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Omaha, Nebraska's DePorres Club Members Protesting Discriminatory Hiring Practices.
In 1953, the DePorres Club mounted a successful campaign against Reed’s Ice Cream for discriminatory hiring practices. Here, members of the organization picket outside of Reed’s and talk to community members about their protest. Note the sign held…
Tickets to Omaha's Dreamland Ballroom
North Omaha’s Dreamland Ballroom, located on 24th Street near Lake Street, was a prominent stop on the national and regional jazz and r&b circuit from the 1930s through the 1960s. Most of the leading acts played the Dreamland during these years. Do…
Mrs. Pinkston-Mitchell's Music Students
Florence Pinkston-Mitchell was a prominent piano teacher in North Omaha for many years during the mid-twentieth century. Art and music lessons were an important part of a child’s education for most middle-class African Americans. Over the years,…
Omaha Firefighters
Black firefighters have a long history in Omaha, stretching back more than 100 years to the 1890s. Initially segregated, the Omaha Fire Department formally integrated its force in 1954, the same year as the historic Brown v. Board of Education…
Members of Omaha, Nebraska's Mt. Cavalry Church
North Omaha has been home to dozens of African American churches over the years, making religious institutions one of the most consistently vibrant aspects of the community. This undated photograph shows members of Mt. Calvary Church.
Omaha Star Delivery Boys
North Omaha has been home to a number of black newspapers dating back to the 1890s. African American newspapers have historically provided an important alternative to mainstream newspapers, which rarely covered events in black communities, seldom…
Omaha, Nebraska's Patton Hotel
Prior to the civil rights era, throughout the urban North, most white-owned hotels refused to allow black patrons to stay in their rooms. Black-owned hotels in segregated African American neighborhoods, like the Patton Hotel in Omaha, provided…
Harry Eure Providing Stage Direction to Actors
In 1969, Harry and Daryl Eure created the Afro Academy of Dramatic Arts in Omaha to provide black artists the opportunity to showcase their work. In addition, the Afro Academy of Dramatic Arts provided classes in music, dance, art, theater and…
Homesteaders in Cherry County, Nebraska
During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century a small number of African Americans came to Nebraska as homesteaders, seeking new opportunities for independence and self-sufficiency working the land. The largest black homesteading settlement…
Jazz Musician, Michael Andre Lewis
Organ player Michael Andre Lewis was born in Omaha in 1948 and grew up in a musical family. Lewis’s father played saxophone with Count Basie, served as bandleader to Fats Domino and Etta James, and also played locally with Preston Love’s orchestra. …