |
1918
| As veterans from World War I attempt to return to their civilian jobs, violent strikes break out in the South Omaha meat packing industry when they discover African American and Eastern European immigrants in their former positions. |
1918
| Cyril Briggs becomes editor of the African Blood Brotherhood journal, The Crusader, which is printed and distributed in Omaha. |
1919
| Lynching | African-American Willy Brown is lynched by a mob from South Omaha after being accused of raping a white woman from that neighborhood, during the Omaha race riot of 1919, sparked by white political boss Tom Dennison. There was a background of resentment against blacks among the ethnic and immigrant white working class in South Omaha because blacks were hired as strikebreakers. The reformist mayor Edward Parsons Smith tried to calm the crowd, for which they also attempted to lynch him. He was only saved by a last minute rescue. The sheriff and police could not control the mob, which numbered in the thousands. No perpetrators were brought to trial. US Army troops were stationed in South Omaha to prevent another mob from forming among white immigrants and ethnic Americans, and in North Omaha to protect the black community.[http://www.nebraskastudies.org/ "1919 Riot", Nebraska Studies][https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/series-media/non-series-video/a-street-of-dreams-41084443/ "A Street of Dreams,"] Nebraska Public Media. Air Date, 08/01/1994. Retrieved April 8, 2024.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/10/01/118159427.pdf "General Wood orders the arrest of Omaha's rioters"], The New York Times. October 1, 1919. Retrieved 4/16/08. This large riot shortly followed those of Red Summer, when post-war tensions led to ethnic white attacks against blacks in race riots in numerous cities across the country, increasing fears and tensions in Omaha as well. |
1920s
| Racial segregation becomes normalized as redlining and restrictive covenants keep African Americans in North Omaha. Harry Haywood is said to have become radicalized by the white mob rule that overtook South Omaha in 1919, which drove him to become a leader of the Communist Party of America. |
1920
| The Colored Commercial Club organizes to help blacks secure employment and to encourage business enterprises among African Americans in Omaha. |
1921
| Violent strikes broke out in the South Omaha meatpacking plants in reaction to African-American and Eastern-European workers, as well as attempts by labor to organize the plants.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/12/20/98776396.pdf "Deputy and striker killed at Sioux City; Fight Near Packing Plant Results Fatally—Disorder at Omaha"], The New York Times. December 20, 1921. Retrieved 4/21/08. |
1921
| Earl Little, Malcolm X's father, founds the Omaha chapter of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association. |
1921
| The Ku Klux Klan reports its first Klavern in Nebraska being formed in Omaha.Olson, J.C. and Naugle, R.C. (1997) History of Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press. p 290.Fletcher Sasse, Adam (2023) [https://northomahahistory.com/2023/07/31/a-history-of-the-klu-klux-klan-in-omaha/ "A history of the KKK in Omaha"], NorthOmahaHistory.com. Retrieved May 31, 2024. |
1926
| After being born in Omaha in 1925, Malcolm X's family was forced to move from their home in North Omaha by the Ku Klux Klan's threatening Earl Little and his family's safety. |
1927
| The Omaha Urban League (now the Urban League of Nebraska) was founded."Urban League Formed." Evening World-Herald 29 Nov. 1927: 2. Print. It is the first chapter of the National Urban League in the American West.(2007) [http://www.blackpast.org/?q=timelines/african-american-history-american-west-timeline African American History in the American West: Timeline.] University of Washington. |
1929
| Whitney Young leads the Urban League in Omaha to triple its membership.(2007) [http://www.urbanleagueneb.org/our_history.htm Our History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061124024437/http://www.urbanleagueneb.org/our_history.htm |date=2006-11-24 }} Urban League of Nebraska. |
1930s
| The Knights and Daughters of Tabor, also known as the "Knights of Liberty", was founded in Omaha in this decade as a secret African-American organization whose goal was "nothing less than the destruction of slavery."(n.d.) [http://www.hariam.org/CASTLE/mosesdickson.htm Moses Dickson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927152443/http://www.hariam.org/CASTLE/mosesdickson.htm |date=2007-09-27 }} |
1938
| Mildred Brown founds the Omaha Star with her husband, likely becoming the first woman, and definitely the first African-American woman, to found a newspaper in the U.S. She continued the paper for 50 years on her own, for the rest of her life. It celebrated African-American contributions and successes in Omaha and America, and became the only newspaper for African Americans in Nebraska. Her niece continues to operate the paper since Brown's death. |
1942
| Alfonza W. Davis from Omaha fights in the segregated unit known as the Tuskegee Airmen. He is presumed KIA when his aircraft disappears in 1944. |
1947
| The DePorres Club begins at Creighton University,A Street of Dreams. actively seeking to fight racial discrimination in Omaha's housing and job markets. |
1948
| The DePorres Club stages Omaha's first sit-in at a restaurant in the Douglas County Courthouse in Downtown Omaha with 30 members joining. The restaurant commits to desegregation.Graves, S. (2004) [http://press.creighton.edu/022704/cu125.html Black history strong at Creighton], {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228052533/http://press.creighton.edu/022704/cu125.html |date=2007-02-28 }} The Creightonian Online. 83(18). |
1948
| Mildred Brown invites the DePorres Club to meet at the offices of the Omaha Star after it was kicked off of Creighton's campus.[http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/stories/0801_0400.html Mildred Brown] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606234655/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0800/frameset_reset.html?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nebraskastudies.org%2F0800%2Fstories%2F0801_0400.html |date=2014-06-06 }} Nebraska Studies. |
1950 to 2000
According to several prominent Omaha historians, racial discrimination was a significant issue in Omaha from the 1950s through the 2000s (decade). Analyzing race relations in Omaha during the period they commented, "1968 rivals 1919 as probably the worst year in the history of twentieth-century America from the standpoint of violence and internal tension."Larsen, Cotrell, Dalhstrom and Dalhstrom. (2007) Upstream Metropolis: An urban biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. University of Nebraska Press. p 361. In 1969 three days of rioting swept the Near North Side, and in 1970 a policeman was killed by a suitcase bomb while answering a disturbance call at a house in North Omaha. However, as the 1966 Oscar-nominated documentary A Time for Burning and the 1970s books of Lois Mark Stalvey illustrated, the violence apparently served a purpose as lines of communication were opened between the "West Omaha matron and the black laborer."Larsen, Cotrell, Dalhstrom and Dalhstrom. (2007) p. 361.
class="wikitable"
!align="center" colspan="6"|Events reflecting racial tension in Omaha from 1950 to 2000 (in chronological order) |
Date
! Issue ! Event |
---|
1950s
| "We Don't Serve Any Colored Race." - Signs are posted in café windows throughout the city.Preston Love reported seeing this sign repeatedly in Omaha cafes in the 1950s in Bristow, N.D. (n.d.) [http://www.nebraskalife.com/PrestonLove.asp Swingin' with Preston Love] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216015157/http://www.nebraskalife.com/PrestonLove.asp |date=2007-02-16 }}. Nebraska Life. |
1952-54
| Boycott | The Omaha Bus Boycott was led by the DePorres Club, including Mildred Brown, who extolled readers of the Omaha Star stating "Don’t ride Omaha’s buses or streetcars. If you must ride, protest by using 18 pennies." Focusing on ending the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company's policy of not hiring black drivers, the boycott was successful.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120313184031/http://blog.nebraskahistory.org/?p=2361 "Omaha’s Bus Boycott of 1952-54"]}}, Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 11/30/10. |
1955
| Picketing and other protests are held at Peony Park after the amusement park refuses to allow black athletes to participate in a regional swim meet. A Nebraska Supreme Court trial finds the park guilty of violating the state's desegregation laws and fines it $50.[http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/meiklejohn/meik-1_2/meik-1_2-3.html Civil Liberties Docket]. Vol. I, No. 2. December, 1955. |
1958
| A group of African-American educators in Omaha Public Schools start a professional caucus called Concerned and Caring Educators. |
1958
| Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached at Salem Baptist Church in North Omaha. |
1962
| North Omaha resident Bertha Calloway forms the Negro History Society. |
1963
| The Citizens Civic Committee for Civil Liberties, or 4CL, led by Black ministers, rallies to demand change civil rights for all African Americans in Omaha through picketing, stand-ins during city council meetings, and other efforts.A Street of Dreams. |
1963
| The Omaha Human Rights Commission is created, holding a rally of more than 10,000 people later in the year. However, organizations such as 4CL were suspicious that the Commission, led by Omaha's mayor at the time James Dworak, was a stalling tactic.[http://www.thereader.com/cover.php?subaction=showfull&id=1140741807&archive=&start_from=&ucat=5& Cutting the path to freedom.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929035820/http://www.thereader.com/cover.php?subaction=showfull&id=1140741807&archive=&start_from=&ucat=5& |date=2007-09-29 }} The Reader. |
1963
| Black Association for Nationalism Through Unity (BANTU) was founded in Omaha to rally high school student activists towards action.Howard, A. M. (2006, Sep) "The Omaha Black Panther Party and BANTU: Exploitation or a Relationship of Mutual Convenience", Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, NA, Atlanta, GA. |
1963
| Local youth activists were successful in bringing down the color barrier at Peony Park, the city's main amusement park, after protesting at the admission gates for several weeks.Hord, B. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080128222813/http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10242585 "Nebraska Cattlemen's new director is bullish on north Omaha"], Omaha World Herald. Jan. 28, 2008. Retrieved 3/30/08.Calloway, B.W. and Smith, A.N. (1998) Visions of Freedom on the Great Plains: An Illustrated History of African Americans. Donning Company. |
1964
| Malcolm X speaks in Omaha. |
1966
| National Guard quells two days of rioting in North Omaha in July.(n.d.) [http://www.blackfacts.com/fact.asp?ID=567 National Guard Mobilized in North Omaha] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928080815/http://www.blackfacts.com/fact.asp?ID=567 |date=2007-09-28 }}. Black Facts Online. |
1966
| A Time for Burning, a documentary made featuring North Omaha and its issues, is released. Later that year it is nominated for an Oscar. |
1968
| National Guard quells North Omaha riots in April after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. |
1968
| Robert F. Kennedy visits North Omaha in his quest to become president, speaking in support of Omaha's civil rights activists. |
1969
| Riots erupt in June after James Loder, an Omaha police officer, fatally shoots teenager Vivian Strong in the Logan Fontenelle Housing Project in North Omaha.[http://www.thereader.com/art.php?subaction=showfull&id=1161277926&archive=&start_from=&ucat=11& "Distilled in Black and White"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929035808/http://www.thereader.com/art.php?subaction=showfull&id=1161277926&archive=&start_from=&ucat=11& |date=2007-09-29 }} Omaha Reader. |
1969
| 54 black students staged a sit-in at the office of the University of Nebraska at Omaha president to lobby for African American history courses and student voices at the institution.{{cite web |title=UNO Black Studies Digital Exhibit |url=https://unostudentexperience.omeka.net/exhibits/show/unoblackstudies |website=UNO Student Experience Digital Exhibit |publisher=University of Nebraska at Omaha Libraries |access-date=8 August 2022}}[http://www.thereader.com/culture.php?subaction=showfull&id=1184179555&archive=&start_from=&ucat=16& "Coloring history"], The Reader. Retrieved 4/16/08. |
1970s
| Construction of the North Freeway bisects North Omaha, cutting the African-American community in half and marring its social fabric. |
1970
| Ernie Chambers from North Omaha elected to Nebraska State Legislature. |
1970
| On August 17 an Omaha police officer is killed when an explosive blows up in an abandoned house in North Omaha. August 28 an African-American man named Duane Peak is arrested, and he implicates six others. August 31 David Rice and Ed Poindexter are arrested, despite not having been originally implicated. |
1971
| Rice and Poindexter were convicted of murder in the controversial Rice/Poindexter Case. |
1971
| University of Nebraska-Omaha starts a Department of Black Studies in response to student activism. |
1974
| Appeal for retrial of Rice and Poindexter denied by the Nebraska State Supreme Court. |
1976
| Omaha Public Schools begins court-ordered integrated busing.1954-1979. Omaha World Herald (Nebraska), June 13, 2004 |
1976
| Negro History Society with leadership of Bertha Calloway formally opens the Great Plains Black History Museum in the Webster Telephone Exchange Building to celebrate African-American contributions to the city and region. |
1981
| Arsonists blaze an East Omaha duplex after an African-American family signs a rental agreement there. The arson is unsolved.Burbach, C. "Robbery, fire evoke memories of neighborhood's racist past," Omaha World Herald. February 26, 2007. |
1993
| The Nebraska Parole Board votes unanimously and repeatedly to commute Rice and Poindexter's sentences to time served; however, the Nebraska Board of Pardons refuses to schedule a hearing in the matter. |
1995
| Arsonists tip over and fire an African-American woman's car in East Omaha at the same location as the 1981 arson. Both cases are unsolved. |
1996
| Omaha Public Schools ends court-ordered busing.Omaha World Herald, June 13, 2004 |
1997
| Marvin Ammons, an African-American Gulf War veteran, is shot and killed by an Omaha police officer. A grand jury indicts the officer for manslaughter, then the judgment was thrown out for jury misconduct. A second grand jury acquits the officer of wrongdoing and admonishes the Omaha Police Department for mishandling the case.{{cite web |last1=Omaha World-Herald |title=List: Omaha police officers who left the force after in-custody deaths |url=https://omaha.com/news/crime/list-omaha-police-officers-who-left-the-force-after-in-custody-deaths/article_5552cc23-9e31-512a-bd83-d68181c8b0bf.html |website=omaha.com |access-date=26 April 2022 |language=en |date=16 October 2019}} |
2000s
See also
- History of North Omaha, Nebraska
- Timeline of North Omaha, Nebraska history
- History of Omaha, Nebraska
- Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska
- African Americans in Omaha, Nebraska
- Greeks in Omaha, Nebraska
- Timeline of riots and civil unrest in Omaha, Nebraska
- Racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska
- Ernie Chambers, state senator representing a district in North Omaha; in Nebraska's history, the only African-American to have run for governor and the US Senate and longest-serving state senator.
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://northomahahistory.com/2015/10/26/a-timeline-of-race-and-racism-in-omaha/ "A Timeline of Racism in Omaha"] by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070712224043/http://www.dreamlandomaha.org/html/fast_facts.html Fast Facts about Omaha's African American community]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070405052913/http://www.discovernorthomaha.org/ Discover North Omaha website]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070405102023/http://www.discoverblackomaha.com/ Discover Black Omaha] website
{{Ethnicity in Omaha}}
{{North Omaha}}
Category:North Omaha, Nebraska
Category:Douglas County, Nebraska
Category:African-American history in Omaha, Nebraska
Category:Urban decay in the United States
Category:Racially motivated violence in the United States
Category:South Omaha, Nebraska
Category:Crime in Omaha, Nebraska