The Territory of Nebraska was created in 1854 with the condition that the area stay slave-free.
However, from 1855 on, there was debate in the Territorial Legislature about whether slavery
should specifically be prohibited. As there were few slaves in the state, some legislators did not
think the bill was needed. In 1859, the Daily Nebraskian newspaper reported its favoring of
slavery, writing
The bill introduced in [Omaha City] Council, for the abolition of slavery
in this Territory, was called up yesterday, and its further consideration postponed for two weeks.
A strong effort will be made among the Republicans to secure its passage; we think, however,
it will fail. The farce certainly cannot be enacted if the Democrats do their duty.
During that period, some local newspapers openly editorialized against the presence of blacks in
Omaha, for the Confederacy and against the election and election of Abraham Lincoln.
The 1860 census showed that of the 81 Negroes in Nebraska, only 10 were slaves.
Because a clause in the original proposed Nebraska State Constitution limited voting rights in the
state to "free white males", as had been common in many states, Nebraska was delayed about a
year from entering the Union. In 1865, the Nebraska Territorial Legislature changed the
proposed State Constitution to provide expanded suffrage. The territory gained statehood soon
after.
In 1854 Allen and Barbara (Kagi) Mayhew moved to
Nebraska and built the cabin in 1855. Barbara’s brother,
John Henry Kagi, met and was deeply influenced by
abolitionist John Brown in 1856. With Barbara's
assistance, Kagi created a stop at his sister's farm for the
Underground Railroad. They built a "cave", a dugout
room underneath the main cabin, with access only from
a nearby ravine. Fugitive slaves crossed the Missouri
River from the slave state of Missouri into Nebraska, a
free state. There they would hide in the cave until the
coast was clear to make their way to the next stop. The
Mayhews often fed them while they stayed at the cave.
Edward Mayhew, the oldest son of Allen and Barbara, wrote of an instance in 1859 when Kagi
brought 14 blacks to the cabin. His mother Barbara fed them a breakfast of cornbread. Although
the cabin site was called John Brown's Cave, there was no evidence that John Brown ever visited
there. John Kagi became the secretary of war in Brown’s army. He joined John Brown in the
Harper's Ferry raid to obtain weapons for a slave uprising. At age 24, Kagi was shot to death
during the raid.
1884, the first African-American graduates from the University of
Nebraska College of Medicine. Matthew Oliver Ricketts, a
physician and politician was born April 3, 1858 physician to
parents enslaved in the state of Kentucky. 1892 Matthew Oliver
Ricketts was elected as a Nebraska state senator on the
Republican ticket. Rickets served two terms from 1893 to 1897.
He was the first African American to serve in the Nebraska
Legislature. Dr. Ricketts was regarded as one of the best orators
there and was frequently called upon for his opinions.
The son of freed slaves, George A.
Flippin starred at halfback for the
University of Nebraska football
team from 1891 to 1894
1889 Silas Robbins (likeness unaailable) became the first black lawyer admitted to practice in
Nebraska, sixteen years after the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that blacks could not be
excluded from serving on juries. In 1893 he secured a patent from the United States Patent
Office for a game he created called "politics". When the Populist Party took power in Omaha,
Robbins served as the tax commissioner from 1900 to 1901 and again from 1903 to 1905.
Afterward he focused primarily on real estate law, and maintained a reputation as one of
Omaha's "best known colored attorneys.
In 1907 Charles Meehan, a white Irish
immigrant, and his wife Hester Freeman, a
Canadian black woman arrived in Nebraska.
Meehan’s niece, Ava Speese Day, later wrote
about their experiences on the Plains in Sod
House Memories. Other early black
homesteaders included Clem Deaver, Joshua
Emanuel, George Brown, William Crawford,
and Robert “Daddy” Hannahs. By 1912, there
were nearly 80 claims by black Kinkaiders.
They settled in an area along the North Loup
River near Brownlee, calling their town DeWitty, after the first postmaster, Miles DeWitty. In
1916, a change in postmasters prompted a change in the town name to Audacious, followed by a
post office relocation two years later to the town of Gard.
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NDP Black Caucus
Our History
in Nebraska
1919
On the evening of September 25, 1919, a young white woman, Agnes Loebeck, reported that she
was assaulted by a black man while returning from a movie with her boy friend, Milton
Hoffman. According to later newspaper accounts,
Hoffman, an alleged cripple, was unable to ward off the
attack. Within a day, Will Brown, age 41 and an itinerant
packing house worker, was arrested, identified by the
couple, and placed in the city jail despite an examining
doctor’s declaration that Brown was probably too arthritic
to have attacked anyone. Within two days, Brown was
dead, the victim of a lynch mob.
1925 Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little) was born in Omaha to Earl
Little and Louise Little (née Norton). He lived briefly as an infant
at 3448 Pinkney Street in Omaha.
While African Americans were already concentrated in North Omaha, in the 1930s redlining and
race restrictive covenants reinforced their staying there without
options for years to move to newer housing. In the 1930s and 1940s
African Americans were part of successful interracial organizing
teams in the meatpacking industry. They succeeded in creating the
integrated United Meatpacking Workers of America union and
gained an end to segregated jobs in the industry. The union was
progressive and helped support integration of public facilities in the
1950s and the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The 1950s and
1960s especially saw the emergence of a civil rights movement
which supported national legislative changes and contributed to
improving conditions for African Americans in Omaha. Mid-century
massive restructuring in railroads and the meatpacking industry cost
the city more than 10,000 jobs. African Americans were particularly
affected by the loss of industrial jobs. Many who could find jobs
elsewhere left the city and problems increased among the remaining
population in North Omaha.
In 1920, the Colored Commercial Club organized to help African-Americans in Omaha secure
employment and to encourage business enterprises among African-Americans. The National
Federation of Colored Women had five chapters in Omaha.
The Omaha Urban League (now known as the Urban League of Nebraska) was established in
1927. The Lincoln Urban League was founded in 1932.
1936, Mildred married S. Edward Gilbert and the next year they moved to
Omaha where Mildred worked for the Omaha Guide selling ads. By 1938
Mildred and Edward were ready to start their own paper, the Omaha Star.
On July 9, 1938, the first issue of the Omaha Star was published. Six
thousand copies were printed and sold for ten cents each.
As a major western city, Omaha was visited by Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1958 and Robert Kennedy in
1968, who helped galvanize the civil rights movement in
North Omaha. Local leaders continued to struggle
against racism. North Omaha was marred by race-related
violence and de facto segregation throughout the 20th
century. When the Black Panthers were implicated in a
police killing in North Omaha in 1970, the trial
highlighted political tensions. The Rice/Poindexter Case
continues to highlight Omaha's contentious legacy of
racism. A majority of Omaha's African-American
population still lives in North Omaha.
1970 Ernie Chambers was elected to the Nebraska Legislature as an
Independent and served until 2008. Chambers also ran for the United States
Senate in 1988 as a New Alliance Party candidate. He petitioned to be
included on the 1974 ballot for Governor of the state of Nebraska and also
ran for Governor in 1994, receiving 0.44% of the vote.
2008 Nebraska made two entries in the nation’s record
book. Nebraska is one of just two states, along with
Maine, that allocate electoral votes by congressional
district. Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District gave 1 of
the state’s five to Barack Obama. This is the first time a
Democrat has picked up an electoral vote in Nebraska
since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 Secondly, two Legislative
Districts elected African-American women to serve them
in Nebraska’s Unicameral; Tanya Cook, who secured
52% of the vote in Legislative District 13, and Brenda J.
Council who won with 84% of the vote in Legislative
District 11.
Senator Cook was born in Antigua, Guam to a military family. She
received a MA, Training and Development from University of
Nebraska-Lincoln in1994. She went on to earn a BA in International
Business from Georgetown University, 1986. Her professional
accomplishments include; President, City Girl Communications,NW
Ayer Advertising Agency, Staff, Office of Governor Dave Heineman,
Staff, Office of Governor Mike Johanns.
Senator Cooks prior political experience includes: Staff, Ben Nelson
for Senate Staff, Brenda Council for City Council, Staff, Brenda
Council for Mayor Fundraising Aide, David Dinkin Mayoral
Campaign, Governor’s Omaha Advisory Council for Lead Safe,
Wells Fargo Bank Community Advisory Board She currently sits on
the General Affairs, Natural Resources, State-Tribal Relations, and Urban Affairs committees.
Senator Brenda J. Council is a native of Omaha, Nebraska.
Upon graduation from Omaha Central High School, she
enrolled at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she
earned a Bachelors of Science Degree, With Distinction, in
secondary education. She then went on to earn her Juris Doctor
Degree from Creighton University in 1977.
Senator Council’s legal career includes 18 years with UP
Railroad, she was appointed as a judge on the Nebraska
Commission of Industrial Relations in 2001, she has also been
a member of the faculty of the Railroad and Airline Labor Law
Section of the American Bar Association - American Legal
Institute, and a visiting professor at Creighton Law School.
Senator Council was the first African-American woman elected to the Omaha City Council in
1993, serving on various City Council committees and representing the City Council on the
Douglas County Land Reutilization Commission
She currently serves on the Judiciary, Agriculture and Business and Labor Committees. Always
a trailblazer, she continued to break ground by being elected Vice Chair of the Business and
Labor Committee in her freshman term.
Our future lies in the hands of leaders, activists and trailblazers.
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