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The Omaha Race Riot occurred in Omaha,Nebraska,September 28–29,1919. The race riot resulted in the lynching of Will Brown,a black civilian;the death of two white rioters;the injuries of many Omaha Police Department officers and civilians,including the attempted hanging of Mayor Edward Parsons Smith;and a public rampage by thousands of white rioters who set fire to the Douglas County Courthouse in downtown Omaha. It followed more than 20 race riots that occurred in major industrial cities and certain rural areas of the United States during the Red Summer of 1919.
The civil rights movement in Omaha,Nebraska,has roots that extend back until at least 1912. With a history of racial tension that starts before the founding of the city,Omaha has been the home of numerous overt efforts related to securing civil rights for African Americans since at least the 1870s.
Tom Dennison,known as Pickhandle or Old Grey Wolf,was an American political boss and racketeer in Omaha,Nebraska. A politically savvy,culturally astute gambler,Dennison was in charge of the city's wide crime rings,including prostitution,gambling and bootlegging in the 1920s. Dennison is credited with electing "Cowboy" James Dahlman mayor of Omaha eight times,and when losing an election,inciting the Omaha Race Riot of 1919 in retribution against the candidate who won.
African Americans in Omaha,Nebraska are central to the development and growth of the 43rd largest city in the United States. Black people are first recorded arriving in the area that became the city when York came through in 1804 with the Lewis and Clark expedition and the residence of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable who lived at Fort Lisa for an extended period in 1810. There were also enslaved Black people at the Church of Latter Day Saints Winter Quarters in 1846. The first free Black settler in the city arrived in 1854,the year the city was incorporated.
John Adams Jr. was an American lawyer and Republican politician and a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. He was born in Columbia,South Carolina and lived in Omaha,Nebraska after 1923. He served in the last session of the Nebraska House of Representatives and was the only black member of the Nebraska unicameral's first session in 1937,where he served until 1941. He was named by the Omaha World Herald as one of the Legislature's 16 most able members. While a legislator,he introduced what became the states first public housing law and supported other welfare legislation. He also served as an honorary sergeant at arms at the 1936 Republican National Convention and as a Judge Advocate at Camp Knight in Oakland,California during World War II.
Johnny Owen was an American Democratic politician and a member of the Nebraska House of Representatives representing Omaha. After serving in the legislature,Owen was an advocate for civil rights and was known as the "Negro mayor of Omaha".
Aaron Manasses McMillan was a medical missionary to Angola and a civic leader and legislator in Nebraska. He was elected to the Nebraska House of Representatives in 1928 as a Republican and served one term. He then was invited by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the Black Congregational Church to serve as a medical missionary in Galangue,Portuguese West Africa,where he worked from 1931 to 1948. After returning to Omaha,Nebraska,he was involved in the Omaha Branch of the NAACP,served on the board of the Omaha Housing Authority,and continued to work as a medical doctor.
Harrison J. Pinkett was a journalist and civil rights activist in Washington DC and then a lawyer in Omaha,Nebraska. As a journalist,he was the head of the so-called "Press Bureau" and often used the bureau's collective pen name,"P.S. Twister". In 1907,at the recommendation of friends in the NAACP,he moved to Omaha where he frequently worked in civil rights. He served as a first lieutenant in the 92nd Infantry Division in World War I and frequently defended the rights of black soldiers.
Walter J. Singleton was a journalist and civil servant in Omaha,Nebraska and Washington,D.C. He was an editor of the Omaha Progress and a member of the Afro-American League,a predecessor of the NAACP. In Washington D.C. he worked as a clerk for the Department of War and was active in a number of intellectual and social clubs.
Millard Filmore Singleton was an African-American political leader and civil servant in Omaha Nebraska. He was an officer in the Omaha Colored Republican Club and the Omaha branch of the National Afro-American League. He held posts as Justice of the Peace,storekeeper in the United States Internal Revenue Service,recorder of deeds for the city,and as bailiff of the municipal court.
John Albert Williams was a minister,journalist,and political activist in Omaha,Nebraska. He was born to an escaped slave and spoke from the pulpit and the newspapers on issues of civil rights,equality,and racial harmony. He was a highly respected minister,journalist,and civic leader. He served on many committees and boards among Omaha's black community and in the Omaha and Nebraska Episcopal Church.
Daniel F. Desdunes was a civil rights activist and musician in New Orleans and Omaha,Nebraska.
Thomas P. Mahammitt was a journalist,caterer,civil rights activist,and civic leader from Omaha Nebraska. He was owner and editor for the black weekly,The Enterprise,Omaha's leading black paper at the turn of the 20th century. He was also an active leader in the Masons and the Boy Scouts and was named "Omaha's most distinguished Negro citizen" in 1934.
Ferdinand Lee Barnett was a journalist,civil rights activist,politician,and civil servant from Omaha,Nebraska. He was founder and editor of the newspaper The Progressive,which ran from 1889 to 1906 and served for a time as deputy clerk in the county court. He was elected to the Nebraska State House of Representatives in 1926.
George F. Franklin was a journalist and civic leader in Omaha,Nebraska,and Denver,Colorado. He owned and published two African-American newspapers,The Enterprise in Omaha,and The Denver Star in Denver. He was active in civil rights and was a member of the Nebraska branch of the National Afro-American League.
Lucille Boynton Skaggs Edwards was a journalist in Omaha,Nebraska. In 1906,Edwards published,The Women's Aurora,making her the first black woman to publish a magazine in Nebraska. She also worked as a political organizer and was a clerk in the district court.
The history of African-Americans in Omaha in the 19th Century begins with "York",a slave belonging to William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who came through the area in 1804,before the city existed. African-Americans have lived in the Omaha area since at least 1819,when fur traders lived in the area.
Alphonso Wilson was an African-American activist in Omaha,Nebraska at the turn of the 20th century. Wilson was born in Bedford,Missouri in 1860. In 1880 he moved to Chicago and in 1886 he moved to Omaha. In Omaha he was a partner of the real estate firm Wilson &Bryant with James Bryant. In 1890 he was elected the Chairman of the Bureau of Immigration of the Nebraska branch of the National Afro-American League under president Matthew Ricketts. He also served as treasurer and a founding member of the Omaha Union League club,a social club and lyceum formed in 1895. In 1890,he was a member of a national building,loan,and protective union organized to assist Omaha blacks to buy or build a home. The local board of the group consisted of president George F. Franklin,vice president William Marshall,Secretary and Treasurer Alfred S. Barnett and Attorney James S. Bryant. The Board of Appraisers was Millard F. Singleton,Alphonso Wilson,and Harrison Buckner.
Victor B. Walker was a soldier,political activist,lawyer,civil rights activist,police officer,saloon owner,journalist,and gangster in the Old West,particularly in Omaha,Nebraska,and in Denver,Colorado,at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Before coming to Omaha,he was a Buffalo soldier on the frontier,and when he first arrived in the city,he worked as a police officer. For a short time,he owned the Omaha saloon,The Midway,a center of gambling and criminal activity in the city. As well as a working as defense lawyer,he worked for civil rights and was a member of the Omaha Afro-American League,a civil rights organization in the city.
African Americans in Nebraska or Black Nebraskans are residents of the state of Nebraska who are of African American ancestry. With history in Nebraska from the Lewis and Clark Expedition through the Civil War,emancipation,the Reconstruction era,resurgence of white supremacy with the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow Laws,the Civil Right movement,into current times,African Americans have contributed vastly to the economics,culture,and substance of the state.
References
- 1 2 "1928 Nebraska Blue Book", http://nlcs1.nlc.state.ne.us/statepubsonline/pubs/legisbios/leg1928-1929.pdf Archived 2017-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
- 1 2 "Patterns on the Landscape: Heritage Conservation in North Omaha", Omaha City Planning Department, Omaha,NE: Klopp Printing Company,1984. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ "Negros Nominated". Omaha World Herald. Friday, August 13, 1926. page 2
- ↑ "Play for Benefit of African Methodists",Omaha World-Herald. Tuesday, March 3, 1914. Page: 1
- ↑ "Chorus Gives Cantata 'David, the Shepherd Boy'". Omaha World Herald. Tuesday, August 7, 1917. page 5
- 1 2 "Would Make Omahan Minister to Liberia". Omaha World Herald. Wednesday, August 21, 1929. page 1
- 1 2 3 "Negro Democrats to Hear Singleton". Omaha World Herald. Wednesday, October 30, 1940. page 10
- ↑ "Negro Dentist is Dead at 75" Omaha World Herald. Friday, August 14, 1970. page 40
- ↑ "Killingsworth Head of Roosevelt Post". Omaha World Herald. Sunday, November 30, 1924 page 15
- ↑ "Who's Who in the Primary". Omaha World Herald. Saturday, August 7, 1926. page 4
- ↑ "Democrats Active on the North Side", Omaha World Herald. October 23, 1926, page 23
- ↑ "Jerry Howard Beaten for the Legislature". Omaha World Herald. Wednesday, November 3, 1926. page 2
- ↑ "Baldwin only Loser of County Officers". Omaha World Herald. Wednesday, April 11, 1928. page 11
- ↑ "Legislative Races Receive Final Count" Omaha World Herald. Thursday, August 14, 1930. page 2
- ↑ "Official Ballot Count on State Legislature" Omaha World Herald. Monday, November 28, 1932. page 11
- ↑ "Solve Race Problem, Negro Leader Urges". Omaha World Herald. Monday, March 10, 1930. page 4
- ↑ KKK figure Edward Young Clark visited Omaha in 1921 and claimed 750 KKK members, and the KKK was a useful scapegoat of Dennison although not necessarily significant in Omaha in that era. Dennis N Mihelich, "Boom Bust: Prince Hall Masonry in Nebraska During the 1920s," Nebraska History 79 (1998): 74-84
- ↑ "Protests Segregating Negro Girls at Geneva" Omaha World Herald. Wednesday, March 13, 1929. page 4
- ↑ The accused man, who was black, was found dead that same day, either by suicide or killed by the police. "Sorenson Predicts Early 'Mob Arrests'". Omaha World Herald, July 16, 1929. page: 2
- ↑ "Take Flaming Cross from Singleton Home". Omaha World Herald, April 17, 1930, page 4
- ↑ "Mayor Offers Plan for Peace at Pools". Omaha World Herald. Friday, July 11, 1930. page 2
- ↑ "Prosecution is Urged in Lynching of Gunn". Omaha World Herald. Thursday, January 15, 1931. page 30
- ↑ "Miller Park Protests on Troop Transfer". Omaha World Herald. Saturday, August 22, 1931, page 2
- ↑ "Branch News". The Crisis Jan 1937 Vol. 44, No. 1 ISSN 0011-1422 Published by The Crisis Publishing Company
- ↑ "Branch News". The Crisis Dec 1938 Vol. 45, No. 12 ISSN 0011-1422 Published by The Crisis Publishing Company
- ↑ "Branch News". The Crisis Mar 1940 Vol. 47, No. 3 ISSN 0011-1422 Published by The Crisis Publishing Company
- ↑ "Branch News". The Crisis Dec 1942 Vol. 49, No. 12 ISSN 0011-1422 Published by The Crisis Publishing Company
- ↑ Gregory, Seven. "Black Corona: Race and the Politics of Place in an Urban Community" Princeton University Press, 28 Mar 2011
- ↑ Winning the War for Democracy: The March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946 Front Cover David Lucander University of Illinois Press, 13 Nov 2014
- ↑ "No Headline". The Crisis Apr 1945 Vol. 52, No. 4 ISSN 0011-1422 Published by The Crisis Publishing Company