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EspañolAFRICAN AMERICANS IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA
'African Americans' have been in the Omaha, Nebraska-area since the early 1800s, well before the city was founded. The first free black settler in the city arrived in 1854, the year the city was incorporated. Omaha was the site of the first fair specifically for African American exhibitors and attendees in the United States, and was held in 1894.Nebraska Writers Project (n.d. ''est 1938'') Negros in Nebraska ''Workers Progress Administration.''
The Lincoln Motion Picture Company was founded in Omaha in 1915. It was the first film company owned by African Americans. Omaha was the home of Dr. Matthew Ricketts, the first African American to graduate from a Nebraska college or university. Dr. Ricketts was also the first African American to serve in the Nebraska State Legislature.[1] Today Omaha is home to Ernie Chambers, the longest serving state senator in Nebraska, and only the second African American in the Nebraska Legislature.
African Americans made political and economic progress in Omaha for more than thirty years before the first recorded incidence of racial tension. In 1891 George Smith, a railroad worker from Council Bluffs, Iowa was taken from jail and lynched by a mob accusing him of raping a white woman.[2] The lynching of Will Brown during the "Red Summer of 1919" impacted the integration of the African American community in Omaha, particularly with the subsequent introduction of redlining and race restrictive covenants. The following decades saw the emergence of an ongoing civil rights movement, as well as racial tension that continues to this day.
History
Statue of York as he may have looked when in the Omaha-area in 1804. The statue, created by Ed Hamilton, is located in Louisville, Kentucky.
The first recorded instance of a black person in the Omaha area occurred in 1804. "York" was a slave belonging to William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition.(n.d.) ''Multiethnic Guide.'' Greater Omaha Economic Partnership. Nebraska's first free black person was Sally Bayne, who moved to Omaha in 1854.Pipher, M. (2002) "Chapter One," ''The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community.'' Harcourt. In the 1860s, the U.S. Census showed 81 "Negroes" in Nebraska, ten of whom were accounted for as slaves.[3] At that time the majority of the population lived in Omaha and Nebraska City.
St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Near North Side neighborhood was organized in 1867 as the first church for African Americans in Nebraska.[4] The first recorded birth of an African American in Omaha occurred in 1872, when William Leper was born.[5]
Before Omaha's African American community became firmly established in North Omaha, it was located in pockets throughout the city. In the early 1880s Omaha's original "Negro district" was located at Twentieth and Harney Streets.(1936) ''Henry Black: Life Histories from the Folklore Project, WPA Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940; American Memory''. U.S. Library of Congress. The African American community in North Omaha was established late in the 1880s, as blacks from the South came to Omaha seeking economic opportunity and bright futures. Early African American residents of the city may have arrived on the Underground Railroad via a small log cabin outside of Nebraska City built by Allen Mayhew in 1855, and still standing today at the Mayhew Cabin Museum. One report says, "Henry Daniel Smith, born in Maryland in 1835, still living in Omaha in 1913 and working at his trade of broom-maker, was one escaped slave who entered Nebraska via the Underground Railroad."[6]
From 1910 to 1920, the African American population of Omaha doubled from around 5,000 to 10,315. Those 10,000 blacks made up five percent of Omaha's population, and that rate of growth was alarming to Omaha's white population. During the first week of August 1919, the ''Omaha Bee'' newspaper reported that as many as 500 "Negro" workers, mostly from Chicago and East St. Louis, arrived in Omaha to seek employment in the packinghouses. The migration of African Americans to Omaha and the hiring of black workers created a source of friction in the local labor market, as there was at least one major strike among white workers happening in the area at the same time. Economic pressure exacerbated existing racial hostilities.
From the 1920s-50s North Omaha was a destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the American South. An African American Renaissance flourished, part of a larger boom time in the Prohibition era. A late documentary reports, "On the surface the black community appeared quite stable. Its center was a several-block district north of the downtown. There were over a hundred black-owned businesses, and there were a number of black physicians, dentists, and attorneys. Over twenty fraternal organizations and clubs flourished, and the NAACP had a strong chapter. Church life was diverse. Of more than forty denominations, Methodists and Baptists predominated."[7]
Neighborhoods
Early African American neighborhoods in Omaha included: Casey's Row, an early community of housing for African American families, most of whom were employed as porters(1981) ''Project Prospect: A youth investigation of blacks buried at Prospect Cemetery'' Girls Club of Omaha and the Near North Side, where the majority of African Americans have lived in Omaha for almost 100 years.
Professional life
In 1892 Dr. Matthew Ricketts, a physician in North Omaha, became the first African American man elected to the Nebraska State Legislature[8]. According to the Works Progress Administration, the first African American fair ever held in the United States took place in Omaha, July 3-4, 1894. Their study reports: "Only Negro-owned horses were entered in the races, and all exhibits were restricted to articles made or owned by Negroes." African Americans in Omaha also built a "Colored Old Folks Home" in North Omaha in the 1910s, and sustained it for a long period of time.
Poster: ''The Realization of a Negro's Ambition'' (1916)
The first film company controlled by Black filmmakers was founded in Omaha in the summer of 1915."The Lincoln Motion Picture company, a first for Black cinema!" The African American Registry. Retrieved 8/4/07. George and Noble Johnson founded the Lincoln Motion Picture Company to produce films for African American audiences: Noble was a small-time actor; George worked for the post post office. Noble Johnson was president of the company; Clarence A. Brooks, secretary; Dr. James T. Smith, treasurer, and; Dudley A. Brooks was assistant secretary. Lincoln Films quickly built a reputation for making films that showcased African American talent in the full sphere of cinema. In less than a year the company relocated to Los Angeles.(2007) African American History in the American West: Timeline. University of Washington.
Historical African American firefighters
Hose Company #12, and later Hose Company #11, hired the first African American firefighters in the city. One of these two stations was located at 20th and Lake Streets. The first step towards integration in Omaha's Fire Department came in 1940, when an African American firefighter was assigned to the city's Bureau of Fire Prevention and Inspection. By the 1950s the city had two companies of African American firefighters. Omaha's Fire Department was integrated in 1957.[9]
African American culture
Religious institutions
The earliest African American churches in Omaha were St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in 1867; St. Phillip the Deacon Episcopal Church, organized in 1878, and; Zion Baptist, organized in 1884. St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest African American congregation in the city, with roots to the late 1800s.
Other influential churches include Calvin Memorial Presbyterian Church, which opened in 1954 as an integrated congregation, and Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which has operated since the late 1800s and has evolved numerous times as different ethnicities cycled through the neighborhood. The Lizzie Robinson House was home to the first Church of God in Christ congregation in the Nebraska in the 1920s.
Historical social clubs
The African American community in North Omaha was anchored with numerous important social clubs. According to one report from the 1930s, "There are today in Omaha alone some twenty-five clubs and societies with a total membership of over two thousand." These groups included the Pleasant Hour Club [which was estimated to be fifty years old when the publication was made in the late 1930s], Aloha Club, Entre Nous Club, the Beau Brummels Club, the Dames Club, the Jolly Twenty Club, the Trojan Club, and the Quack Club. Important locations included the North Side YWCA. This influential organization, starting in 1920, was located in a house at 2306 N. 22nd StreetRoenfeld, R. (2005) ''From Whence We Came: A Historical View of African Americans in Omaha.'' Dreamland Historical Project. Another important institution in the community was the Old Colored Folks' Home. Organized in 1913, they purchased a building in 1923.
The Royal Circle was an African American social organization patterned after Ak-sar-ben, which did not permit African American members. The Royal Circle held annual cotillions for young African American women through the early 1960s. Formed in 1918, the War Camp Community Service became the local American Legion the following year. The Centralized Commonwealth Civic Club, formed in 1937, promoted community business, while two local Boy Scout troops (Troop 23, Troop 79) were explicitly for African American youth. The community also boasted halls for the Odd Fellows, the Masons, (which had about 550 members in North Omaha in 1936), and the Elks, (with about 250 members in the community in 1936). Perhaps the most elusive organization in North Omaha was the Knights and Daughters of Tabor, also know as the "Knights of Liberty". This was a secret African American organization whose goal was "nothing less than the destruction of slavery."[10]
Historic theaters
The Ritz Theater was opened in the mid 1930s at 2041 North 24th Street, near Patrick Avenue. It was specifically designated an "African-American theater" with seating for 548.[11]. It was closed in the 1950s and has since been demolished.
Historic entertainment venues
From the 1920s through to the early 1960s, North Omaha boasted a vibrant African American entertainment district.
The most important venue was the Dreamland Ballroom, opened in 1923 in the Jewell Building at 24th and Grant Streets. Dreamland hosted some of the greatest jazz, blues, and swing performers, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, and the original Nat King Cole Trio. Whitney Young spoke there as well.[12]
Other venues included: Jim Bell's Harlem, opened in 1935 on Lake Street, west of 24th; McGill's Blue Room, located at 24th and Lake, and; Allen's Showcase Lounge, which was located at 24th and Lake.
During this period, North Omaha and its main artery (24th Street) were the heart of the city's African-American cultural and business community, with a thriving jazz and rhythm & blues scene that attracted top-flight swing, blues and jazz bands from across the country. Due to racial segregation, musicians such as Cab Calloway stayed at Myrtle Washington's at 22nd and Willis, while others stayed at Charlie Trimble's at 22nd and Seward. Early North Omaha bands included Dan Desdunes Band, Simon Harrold's Melody Boys, the Sam Turner Orchestra, the Ted Adams Orchestra, the Omaha Night Owls, Red Perkins and his Original Dixie Ramblers, and the Lloyd Hunter Band who, in 1931, became the first Omaha band to record. A Lloyd Hunter concert poster can be seen on display at the Community Center in nearby Mineola, Iowa.[13]
The intersection of 24th and Lake was the setting of the Big Joe Williams song "Omaha Blues". Omaha-born Wynonie Harris, one of the founders of rock and roll, got his start at the North Omaha clubs, and for a time lived in the now demolished Logan Fontennelle projects at 2213 Charles Street. There were innumerable African American churches, social and civic clubs, formal dances for young people, and many other cultural activities.
Several accounts attribute the decline of the African American cultural scene in North Omaha to the riots of the 1960s and 70s. In the last decade there has been a resurgence in interest in this vibrant period, evidenced by the creation of "institutions" like Love's Jazz & Art Center[14], the Dreamland Project[15], and the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame, and by the creation of new entertainment venues like Slowdown and The Waiting Room Lounge.
Historic musicians
North Omaha's musical heritage birthed several influential African American musicians. Rhythm & Blues singer Wynonie Harris, international Jazz legend Preston Love, and influential guitarist Buddy Miles were all friends while they grew up and played together. They collaborated throughout their lives, and while they were playing with the greatest names in Rock and Roll, Jazz, R&B and Fund. Big Joe Williams and funk band leader Lester Abrams are also from North Omaha.
Historic newspapers
The historic office of the ''Omaha Star''.
African American newspapers in Omaha have included ''The Progress'', the ''Afro-American Sentinel'', the ''Enterprise'', the ''Omaha Monitor'' and the ''Omaha Star''. Founded in 1938, today the ''Omaha Star'' is Nebraska’s only African American newspaper.
Today, African American culture in Omaha is regarded as being anchored, in large part, by The Omaha Star, which was founded by the late Mildred D. Brown in 1938. She is believed to be the first female, certainly the first African American woman, to have founded a newspaper in the nation's history. Today it has a circulation of more than 30,000.[16] [17].
Other cultural institutions
Omaha's African American community celebrates its heritage in numerous ways. The biennial Native Omahans Days is a week-long celebration including picnics, family reunions and a large parade. Also held on a biennial calender is the induction ceremony for the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame, or OBMHoF. Their inductees include African American contributors to rock and roll, swing, jazz and R&B, as well as other cultural contributions.
The ''Omaha Star'', in business since the 1930s, is Nebraska's oldest, a currently only, African American newspaper. The paper features positive news about events throughout the community. The Great Plains Black History Museum uplifts the contributions of African Americans to the growth and development of Omaha and Nebraska as a whole. The annual Omaha Jazz and Blues Festival also promotes African American culture throughout the city.
Racism
1919 lynching victim Will Brown.
North Omaha has a contentious history between whites and African Americans that is predicated on racism. In 1891 an African American George Smith was lynched in North Omaha, allegedly for raping a "white woman". While little is known about Smith, reports of the incident tell of Smith being dragged from his cell, before any court trial, and hung from a street post in downtown Omaha.
The Red Summer of 1919 caused one Omaha newspaper to run a front page declaration that 21 Omaha women reported that they were assaulted from early June to late September 1919. In an example of yellow journalism, twenty of the victims were white and 16 of the assailants were identified as black, while only one of the victims was black. A separate newspaper warned that vigilante committees would be formed if the "respectable colored population could not purge those from the Negro community who were assaulting white girls."
[18]
During the ensuing Omaha Race Riot of 1919 in September, white racists used one of these supposed attacks of a white woman by an African American man to loot, pillage, and otherwise demolish North Omaha's African American community. The white rioters lynched Willy Brown, an accused packinghouse worker, and soldiers from Fort Omaha were placed on guard at 24th and Lake streets in order "to prevent any further murders of black citizens. Orders were issued that any citizen with a gun faced immediate arrest. All blacks were ordered to remain indoors." [19]
Segregation
The legacy of this horrific event was the de facto racial segregation of Omaha neighborhoods.[20] Introduced in the 1920s, the practices of redlining in banks and racially-restrictive housing covenants effectively ended the ability of African Americans to buy, rent, or otherwise live outside of North Omaha.[21] While the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects were segregated through the 1950s, with restrictions against African Americans living there[22], that changed by the 1960s. At that point the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects were used in conjunction with race-restrictive covenants and redlining to keep African Americans isolated to living in North Omaha.[23] Other public housing projects also reflected that segregation, and led the City of Omaha, along with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to radically reconceptualize public housing in the 1990s. The Logan Fontenelle Projects were torn down in 1996, and today public housing is scattered throughout Omaha.[24]
Civil Rights Movement
The lynching of Willy Brown has been credited for radicalizing Omaha's African American community. In the 1920s the Omaha chapter of Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association was founded by Earl Little, a Baptist minister and the father of Malcolm X. Malcolm X was born in Omaha in 1925. Malcolm X's mother reported a 1924 incident where her family was warned to leave Omaha by Ku Klux Klansmen. She was told that her unborn son's father, Earl Little, was "stirring up trouble" through his involvement with Universal Negro Improvement Association was[25] The family moved shortly thereafter.[26]
Another organization, the African Blood Brotherhood, radicalized future Communist party leader Harry Haywood, while the first Urban League in the American West was founded in Omaha in 1928. Whitney Young eventually led the chapter to triple their membership. The National Federation of Colored Women had five chapters in Omaha, and starting in 1920 the Colored Commercial Club organized to help blacks in Omaha secure employment and to encourage business enterprises among African Americans.
The I.W.W. organized African American workers in the South Omaha Stockyards in the 1920s; however, they were setback again after major packinghouse closures in the 1930s.[27]
Visits to Omaha by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1958 and Robert Kennedy in 1968 galvanized the civil rights movement in North Omaha, and leaders continued to struggle against racism. (n.d.) Distilled in Black and White ''Omaha Reader''. However, North Omaha was marred by race-related violence and de facto segregation throughout the 20th century. This was accentuated in a 1970 incident when the Black Panthers were implicated in a police killing in North Omaha. The Rice/Poindexter Case continues to highlight Omaha's contentious and continuous legacy of racism. As a result, to this day a majority of Omaha's African American population is still found in North Omaha.
Race riots
Omaha has had several race riots, particularly in the Near North Side. They started with the "white-on-black" violence of the 1919 riots surrounding the lynching of Willy Brown. From September 28 to September 29 European immigrants and European Americans riot through the community, searching for and celebrating the lynching of Brown. They riots were eventually quelled by the Army troops called in from Fort Omaha.
On July 5, 1966 troops return as the National Guard is called to stop three days of rioting among African Americans in North Omaha.[28] Three more three days of rioting occurred in August of the same year.[29] In 1968 African Americans riot after a protest of George Wallace's presidential campaign visit to Omaha. During the protests police shoot an African American high school student. In 1969 riots erupt again after an Omaha police officer fatally shot teenager Vivian Strong in the back of the head near the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects. The riots began after the judge at the preliminary hearing, Walter Cropper, found the shooter, Officer James Loder, not to be criminally accountable for the shooting. A contemporary report states, "Windows were broken and fires set in dozens of commercial buildings on and off Omaha’s 24th Street strip. The riot leapfrogged east to west, from 23rd to 24th, and south to north, from Clark to Lake."
Notable African Americans from Omaha
| 'Notable African Americans from Omaha' (''Alphabetical'') | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Role | Era | |||
| Lester Abrams | Funk musician | ||||
| Houston Alexander | Extreme fighter, hip hop artist and radio DJ | ||||
| John Beasley | Television and film actor | ||||
| Bob Boozer | Former National Basketball Association player, gold medalist at the 1960 Summer Olympics | ||||
| Frank Brown (politician) | City of Omaha City councilmember | ||||
| Mildred Brown | Founder, ''Omaha Star'' newspaper | ||||
| Willy Brown | Local worker lynched by white mob | ||||
| Ernie Chambers | Longest-serving Nebraska State Senator in history | ||||
| Brenda Council | City of Omaha councilmember, school board member | ||||
| Alfonza W. Davis | Captain in the Tuskegee Airmen, first black military aviator from Omaha to receive his wings from Tuskegee Field | ||||
| Bob Gibson | National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for St. Louis Cardinals | ||||
| Ahman Green | Professional football player | ||||
| Wynonie Harris | Rhythm & Blues singer | ||||
| Harry Haywood | High profile international Communist Party leader | ||||
| Cathy Hughes | Founder and president of Radio One | ||||
| Lloyd Hunter | Big band leader | ||||
| Kenton Keith | Professional football player | ||||
| Preston Love | Jazz player | ||||
| Lois "Lady Mac" McMorris | Guitarist | ||||
| Buddy Miles | Musician | ||||
| Sandra Organ | Longtime Houston Ballet soloist | ||||
| George Wells Parker | Co-founder of the Hamitic League of the World | ||||
| Ron Prince | Head football coach at Kansas State University | ||||
| Dr. Matthew Ricketts | First African American elected to the Nebraska State Legislature in 1892. | ||||
| Joe Rogers | Colorado Lieutenant Governor, 1999-2003 (R) | ||||
| Johnny Rodgers | 1972 Heisman Trophy Winner, College Football Hall of Fame Inductee and voted University of Nebraska's "player of the century" | ||||
| Gale Sayers | Professional football player, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee | ||||
| Wallace Thurman | One of the greatest writers of the Harlem Renaissance | ||||
| Gabrielle Union | Television and film actress | ||||
| Big Joe Williams | Musician | ||||
| Anna Mae Winburn | Big band leader | ||||
| Helen Jones Woods, | Big band trombonist | ||||
| Malcolm X | Civil rights leader | ||||
| Whitney Young | Former head of Omaha Urban League | ||||
See also
★ History of North Omaha, Nebraska
★ Culture in North Omaha, Nebraska
★ People from North Omaha, Nebraska
★ Music in Omaha
★ History of slavery in Nebraska
★ Greeks in Omaha, Nebraska
★ Mexicans in Omaha, Nebraska
References
1. Peattie, E.W. (2005) "Omaha's Black Population: The Negroes of this City: Who are they and where do they live?", ''Impertinences: Selected Writings of Elia Peattie, a Journalist in the Gilded Age''. University of Nebraska Press. p. 58.
2. Bristow, D. (1997) ''A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tale of 19th Century Omaha.'' Caxton Press.
3. (1938) Authur Goodlett. American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940.
4. (2003) The Negroes of Nebraska: The Negro goes to church. Memorial Library.
5. (1895) "Negroes in Omaha," ''Omaha Progress'' February 21, 1895.
6. (2003) The Negroes of Nebraska: Immigration
7. Taylor, Q (n.d.) History 313: The History of African Americans in the West Manual - Chapter 7: The Black Urban West, 1880-1940. University of Washington.
8. (n.d.) Vignette: Matthew Ricketts University of Washington.
9. (n.d.) History of African American Firefighters: Omaha.
10. (n.d.) Moses Dickson
11. (nd) Ritz Theater Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 7/2/07.
12. (n.d.) Dreamland Ballroom City of Omaha.
13. Collins, T. (1994) ''Rock Mr. Blues: The Life & Music of Wynonie Harris.'' Big Nickel Publications.
14. "About Us" Love's Jazz and Art Center. Retrieved 9/1/07.
15. "History of Dreamland Project", Dreamland Project. Retrieved 9/1/07.
16. (n.d.) The Omaha Star website
17. (n.d.) Mildred Brown - Founded the ''Omaha Star'' newspaper in 1938. Nebraska Studies.
18. (n.d.) "African American Migration," NebraskaStudies.Org
19. NebraskaStudies.Org (n.d.) Lesson Plans for Omaha Race Riot of 1919
20. (1994) ''Street of Dreams.'' (VHS) Nebraska Public Television.
21. HistoricOmaha.Com (n.d.) Omaha's Riot in Story and Picture - 1919
22. Flott, A. (nd) "Reading the signs." University of Nebraska at Omaha. Retrieved 6/25/07.
23. (nd) Omaha From the Air: Gallery Number Four. HistoricOmaha.com. Retrieved 6/25/07.
24. Angus, J. (2004) ''Black and Catholic in Omaha: A Case of Double Jeopardy.'' iUniverse. p. 57
25. Malcolm X. (1992 reprint) ''The Autobiography of Malcom X.''
26. Malcom X Timeline
27. Larsen, L. and Cottrell, B.J. (1997) ''The Gate City: A History of Omaha.''
28. (n.d.) National Guard Mobilized in North Omaha. ''Black Facts Online''.
29. (n.d.)History 313: Manual - Chapter 9: Black Omaha: From Non-Violence to Black Power. University of Washington.
External links
★ African American Information NEGenWeb Project.
★ (2003) ''The Negroes of Nebraska: The Negro Comes to Nebraska.'' CFC Productions.
★ (1940) ''The Negroes of Nebraska''. Nebraska Writers' Project. Works Progress Administration.
Additional reading
★ Angus, J. (2004) ''Black and Catholic in Omaha: A Case of Double Jeopardy: The First Fifty Years of St. Benedict the Moor Parish.'' iUniverse, Inc.
★ Bish, James D. (1989) ''The Black Experience in Selected Nebraska Counties, 1854-1920.'' M.A. Thesis, University of Nebraska at Omaha.
★ Mihelich, Dennis. (1979) "World War II and the Transformation of the Omaha Urban League," ''Nebraska History 60''(3) (Fall 1979):401-423.
★ Paz, D.G. (1988) "John Albert Williams and Black Journalism in Omaha, 1895-1929." ''Midwest Review'' 10: 14-32.
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