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Ernest William Chambers is an American politician and civil rights activist who represented North Omaha's 11th District in the Nebraska State Legislature from 1971 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2021. He could not run in 2020 due to term limits.
Omaha Public Schools (OPS) is the largest school district in the state of Nebraska,United States. This public school district serves a diverse community of about 52,000 students at over 80 elementary and secondary schools in Omaha. Its district offices are located in the former Tech High at 30th and Cuming Streets.
John Peter Ricketts is an American businessman and politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Nebraska since 2023. A member of the Republican Party,he served as the 40th governor of Nebraska from 2015 to 2023.
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.
The Nebraska Territorial Legislature was held from January 16,1855 until 1865 in Omaha City,Nebraska Territory.
Racial tension in Omaha,Nebraska occurred mostly because of the city's volatile mixture of high numbers of new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and African-American migrants from the Deep South. While racial discrimination existed at several levels,the violent outbreaks were within working classes. Irish Americans,the largest and earliest immigrant group in the 19th century,established the first neighborhoods in South Omaha. All were attracted by new industrial jobs and most were from rural areas. There was competition among ethnic Irish,newer European immigrants,and African-American migrants from the South,for industrial jobs and housing. They all had difficulty adjusting to industrial demands,which were unmitigated by organized labor in the early years. Some of the early labor organizing resulted in increasing tensions between groups,as later arrivals to the city were used as strikebreakers. In Omaha as in other major cities,racial tension has erupted at times of social and economic strife,often taking the form of mob violence as different groups tried to assert power. Much of the early violence came out of labor struggles in early 20th century industries:between working class ethnic whites and immigrants,and blacks of the Great Migration. Meatpacking companies had used the latter for strikebreakers in 1917 as workers were trying to organize. As veterans returned from World War I,both groups competed for jobs. By the late 1930s,however,interracial teams worked together to organize the meatpacking industry under the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA). Unlike the AFL and some other industrial unions in the CIO,UPWA was progressive. It used its power to help end segregation in restaurants and stores in Omaha,and supported the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Women labor organizers such as Tillie Olsen and Rowena Moore were active in the meatpacking industry in the 1930s and 1940s,respectively.
African Americans in Omaha,Nebraska are central to the development and growth of the 43rd largest city in the United States. The first free black settler in the city arrived in 1854,the year the city was incorporated. In 1894 black residents of Omaha organized the first fair in the United States for African-American exhibitors and attendees. The 2000 US Census recorded 51,910 African Americans as living in Omaha. In the 19th century,the growing city of Omaha attracted ambitious people making new lives,such as Dr. Matthew Ricketts and Silas Robbins. Dr. Ricketts was the first African American to graduate from a Nebraska college or university. Silas Robbins was the first African American to be admitted to the bar in Nebraska. In 1892 Dr. Ricketts was also the first African American to be elected to the Nebraska State Legislature. Ernie Chambers,an African-American barber from North Omaha's 11th District,became the longest serving state senator in Nebraska history in 2005 after serving in the unicameral for more than 35 years.
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.
John Adams Sr. was an American minister,lawyer,and politician and a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. He was born in Atlanta,Georgia,was a lawyer and minister in South Carolina,Washington state,and Colorado before settling in Omaha,Nebraska. While in South Carolina he took a civil rights case to the U.S. Supreme Court where he lost. He was the only black member of the Nebraska unicameral for much of his tenure from 1949–1962. He was an ordained minister and at the time of his death was presiding elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). As a legislator,he was an outspoken champion of civil rights and fought for fair employment practices and pensions for retired teachers.
John Andrew Singleton was a civil rights activist,dentist,and member of the Nebraska House of Representatives. He served as president of the Omaha,Nebraska and then the Jamaica,New York branches of the NAACP. He was an outspoken activist and received the nickname "the militant dentist" while living in Jamaica,New York.
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.
Millard Filmore Singleton was an early black 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.
Mabel Edna Gillespie was a farmer,teacher,journalist,and politician in Nebraska. In 1925,she was the first woman to be elected as a Nebraska state legislator when she served the first of her six terms. She was the first female reporter in Nebraska to work the general news beat,working for the Omaha Bee from 1916 to 1919. She had three failed campaigns for congress and served on the platform committee at the Democratic National Convention in 1940.
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.
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.
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.
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 3 4 5 "1934 Nebraska Blue Book", http://nlcs1.nlc.state.ne.us/statepubsonline/pubs/legisbios/leg1934-1935.pdf
- 1 2 3 "Johnny Owen Lives"; Omaha World Herald; September 12, 1976; page 57
- ↑ "Colored Players Sign"; Omaha World Herald; March 23, 1928; page 21
- ↑ No Headline; Omaha World Herald; April 6, 1929; page 12
- ↑ "Good Amateurs Sign Contracts"; Omaha World Herald; April 22, 1932; page 21
- ↑ The promotion of laetrile to treat cancer has been described in the medical literature as a canonical example of quackery, Lerner IJ (February 1984). "The whys of cancer quackery". Cancer 53 (3 Suppl): 815–9
- ↑ "Owen Rites in California"; Omaha World Herald; March 5, 1978; page 40
- ↑ "Who's Who in the Primary"; Omaha World Herald; April 2, 1932; page 6
- ↑ "Negro Democrats Plan Rally"; Omaha World Herald; November 2, 1932; page 4
- ↑ "List Candidates for Change in Dry Law"; Omaha World Herald; November 2, 1932; page 5
- ↑ "Official Ballot Count on State Legislature"; Omaha World Herald; November 29, 1932; page 11
- 1 2 "Whos Who in the Coming Primary Elections"; Omaha World Herald; July 10, 1938; page 38
- ↑ "Official Vote Count is Told"; Omaha World Herald; Wednesday, November 18, 1934; page 2
- ↑ "Negros Form Housing Co-op"; Omaha World Herald; June 23, 1950; page 8
- ↑ "Writ Ask Appointment of Negro to Council"; Omaha World Herald; January 9, 1951; page 6
- ↑ "Near North Side Raid Stirs Row in Council"; Omaha World Herald; February 14, 1956; page 1