Classroom

<p>The church building was designed by Clarence Wesley “Cap” Wigington, one of 59 Black architects during this time. With the leadership of Rev. W. T. Osborne, the first African American minister assigned to work in Nebraska, the church prospered for five years. Membership grew from the years 1912-1917 to 390, which encouraged the construction and relocation of the church. The church moved from 24th Street to its present location shortly after this time.&nbsp;</p>

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St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1865, two years before Nebraska achieved statehood.  The first congregation for African Americans in Nebraska, 

St. John A.M.E. Church 

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This tour centers on landmarks in North Omaha such as Columbia Hall which has served as the home of Black organizations for over a century. The tour includes institutions and sites related to civil rights and journalism, Love's Jazz and Arts Center, several historic churches, landmark buildings, and the Great Plains Black History Museum. This tour offers a short walk through North Omaha, but Clio includes several additional landmarks related to African American history throughout the city.

<p>Jack H. Broomfield, an African American, came to Omaha in 1887 after losing his leg in a train wreck, working as a Pullman porter. He worked in various jobs before opening a saloon and eventually becoming an integral part of the Omaha "political machine." Tom Dennison, although never working as an elected official, served as Omaha's political machine "boss" from 1900 to 1933. Dennison, a professional gambler, controlled Omaha politics, backing Omaha Mayor "Cowboy" Jim Dahlman (and Dennison supporter) for nearly twenty-five years. Dennison provided gifts, bribes, jobs, and numerous other items in order to garner votes. In particular, he handpicked precinct lieutenants who delivered the votes of their community during elections. Broomfield was one of those lieutenants; he secured the votes of the Black community for Dahlman. </p><p>In 1913, on Easter Sunday (March 23), a devastating tornado tore through Omaha (notably the African American neighborhoods of North Omaha). The tornado damaged more than 1,800 homes, killed 140 people, and injured another 350. Near the site of the greatest devastation from the storm, 25th and Lake, the Broomfield Rowhouse was built later that same year, owned first by Broomfield and designed by lauded African American architect Clarence Wesley Wigington. </p><p>Wigington was born on April 21, 1883, in Lawrence, Kansas, but moved to Omaha at five months old. Although Wigington did not begin school until the age of ten, he condensed eight years of classwork into five, and he attended an evening art school from 1900 to 1904. Two of his elementary school teachers believed in him and paid half of his art school tuition. He had won three first-place certificates at the 1899 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha at the age of fifteen. Three years later, Wigington took a job as a draftsman for Omaha's nationally renowned architect, Thomas R. Kimball. He worked for Kimball for six years before opening his own office. Wigington was one of only fifty-nine black architects, artists, and draftsmen listed in the 1910 federal census. Wigington's most prolific work in Omaha occurred between 1912 and 1914, during which period he designed nine houses for some of the leaders of the African-American community. Among these commissions, he designed a bungalow for Dr. Leonard E. Britt, one of the organizers of the Omaha chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was also during this 1912-1914 period that Wingingon's Broomfield Rowhouses arose. </p><p>A rowhouse differs from a duplex or a double house in that it is more commercial in appearance, having a flat roof and a simple design that allows for additional rowhouses to be added to the building at a later date. Construction of Broomfield Rowhouses finished in 1913, but Wigington created the designs four years earlier as part of a competition for <em>Good Housekeeping </em>magazine. The magazine awarded the design first prize for the best two-family dwelling. </p><p>In 1914, Wigington and his family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. However, despite scoring the highest grade among seven candidates on a civil service exam, he did not get hired to work in the City Architect's Office. Instead, he took a job as a temporary draftsman, a position that became permanent in 1915. Finally, by the winter of 1915, Wigington's patience paid off as he became the country's first African American municipal architect. As a staff member for the City Architect's Office in St. Paul, Wigington designed numerous public buildings; three are listed among the National Register of Historic Places. Moreover, during the Great Depression (aided by New Deal funds), he drew acclaim for designing ice palaces and ice fortresses for various parks around St. Paul. In 1942, the city promoted him to "architectural designer," a position created specifically for Wigington, but a lack of funding during World War II prevented him from ever designing a major public building again.</p>

<p>The Broomfield Rowhouse is located in North Omaha, a community that has been the center of Omaha's African-American community since the early 20th century. The historic rowhouse was constructed in the aftermath of the devastating 1913 Easter Sunday Tornado that tore through North Omaha. Clarence W. Wigington, a lauded African American architect from Omaha, designed the rowhouse, and the building won first prize from Good Housekeeping magazine for the best two-family dwelling. The name comes from the building's first owner, Jack Broomfield, an African American who played a significant role within the Democratic political machine controlled by "Boss" Tom Dennison.</p>

Broomfield Rowhouse

<p>Columbia Hall opened as a social hall for North Omaha's African American community, and in the era of segregation, everything from social gatherings to political rallies took place in this building. Columbia Hall was also home to the Omaha Colored Commercial Club from 1920 to 1928. Harrison Pinkett, the first credentialed African-American lawyer to practice in Nebraska, moved to Omaha from Washington, D.C., and founded the Commercial Club. In addition to his work as a lawyer, he wrote for Black newspapers, actively supported the enforcement of laws on drug sales, and served as a first lieutenant in the 92nd Infantry Division during World War I. Pinkett's organization served as a business referral and employment agency, while the community building hosted a range of events that served Omaha's African American residents. </p><p>The Hall and Colored Commercial Club was constructed under the backdrop of racial violence with the lynching of Will Brown and the ensuing racial violence against African Americans in the summer of 1919. Omaha grew increasingly segregated during the Great Migration and by 1920, African American businesspersons felt it necessary to organize and promote their businesses across Omaha and the Midwest. The Commercial Club kept local money within the local community by making it clear to the local African American community which companies were Black-owned and which hired African American labor. The Commercial Club also lent books and provided social work to the community. </p><p>In 1928, the American Legion bought the building to convert it into a Black community center. Omaha's Black Elks, who organized in 1905, started meeting in the building in 1929. Ten years later, in 1939, Lodge 92 hosted a major regional Elks conference in Omaha that drew more than 6,000 Elks from seven Midwestern states. In 1942, The Iroquois Lodge No. 92 bought Columbia Hall. In addition to operating club rooms, a barber shop, and lodge rooms, the nearly 300 members provided services and support to the Black community. They also supported an officially recognized women's auxiliary unit called the Daughters of the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World. </p><p>Omaha's Prince Hall Masons also held events at the building during this era since it was bigger than their original lodge at North 22nd and Cuming Street. During the 1920s, a Civil Liberties department and an education department developed and met in the hall. From the time they organized after WWI, the segregated Teddy Roosevelt American Legion Post #30 met at Columbia Hall for a decade before getting their own facility. Some other groups that met there included the Douglas County Colored Republican League and the Douglas County Colored Women's Republican Club. During the 1920s, every African American political candidate in Omaha held events at Columbia Hall. As well, White candidates running for major political offices routinely spoke at the hall to appeal to Black voters. Teddy Roosevelt spoke there in 1928, and many years later (1964), Omaha native Malcolm X spoke at Elks Hall. </p><p>All told, locals referred to Columbia Hall as a community center for decades. The organizations in the hall also supported, organized, and hosted Christmas parties, dances, weddings, parades, and countless social events. The "colored boxing" circuit, which traveled the Midwest, held bouts in the hall. Meanwhile, the establishment of Omaha's Colored Amateur Baseball League took place there, too. In short, the famous hall born out of segregation served as the center of the Black Community for numerous years. </p>

<p>Elks Hall (first known as Columbia Hall) was constructed in 1919 and operated as a social hall for North Omaha's African American community throughout the 20th century. The building served as a home for African American clubs and political rallies and was also the headquarters of the Omaha Colored Commercial Club. Black World War I veterans also met here under the auspices of the American Legion. In later years, the building became the home of the Black Elks organization, the Prince Hall Masons, and many other organizations while also hosting a variety of events. During an era of limited opportunities, the Commercial Club helped hundreds, if not thousands of African Americans find jobs throughout Omaha in the 1920s. The Commercial Club and successor organizations also promoted Black-owned businesses and supported social work services to members of the Black community. The building was unique in its size and scope, and white city leaders of Omaha only supported its construction of the, part of the city's desire to maintain and enforce Jim Crow practices. The historic building saw speeches of both white and African American leaders, including Teddy Roosevelt in 1928, Omaha native Malcolm X in 1964.</p>

Elks Hall and Omaha Colored Commercial Club

<p>African American soldiers returning home from World War II desired to enjoy the same freedoms afforded their White contemporaries, which included buying affordable homes. But, segregation prevented African Americans from access to Omaha's banks. Moreover, the Black business leaders wanted to create a financial institution to help keep Black wealth, savings, and investments within the Black community. So, a group of African American professional men, led by North Omaha attorney Charles F. Davis (1902-1959) and Dr. Craig Morris, M.D. (1893-1977), established Carver Savings &amp; Loan, the first-ever Black-owned bank in Nebraska. (Dr. Morris also helped plan for the Provident Hospital, a Black-owned healthcare facility intended to serve African Americans in the community being developed at the same time as the Savings &amp; Loan.) Davis also stated publicly that investment in the North Omaha area had significantly decreased since the town underwent a transition from an affluent white suburb to a predominantly working-class, African American town. He noted that the only housing built in the area since World War I was the Logan Fontenelle Public Housing Projects rather than new homes. Thus, the financial leaders recognized a need for African American funding to foster Black home ownership and investment in Omaha’s Black community, giving them another reason to create Carver Bank.</p><p>Throughout the 1940s and '50s, the Association involved with establishing Carver S&amp;L worked with groups to improve housing for African Americans in Omaha, including the Urban League of Omaha and the Federal Housing Authority. In the 1950s, Whitney Young, then head of Omaha’s Urban League, worked with the Carver group to develop a special lending program for potential African-American home buyers. Designed to fight the city’s segregationist redlining practices, the program sought to counter the trend of Omaha’s banks restricting loans in neighborhoods they deemed less successful, which were usually Black neighborhoods. The program allowed Omaha’s African American families to buy more homes within three years of its creation than in the preceding decade through other banks in the city.</p><p>Still, Carver S&amp;L struggled to grow. By the early 1950s, Davis moved his and his daughter's law practice into the building. His work with the Carver group and other civil rights efforts earned him awards such as the achievement award from the Urban League in 1959. Sadly, Charles Davis also died in 1959. Six years later, in 1965, the Carver closed permanently. Though it only operated for twenty years, The Carver S&amp;L Association proved hugely beneficial to Omaha’s Black community, providing home loans, savings programs, and investment opportunities previously unavailable to Omaha's African Americans.</p><p>The building largely sat vacant for much of the late twentieth century until 2012, when the Bemis Center for Contemporary purchased and subsequently renovated the building. Theaster Gates, a nationally-known African American artist, helped design and launch the space as an art gallery. The art center operated for several years, hosting events and art shows, and then, in 2016, the North Omaha Arts Alliance bought the building from Bemis. </p><p>In 2020, the new Carver Legacy Center occupied the historic building, hosting such businesses as a new banking institution, Revive Omaha Magazine and Revive Black Business Network, and retail spaces. The bank seeks to emulate the impact on Black residents provided by the Carter S&amp;L, stating, " the Carver Legacy Center partners with [American National Bank] to provide banking services and relies on those who open 'Carver accounts' to help fund the future of the North Omaha community."</p>

<p>The Carver Savings &amp; Loan Association (Carver S&amp;L), named for acclaimed scientist George Washington Carver, opened in 1944 as Nebraska's first African-American bank. Located on Lake Street next to the historic North 24th Street corridor, it ostensibly served as the heart of Omaha's African-American business district until the 1960s. Today, operating as the Carver Legacy Center, the building still serves as a financial center focused on supporting the growth of Black-owned businesses in North Omaha. </p>

Carver Savings and Loan Association (Carver Legacy Center)

Like Kansas City's Tenderloin District, Omaha's Near North Side was home to a vibrant jazz scene from the 1920s to the 1960s. The Dreamland Ballroom attracted the top performers from across&nbsp;the country-legends like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, and Count Basie all played here. (The Dreamland was located in the Jewell Building at 24th and Grant).&nbsp;North Oahaha had its own calibers of national prominence. The Dan Desdunes Band.<br><p>The Center was born of a revitalization effort in North Omaha, Nebraska in June of 2005 when a historic building was renovated and became the community’s first art museum and gallery with performance arts capability. The mission of Love’s Jazz and Art Center is to preserve, promote, and present African American Art and Jazz, and the Center certainly has a rich history to draw from.&nbsp;</p><p>From the 1920’s through the 1960’s a thriving jazz and blues scene that attracted the best swing, blues, and jazz bands from across the country was located in the heart of city’s African American community. The corner clubs on 24th and Lake attracted legendary musicians like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, and the original Nat King Cole trio. But the Omaha scene didn’t just attract top-flight jazz and blues musicians; the area was a hotbed for incredibly talented local musicians. Some, like Preston Love and Anna Mae Winburn would become internationally acclaimed themselves. Love, who worked with such legends as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, The Four Tops, The Temptations, and Marvin Gaye, noted that North Omaha used to be a hub for Black jazz musicians. He called it, “the triple-A league, where national bands would go to find a player to fill out their ensemble.”&nbsp;</p>

Named in honor of international jazz legend Preston Love Sr., the Center offers a space for performing arts as well as classrooms and an art gallery. The Center also includes displays that share the history of North Omaha and its place in the larger narrative of American jazz.

Love's Jazz and Arts Center

<div><br></div><div>The thirty-three room Webster Telephone Exchange Building structure was built in 1907,&nbsp; but it served many functions through 2001 when it was closed due to a belief the building required renovations. The two most notable residents of the building included its first resident and last residents, Webster Telephone Exchange and the Great Plains Black History Museum, respectively.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The building's initial existence as home to a telephone business marks Omaha's rise from a nineteenth-century Native American region to a launching point for Americans heading on Western Trails or towards gold rushes to finally an evolving urban center funded by numerous investors, especially those with interests in railroads, banks, and cattle. As such, the Omaha's significance grew (as did its population) substantially by the early twentieth century making it necessary for the construction of modern advances, including the telephone.</div><div><br></div><div>The nomination form sent to the National Register of Historic Places details the evolution of Nebraska's (and Omaha, in particular) telephone industry: "One of several exchanges throughout Omaha, the Webster Telephone Exchange was part of the Nebraska Telephone Co. system. Incorporated in 1882, the company had purchased the Omaha Electric Co., the first exchange in the state (1879). The Nebraska Telephone Co. had received from the American Bell Telephone Co. the perpetual right to use the invention of the telephone in the state. After the first decade of existence, telephone use increased rapidly, and the company was successful and the dominant telephone company in the state. Many of the exchange buildings, including the Webster Exchange (1907), were constructed in the 1905- 1915 period of intensive growth partially stimulated by the competition of the independent telephone companies. American Bell Telephone gradually purchased stock in the company until it gained full control in 1912."&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>In 1933, Webster Exchange donated the building the Mid-City Community Center, largely serving the needs of African Americans. Though African Americans enjoyed relative freedom in Omaha since arriving in the 1850s, racial tensions existed-- as it did in many places. In 1928,&nbsp; African Americans created the Omaha chapter of the National Urban League.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>By the early twentieth century, tensions mounted, largely due to labor tensions as African Americans often filled the voids of immigrants who went on strike (although African Americans were paid much less, and often faced difficulty in getting jobs without those opportunities). The tension rose to the point where most African Americans moved to North Omaha, developing a distinctly African American community.&nbsp; Tensions came to a head in 1919 during a well-reported racially-fueled riot erupted, including an incident where some residents lynched an African American.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>After serving numerous functions from 1950-1970s, including as an apartment building, the Great Plains Black Museum (or Black History Museum) took over the space in 1975, opening its doors to the public in February 1976.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>The museum's central mission involved the preservation and enhancement of knowledge about the history and culture of African Americans in the Great Plains. The museum possessed more than 100,000 items, including more than 10,000 rare books, artifacts, documents and letters, magazines, diaries, and many other relics from Mrs. Bertha Calloway's private collection.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Though the building closed in 2001, a new board formed in 2010 to oversee the, hoped, renovation of the building and restoration of the museum. However, in October 2017, the&nbsp;<i>Omaha World-Herald&nbsp;</i>reported that the Museum will instead move to another building.&nbsp; Information on that move can be found here:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.omaha.com/living/great-plains-Black-history-museum-moves-to-larger-space-in/article_4cbc03c4-fab6-5610-80d6-bcbfde770f53.html">http://www.omaha.com/living/great-plains-Black-history-museum-moves-to-larger-space-in/article_4cbc0...</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

This structure, built in 1907,  possesses several distinct histories, most notably as the Webster Telephone Exchange Building (1907 - 1933) and later as the Great Plains Black History Museum (1975 - 2011). The building speaks to many aspects of history that influenced Omaha. Western expansion, urbanization, cultural and racial history, and changes in technology all have a hand in the story of the building found at  2213 Lake Street in North Omaha, Nebraska. 

Webster Telephone Exchange Building & Great Plains Black History Museum

<p>Mid-nineteenth-century firefighters reluctantly went to African American neighborhoods, if at all. Reports throughout the 1880s noted that African American homes burned while the firefighters saved the white home next door. Few African American firefighting units existed until 1887 when the National Council of the Order of American Firemen struck a clause from their organization that banned Black firefighters, which allowed them to join for the first time. State legislator Dr. Matthew Ricketts, Nebraska's first Black legislator, called on the City of Omaha to create an African American fire crew. The city responded to Ricketts' call in 1895 by creating an all-Black hose company (Company 12) dedicated to fighting fires in Black homes; it served the African American community for decades. </p><p>The segregated Company 12 occupied Fire House #5 at South 27th and Jones Street while the white firefighters previously assigned there transferred to new locations. Black firefighters struggled to gain acceptance from white firefighters, the media, and the public. After two months, thirty-three businessmen in the area surrounding the new Black firehouse asked the chief to remove the Black firefighters and replace them with the white firefighters who had worked there before, but the chief declined to acquiesce to their demands. Omaha's Black firefighters remained segregated for sixty-two years, usually dealing with racism, media criticism, under-staffing, poor supplies, and under-financing. </p><p>In 1919, the same year as the Omaha race riots, white flight and real estate redlining resulted in the fire station at North 20th and Lake Streets becoming home to an African American company (and the firehouse at South 27th and Jones returned to acting as a White firehouse again). Racism remained an issue in Omaha as well as nationwide. Indeed, in 1933, the NAACP uncovered a plot in Mississippi where bounties were paid to White men that lynched African American firefighters. Meanwhile, In Omaha, the KKK actively threatened Black residents in North Omaha. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Black firefighters were denied promotions despite passing the necessary exams (as uncovered by the Omaha Star). Thus, the Omaha City Council and the Urban League met to discuss fire department segregation, with much of the dialogue concentrated on the all-Black station at North 20th and Lake Streets. But, it wasn't until 1957 that Jim Crow segregation among stations ceased; some white firefighters volunteered to move into Station 14. </p><p>Though the laws changed, racism among firefighters did not disappear (mirroring society overall). African American firefighters could not eat with or sleep in the same rooms as White firefighters, nor could they conduct fire inspections on White property for several years after the desegregation of the firehouses. But, in 1960, Herbert Davis (1936-1998) became Nebraska's first African American Battalion Chief. William H. "Bill" Johnson joined the Omaha Fire Department the following year in 1961. Nineteen years later, in 1980, Johnson became the second Black firefighter to become Battalion Chief. Also, in 1990, he was the first to be promoted to assistant fire chief and served as acting fire chief before retiring in 1999. </p><p>Firehouse #14 serves as a reminder of the strong racial divisions that existed for decades in Omaha and its effect on the town's firefighting organization. </p>

<p>The establishment of the Omaha Fire Department occurred the same year the Civil War began, in 1860. It took thirty-five years (1895) for Omaha to hire Black firefighters, initially working in a segregated facility known as Fire House #12 at South 27th and Jones. In 1906, The Black Company at #12 moved to a new, still segregated, facility: Fire House #15 at North 30th and Spaulding. Finally, in 1919, the Company moved to the historic #14 Station, which still stands at North 20th and Lake. The firehouse stands as a monument to the racism within the firefighting community and society at large. </p>

Omaha Fire Department Station #14: Home of Omaha's First Black Firefighters

<p>Zion Baptist was the city's largest Black congregation in the early twentieth century, and members played a vital role in Omaha's Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The local chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) met at Zion for decades, starting in the early 1910s. In 1919, shortly before the lynching of Will Brown, William Monroe Trotter, editor of the proactive, pro-Black Boston Guardian, spoke at Zion Baptist Church. After the lynching and subsequent 1919 Omaha race riots, numerous meetings took place at the church with members taking a leading role in the Black community's response to the tragic events of 1919. </p><p>One example of Zion's influence comes from one of its members: Dorothy Eure, Nebraska's first African American paralegal. Eure spent most of her life as an avid civil rights activist and social justice advocate and also acted in early Black gospel films and, with her sons, formed the Afro Academy of Dramatic Arts in North Omaha. As a teen, she organized petitions for the Omaha Public Schools to hire more Black educators. As an adult, she actively participated in Omaha's De Porres Club and its successor, the 4CL. She routinely attended protests and often brought her young sons with her. Additionally, she represented numerous Legal Aid Society clients involved in employment and housing disputes. She successfully exposed the unequal education offered to Black youth, which led to court-ordered busing and school desegregation.</p><p>During the 1950s and 1960s, when protests and calls for social change grew prevalent throughout the nation, Zion Baptist Church took an active role in the city's struggle for Civil Rights, including organizing and participating in protests. Also, Omaha Urban League leader Whitney Young regularly spoke at the church, as did NCAAP's Roy Wilkins. During the early 1960s, Zion's Rev. Rudolph McNair co-founded the Citizens Civic Committee for Civil Liberties or 4CL; they held meetings at the church.</p>

<p>Founded in 1884, Zion Baptist Church is one of Nebraska's oldest churches and became Omaha's largest African American church by 1900. After the Easter tornado of 1913 destroyed the church's first worship facility, the congregation built the now-historic building in 1915. Clarence W. Wigington, Omaha's first African-American Architect, designed the church building. The church has played a pivotal role in each chapter of Omaha's long movement for civil rights from the Great Migration to the protests against segregation in the 1960s.</p>

Zion Baptist Church

<span><p>In the early 20th century, Jim Crow ran rampant throughout the South and had made it's way up North. The idea of separate but equal had seemed like a plausible idea, but as history shows us, there was no equality in the separation of the Black and white facilities and resources.&nbsp;Thanks to these harsh Jim Crow Laws, social institutions were segregated, places such as nightclubs and bars would restrict Blacks from entering white only places. However, these restrictions would not stop the Black community from gathering and enjoying each other's companies. It would be up to the community to form it's own places to socialize. Throughout the country, Black owned nightclubs and bars served as the community's cultural hub. These places are&nbsp;where Black musicians could play and where Black audiences could listen, drink, and dance. Omaha Nebraska was no exception, with few places to call their own, the Dreamland Ballroom quickly became the center of Black culture.</p><p>The Dreamland Ballroom was located in the Jewell Building, a&nbsp;cultural hub built in 1923 by James Jewell Jr. &nbsp;The ballroom was a must stop destination for many of the big jazz musicians of the day. It could hold a twenty piece band ensemble and the dance floor could hold up to two-hundred people. Louis Armstrong, The Count Basie Band, and Duke Ellington are just a few of the musicians that played within the nightclub. With hardly any places allowing Blacks entrance into nightclubs, it was up to the community to form their own entertainment centers, and the Dreamland Ballroom was the place to be. </p><p>The Ballroom was also where some local Black jazz musicians began their careers. Preston Love, a saxophonist, had started off by standing in for the Count Basie Band; He was then offered a permanent position to tour with them. He eventually stopped touring with the band, and started his own, The Preston Love Orchestra, back home in Omaha before leaving to become Motown Record’s bandleader. The Dreamland Ballroom had also served as a USO, or United Service Organization, for African-American soldiers in 1945, they provided services such as live entertainment. It was a soldiers “home away from home” where he could relax and listen to great music.</p><p>The Dreamland Ballroom was open until 1965 and is considered a historical landmark in Omaha. Preston Love. From the first days of the nightclub to it’s last, it served as the premier Black entertainment center for Jazz.</p><div>The Jewell Building was not only home to the Dreamland Ballroom, but also housed the Tuxedo Pool Hall and Barbershop. Both were located on the first floor of the building. The barbershop had been opened by Deadeye Marcus "Mac" McGee in the late 20's, who was a endured Jim Crow in the south and had moved to Omaha during the Great Migration. His barbershop quickly become the spot to get a clean smooth cut and shave for the Black community in Omaha, people would be lined up outside waiting for a haircut. This was also a center for&nbsp;many local activists to&nbsp;gather, such as the former head of the local chapter of the NAACP, John Butler.&nbsp;there to discuss the&nbsp;The Tuxedo Barbershop was one among many thriving Black business and closed in the 1970s.<br><br>Today the North Omaha Economic Development group&nbsp;occupies the Jewell Building.<br><br></div></span>

The Dreamland Ballroom was an important jazz, blues and r&b music venue in the heart of Omaha's African-American community.  Located on the second floor of the Jewell Building on 2221 N. 24th Street, the Dreamland ballroom hosted many of the top Black musicians during its heyday from the 1930s through the early-1960s.

Jewell Building and Dreamland Ballroom

<p>The Great Plains Black History Museum dates back to the mid-1970s and is now located in Omaha's historic Jewell Building. The museum was previously located in a former telephone exchange building and has also offered exhibits in various spaces throughout the city. The museum has collections and research materials centered on the experience and contributions of African Americans in Omaha and surrounding communities. </p>

Great Plains Black History Museum

<p>The
Omaha Star (Nebraska’s only Black weekly newspaper) was established July 9, 1938
by the late Mildred D. Brown. Brown was believed to be the first female,
especially the first African American female, to have started a newspaper in
the United States’ history. She was known for being a strong Black woman, and
would never let men relegate her to a stereotypical female role. When Brown
passed away in 1989, the paper’s ownership passed onto her niece, Dr. Marguerita
Washington.</p>

<p>For more
than 70 years, the Omaha Star has been printing positive news and being a
vigilant champion to help improve the lives of African Americans. The star has
also worked tirelessly throughout the years for equal rights for Blacks. The star
led the charge to open restricted public accommodations to Blacks and also
helped Black teachers in the Omaha public school systems gain equal
participation. Because of the Omaha Star’s record of never missing an edition
and its legendary work for Black equality, the newspaper has won many awards.
The star was inducted into the Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame on
July 9, 1996, has won a Golden Spike Award and is a member of the National
Newspaper Association.</p><p>The
Omaha Star has documented African American lives throughout some of the most
important eras in the United States: the Depression, WWII, the Great Migration,
and the civil rights movement. Located in the heart of Omaha’s Black community,
the star continues to be a symbol of strength, education, and culture. &nbsp;</p><p><sub></sub></p>

The Omaha Star is Nebraska's oldest (and only) Black weekly newspaper.  The Star was established on July 9, 1938, by Mildred D. Brown and her husband.  Following the couple's divorce shortly thereafter, Mildred Brown took over ownership and editorial duties at the newspaper, making her one of the very few female newspaper owners and editors in American history.    For more than 70 years the Omaha Star has provided "positive news" for Omaha's Black community.  

The Omaha Star 

<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There have always been racial
tensions in Omaha, Nebraska ever since the Great Migration, when African
Americans moved out of the south and into the northern cities. Having always
wanted full equality and freedom without any discrimination, Black people have
fought in many ways since slavery. The 1960s is the decade in which the Black
Power movement emerged from the popularly named Civil Rights Movement. One of
the ways they have been and still are fighting back is in the form of peaceful
protests, rebellions, and what many like to call riots. Omaha is one of the
most hyper-segregated cities in the country with neighborhoods cut specifically
for the different racial and ethnic groups. North Omaha is the neighborhood
where the majority of Black minorities reside. In Omaha’s Near North
neighborhood, specifically along North 24th Street, four riots took
place during the 1960s in response to police brutality.</p><p>&nbsp;On 4 July, 1966, along North 24th and Lake Streets, residents from the neighborhood were outside celebrating the holiday
in the blazing heat. Come evening, a couple of police cruisers pulled up with
officers yielding batons, threatening the Black community with incarceration
and violence. The crowd, in response to the officers’ threats, vandalized the
police cruisers. With rages running rampant, Molotov cocktails were thrown into
vacant buildings and storefronts were left broken and destroyed. This riot
lasted a total of three days until the local civil rights organizations
finalized negotiations with the mayor to provide more funding for their community
youth programs.</p>

<p>The second riot of the sixties
ensued on 1 August, 1966 along North 24th and Ohio Streets. After
partaking in a burglary on 25 June, Eugene Nesbitt was shot and killed by an
off-duty white police officer. The day after his burial (31 June), the Near
North Omaha neighborhood ran rampant setting firebombs off in buildings
throughout the vicinity. Mayor Al Sorensen, along with many news sources,
claimed that the Black Panthers were responsible for instigating the riot. When
in reality, the Black Panthers did what they could to protect the neighborhood,
standing guard at the <i>Omaha Star</i> and
many of the local historic churches in an effort to halt any vandalism. </p>

<p>On 4 March, 1968, many high
school and collegiate students from Omaha’s Black community were out protesting
the presidential campaign of George Wallace- a southern white segregationist
from Alabama. Shortly after the protest commenced, counter-protesters began
rebutting using violence. When police officers intervened, the violence only
increased, allowing for dozens to be injured on both sides. Many made an effort
to flee the scene, including one young Black person who was shot and killed. In
response to the whole incident, many rioters continued on in the surrounding
neighborhoods causing thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to cars and
businesses. Local barber and known leader Ernie Chambers stepped in to rally
the youth and calm them before the riot ensued any further. </p>

<p>What is said to be the most notable
riot of the sixties began on 24 June, 1969. Vivian Strong had been with friends
in an unoccupied building in the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects. When police
officers James Loder (white) and Jimmy Smith (Black) responded to the call of a
break-in, many of the youth fled. Without announcing his presence to any of the
youth fleeing out the back, Officer Loder shot Vivian at the base of her skull,
killing her instantly. </p>

<p>By midnight on the evening of
Loder’s acquittal, a riot ensued along North 24th Street starting
with the vandalism of two Jewish-owned businesses. By the following evening, an
entire ten-block radius was engulfed in flames while more than two dozen
bystanders were hospitalized due to crowd attacks. The riot lasted a total of
three days resulting in 21 arrests, 88 hospitalized and close to a million
dollars’ worth of damage in a 55 by 24 block radius. In response to what had
occurred, the city bulldozed the remnants of the riot and left them empty. </p>

<p>Part of the Near North Omaha
neighborhood remains in shambles today as parts of the neighborhood were never
rebuilt. The white community blamed many civil rights organizations for the ‘riots,’
and did not want to finance the replacement of buildings that the Black
community so easily and ‘carelessly’ burned to the ground in the sixties. Although many in the Black community took part in these 'riots,' there were also often peaceful protests as well. While some people hoped to remain nonviolent as some civil rights groups had done, the violence drew more media attention to what had happened.</p>

Like many American cities during the 1960s, Omaha experienced a series of racial disturbances that led to protest and occasional violence against property. These periodic racial eruptions were rooted in the historical inequalities Black people faced in Omaha, and a new spirit of rebellion that reflected both the progress and failures of the civil rights movement. What makes Omaha notable is that there were at least four significant race "riots" during the mid- and late-sixties, perhaps more than any other American city. The riots were centered around North 24th Streets from Clark to Lake Street. The 1969 riot in response to the police killing of Vivian Strong at the Logan Fontenelle Housing Project exposed living conditions. 

In 1991, African American litigants won a series of court cases that led the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to replace this project with better housing for residents. The Logan Fontenelle project was built as a public works project in the Great Depression and had grown to house thousands in a relatively small part of the city around Paul Street stretching from 20th Street to 24th Street. 

Omaha Race Riots of the 1960s

<p>The Fair Deal Café was a staple in
North Omaha’s community for almost 80 years, with its most prominent time under
the ownership of Charlie Hall from 1953 into the late 1990’s. Under the
management of Mr. Hall and his wife the Café became a key foundational place in
North Omaha not only because of fantastic food they served or the manner in
which they served the food but the feeling people got when they entered the restaurant.
It became known as “Omaha’s Black City hall”<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>
because it was a key point during the civil rights era, where activists, politicians
and common people could all come to the same place to enjoy a meal, talk about
the difficulties facing the community and the steps to take action to combat
these difficulties. For this unique place it became known around the Midwest as
a key point to a lot of people especially African Americans, prominent African American
nationally such as Jesse Jackson and others along with local leaders like Ernie
Chambers, Ben Gray along with other city councilmen would go to the café.</p><p>The Café closed in 2003 after
changing ownership in the late 1990’s from the Hall family that ran it for over
50 years. The café was in grained into the African American community not just
as place to get food and be around others in the community but as a successful
business ran by fellow African Americans which not Omaha lacked but national
American had very few businesses in predominately African American communities
ran by people in that community. There has been signs of hope for the return of
the café in some capacity over the couple of years. With the demolition of the original
building the land will be used to create the Fair Deal Village Marketplace on
the block, where a grocery store along with 12 smaller businesses will call
home. One of those 12 businesses will be the Fair Deal Café resurgent<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[2]</a>.
The marketplace is expected to open up in the fall of 2016 providing a grocery
store to a community that has not had one in at least 40 years and also
returning a place of historical significance to the community.&nbsp;</p>

The Fair Deal Café from 1953 until its closing in 2003 was a pillar of the African American community through its iconic soul food and service. The more significant contribution this café had to history was that it was a meeting place for all kinds of people within the community from activists to politicians, the cafe was used as a meeting place and discussion table for everyone inside of the community. It was fondly dubbed the "Black City Hall" of Omaha during the civil rights era and became known round the midwest for its ability to be both a restaurant and meeting place. 

The Fair Deal Café

<p>The Omaha DePorres Club was founded in November of 1947 and
had carried out their first year of meetings on the Creighton University
campus. Founding participants of the club mainly consisted of Creighton
students and Black Catholics of Saint Benedict’s Church. Beginning actions of
the Omaha DePorres Club included going to churches nearby to question why
Blacks were not welcome to attend school there. This resulted in many allowing
Black students, however, it also caused Fr. William McCabe, the president of
Creighton, to ask the club to find a new meeting place.<br></p>

<p>&nbsp;From October 1948 to September of 1950 meetings were held at
the new “Omaha DePorres Center” which was built out of a storefront for sale
on 24th and Grace. Here, the club held weekly forums about racism,
held dances, and created youth groups for Omaha children. The Omaha DePorre’s
members also took a stand here against local businesses who refused to hire
Black employees. They took a particular interest in the Omaha and Council
Bluffs Street Railway Company. In the summer of 1949 they gathered a whopping
2432 signatures on a petition this marks the beginning of a five year campaign
for the Omaha DePorres Club. Along with the railway company the club worked
specifically in July of 1950 to boycott Edholm-Sherman Laundry until it would
hire Blacks who were barred from working the front office or drive delivery
trucks. This boycott was an overall success resulting in Blacks being hired to
work for the laundry company. Due to the club's inability to keep up with the
$40 monthly rent in September of 1950 the Omaha DePorres Club would once again
have to find a new place to meet.</p>

<p>In October of 1950 the club got word that Mildred Brown, publisher of Omaha’s Black newspaper the <i>Omaha Star</i>, offered to let the club meet
in her offices for free. This would remain the club’s home for the next four
years while they continued their campaigns against both the Omaha and Council
Bluffs&nbsp; Street Railway Company and
Edholm-Sherman Laundry. Along with these ongoing campaigns they also worked to
boycott Omaha’s Coca-Cola Bottling Company and Reed’s Ice Cream for their
hiring practices which ended up being successful boycotts. These campaigns and movements were very important especially during a time when racially motivated crimes and injustices were frequently, if not nearly always,&nbsp;gotten away with. This marks a period where African Americans realize they have power economically through staging protests and boycotts in order to force the city to negotiate towards their demands.</p><p>In 1954 due to pressure from the Omaha DePorres Club, the
Omaha NAACP, and the Omaha Urban League, the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street
Railway Company finally caved to the pressure and began allowing Black drivers
for the Omaha bus system. This win marked the beginning of a five year break of
the Omaha DePorres Club. In 1959 Wilbur Phillips, a club member since the
1950s, brought the club back in order to fight the racially discriminatory
hiring practices of Omaha Public Schools. During this year long campaign
Phillips led the club to protest and take action against the system. After a
year without progress the club decided to disband once again and has now become
a part of history.</p>

Omaha's DePorres Club, one of the leading civil rights organization in Omaha, maintained an office and headquarters at this location from 1948 to 1950. The organization had two other headquarters and served the community from the late-1940s through to the early-1960s. This Catholic-centered, integrationist organization was created by a group of young people from Creighton University and the nearby North Omaha community as a vehicle to challenge racial discrimination in the city.  Over the years, the DePorre's Club led a series of non-violent campaigns and protests against employment and housing discrimination, as well as educational inequality.  Notably, the group led a successful protest campaign against the local bus company in the early 1950s, before the more famous Montgomery Bus Boycott.  Fr. John Markoe and Denny Holland were key leaders in the group.

North Omaha African American History Tour

St. John A.M.E. Church

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information