How ‘Equality Before the Law’ became our state motto
By David L. Bristow, Editor
Did you know that we got our state motto due to a post-Civil War controversy over Black voting rights?
In another post, we looked ...
African Americans
What We Found
Crowdfunded African American Sandhills Settlement Marker Dedication will be April 11, 2016
St. James A.ME. Church at DeWitty, Nebraska. History Nebraska RG2301-1-3
Nebraska’s longest-lasting African American rural settlement will receive a state ...
The historical roots of the George Floyd protests in Nebraska
By David L. Bristow, Editor
(Originally posted June 2, 2020)
Someday a historian will write a Nebraska History article examining the George Floyd protests in ...
Fighting Words in Nebraska Territory
The motto on the Nebraska Territorial Seal, "Popular Sovereignty," was seen as a euphemism for the expansion of slavery.
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The symbols and secret codes of a 1922 KKK membership medallion
This pocket piece in History Nebraska’s collection served as a kind of membership card for admittance to Klan meetings. .It demonstrates how the KKK used symbolism and ...
1976: Omaha’s Court-Ordered Integration (Part One)
The Omaha Public School District was forced to face its racial imbalance and produced an integration plan that would reassign students to new schools and bus routes.
...
1976: Omaha’s Court-Ordered Integration (Part Two)
In an earlier post we looked at how a 1975 court order addressed Omaha Public Schools’ racial imbalance by requiring the reassignment of students to new schools and bus ...
Journey to Freedom – Celia and Eliza Grayson’s escape from Nebraska slavery
Editor's note: Below is the first part of "Journey to Freedom from Nebraska Territory," from the Summer 2022 issue of Nebraska History Magazine. Read the complete ...
From the East Coast to Omaha University in the 1960s
"A real-life Jersey Boys story played out in Omaha six decades ago that revolved around athletics and academics, with a little bit of singing mixed in," writes ...
Robert Ball Anderson’s journey “from slavery to affluence”
Born in slavery, Robert Ball Anderson became a prosperous rancher in Box Butte County, Nebraska.
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