Racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska facts for kids
Racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska, happened because many new people moved to the city. These included immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and African Americans from the Deep South. While people faced unfair treatment, violence often broke out among working-class groups.
Irish Americans were one of the first and largest immigrant groups in the 1800s. They settled in neighborhoods in South Omaha. Everyone came for new factory jobs, mostly from farms. There was competition for jobs and homes among Irish, newer European immigrants, and African Americans. They all found it hard to adjust to factory work, and early labor unions were not strong enough to help much. Sometimes, new people in the city were hired to replace striking workers, which caused more tension.
In Omaha, like other big cities, racial tension sometimes led to mob violence during tough economic times. This early violence often came from struggles in factories in the early 1900s. It happened between white ethnic workers, immigrants, and Black migrants from the Great Migration. Meatpacking companies hired African Americans to work during strikes in 1917. After World War I, soldiers returned home, and both groups competed for jobs.
However, by the late 1930s, different racial groups worked together to organize the meatpacking industry. They formed the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA). This union was different because it worked for fairness for everyone. It helped end segregation in Omaha restaurants and stores. It also supported the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Women like Tillie Olsen and Rowena Moore were important labor organizers in the meatpacking industry during the 1930s and 1940s.
In the 1960s, most violence and protests happened because many working-class jobs were lost. This caused poverty and other problems. The African-American community in Omaha was hit especially hard and protested these issues.
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Omaha in the 1800s
Nebraska became a territory in 1854, and it was supposed to be a place where slavery was not allowed. But from 1855, there were discussions in the Nebraska government about whether to officially ban slavery. Since there were few enslaved people in the state, some lawmakers thought the law was not needed. In 1859, the Daily Nebraskian newspaper wrote that it supported slavery. It said that a bill to end slavery in Omaha would likely fail if Democrats did their part.
During this time, some local newspapers openly wrote against Black people living in Omaha. They also supported the Confederacy and were against Abraham Lincoln becoming president. The 1860 census showed that out of 81 Black people in Nebraska, only 10 were enslaved.
The first plan for Nebraska's state constitution said that only "free white males" could vote. This was common in many states. Because of this, Nebraska's entry into the United States was delayed for about a year. In 1865, the Nebraska Territorial Legislature changed the plan to allow more people to vote. The territory became a state soon after.
After the Civil War, enough Black people lived in Omaha to start St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1867. This was the first church for African Americans in Nebraska. The first recorded birth of an African American in Omaha was William Leper in 1872. In 1891, a crowd of people killed George Smith, an African-American man. He was accused of attacking a white woman. No one was charged for his murder.
Omaha in the 1900s
In the early 1900s, Omaha was growing fast, and many new immigrants and migrants arrived. This caused social tensions, leading to riots that damaged property and sometimes caused deaths.
South Omaha's Changing Neighborhoods
South Omaha was where many different immigrant groups created their own neighborhoods. These included areas for Irish, Polish, and Czech people. Little Italy and Little Bohemia were also close to South Omaha. Most of the workers in the stockyards and meatpacking plants were immigrants.
These workers started organizing and went on strikes. The companies responded by hiring workers from other parts of the country who also needed jobs. These included both European immigrants and Black migrants from the South. The number of Black people in Omaha doubled between 1910 and 1920.
In 1905, over 800 students in South Omaha, mostly children of immigrant workers, protested against Japanese students at their school. They called them "scabs" because the Japanese students were children of strikebreakers hired by the Omaha Stockyards during a big strike the previous summer. The children of the regular workers refused to go to classes and locked teachers out of the building.
The Greek Town Riot
Greek Town was a growing community of Greek immigrants in South Omaha. Other immigrants were angry at the Greeks because they had come to the city as strikebreakers. Many men in the Greek community had been without jobs for a long time after the strikes ended. Some Omaha citizens thought they were lazy instead of just unemployed.
In September 1909, a Greek man was arrested by an Irish policeman from South Omaha. He was accused of having a relationship with a white woman, from whom he was taking English lessons. The man took the officer's gun and shot him. After the Greek man was caught, a crowd of about 1,000 white people gathered at the jail. By then, the South Omaha police had moved the man to the Omaha city jail.
Frustrated, the crowd turned to the Greek neighborhood and started destroying it. They threatened to kill all the residents if they stayed in town. Within a day, the Greek residents left the area and moved to other cities. Meanwhile, the crowd destroyed the entire neighborhood. The accused Greek immigrant was put on trial. But after the Greek ambassador to the U.S. protested that the government failed to protect the immigrant community, the city of Omaha released the man and dropped the charges.
Anti-German Feelings
After World War I, when Germany was defeated, strong anti-German feelings spread across the country. In 1919, Nebraska passed a law saying that only English could be taught in public schools. Before this, German studies were available in public schools because many Germans had moved to Nebraska.
The law stated, "No person... shall... teach any subject to any person in any language than the English language." Robert Meyer was found to have broken this law because he taught German. He was taken to court by the State of Nebraska and found guilty. He appealed the decision. His appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court failed, but the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled in Meyer v. Nebraska that Meyer had the right to teach the German language. During this time, open unfair treatment against Germans became common in Omaha. Many German-language newspapers had to switch to English or close down.
The Red Summer of 1919
In September 1919, after a summer of racial riots in other cities, an African-American worker named Willy Brown was killed by a crowd in Omaha. He had been accused of attacking a young white woman. A crowd of 5,000 white men marched from South Omaha to the Douglas County Courthouse. Many were drinking.
When the mayor, Edward P. Smith, tried to stop them, the crowd almost killed him. He was saved at the last minute. The crowd threw stones at windows, greatly outnumbered the police, and set the courthouse on fire to force Brown's release. The police handed him over to save other prisoners. In a frenzy, the crowd hung Brown from a lamppost and shot him. Then they dragged his body and burned it.
The crowd attacked police cars and any Black people they found on the street. They started moving toward a large African-American neighborhood in North Omaha. The city and governor called in the U.S. Army from Fort Omaha. The Army stationed troops in North Omaha to protect Black residents. After controlling the crowd, they also placed troops in South Omaha to prevent more riots. A sudden rainstorm also helped calm the crowd. The Army commander put the city under military rule for several days. A grand jury investigation found that the crowd came from South Omaha and was encouraged by the city's criminal underworld. However, no one was charged for the events.
Unfair Treatment Against Black People
On July 4, 1910, African-American boxer Jack Johnson won a big boxing match in Reno, Nevada. When people heard the news, about a dozen fights broke out in different parts of Omaha between white and Black people, similar to what happened in other cities. White people injured several Black men and killed one.
After World War I, white soldiers returning to their old jobs found African Americans and Eastern European immigrants in their places. This anger led to several violent strikes in the South Omaha meatpacking industry as groups fought for jobs. During this time, Earl Little was a Baptist minister in North Omaha. After his son, Malcolm, was born in Omaha in 1925, the family moved away because of threats from the Ku Klux Klan in 1926. Malcolm Little later became a famous leader known as Malcolm X.
In the 1920s, racial segregation became normal in Omaha. Rules about housing kept African Americans living mostly in North Omaha. The 1919 riot had hurt the city's new reformist government. In the next election, "Cowboy" Jim Dahlman became mayor again with support from Tom Dennison, a leader of the city's criminal underworld. These struggles led African-American leaders like Earl Little, Harry Haywood, and George Wells Parker to push harder for civil rights. After this period, African Americans in Omaha mostly lived on the city's north side, with a small community in South Omaha.
Civil Rights Era
In 1947, a student civil rights group called the DePorres Club was forced to leave the Creighton University campus. Mildred Brown, a community leader and newspaper publisher, invited them to meet at the Omaha Star, the newspaper she ran for the African-American community for decades.
Omaha jazz musician Preston Love said that in the 1950s, he saw signs in Omaha restaurants and bars that said, "We Don't Serve Any Colored Race." But he was always welcome as a musician. In the 1950s, the United Meatpacking Workers of America (UPWA) used its power to help businesses in Omaha end segregation.
The late 1950s and early 1960s were the time Lois Mark Stalvey wrote about in her book The Education of a WASP. She described her efforts to end segregation in a middle-class West Omaha neighborhood. She helped an African-American surgeon and his family who wanted to live there. These efforts were different from the struggles of most working-class families in North and South Omaha.
In 1955, the State of Nebraska took Omaha's main amusement park, Peony Park, to court. The state believed the park broke Nebraska Civil Rights Law. This happened when African-American swimmers at a swimming meet on August 27, 1955, were treated unfairly. In the case State of Nebraska v. Peony Park, the Nebraska Supreme Court found that two African-American participants were illegally kept out of the pool. On September 7, 1955, the court fined Peony Park $50 and the costs of the trial. Other lawsuits were settled outside of court. The Omaha Star newspaper wrote a lot about the trial, using it to show segregation policies around the city and the growing civil rights movement.
By the early 1960s, many African Americans and ethnic Americans lost economic progress due to massive job losses. This was caused by changes in the railroad and meatpacking industries. By the mid-1960s, North Omaha had much more poverty and increasing social problems.
On July 4, 1966, tensions exploded into a riot after a very hot day. African Americans refused a police order to leave. They destroyed police cars and attacked businesses on North 24th Street, throwing firebombs and breaking storefronts. Businesses in the Near North Side suffered millions of dollars in damages. The riot lasted three days. The National Guard was called in to stop the rioters.
Less than a month later, on August 1, 1966, riots started after a 19-year-old was shot by a white off-duty policeman during a burglary. Rioters firebombed three buildings, and 180 riot police were needed to calm the crowds. Community leaders criticized the Omaha World-Herald and local TV stations for blaming African Americans for the problems in their neighborhoods. They argued that joblessness and lack of maintenance were bigger issues beyond city control. That same year, 1966, a documentary called A Time for Burning was filmed, showing North Omaha and its social problems. It was later nominated for an Oscar.
In March 1968, high school and university students protested at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. They were protesting George Wallace, the governor of Alabama, who supported segregation. When counter-protesters became violent, police actions led to many protesters being injured. During the chaos, an African-American youth was shot and killed by a police officer. Students fleeing the scene attacked businesses and cars, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
The next day, a local barber named Ernie Chambers helped calm a disturbance and prevent a riot at Horace Mann Junior High School. Chambers was already known as a community leader. After finishing his law degree, Chambers was elected to the Nebraska State Legislature. He served for 38 years, longer than anyone before him. Robert F. Kennedy visited Omaha later that year, supporting Omaha's civil rights activists.
An African-American teenager named Vivian Strong was shot and killed by police officers in June 1969. This happened at the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects. Young African Americans in the area rioted after her death and looted businesses along the North 24th Street corridor. Eight businesses were destroyed by firebombing or looting. These events continued for several more days. This was the last major riot noted in Omaha.
In 1970, an African-American man named Duane Peak was arrested. He quickly named six others in a bombing at a vacant house in North Omaha that killed a police officer. On August 31, local Black Panther Party leaders David Rice and Ed Poindexter were arrested in the case, even though they were not originally named. In 1971, both men were found guilty of murder in a controversial case. In 1974, the Nebraska State Supreme Court denied a new trial for Rice and Poindexter.
Late 1900s Changes
In the 1970s, the North Freeway was built. It cut through North Omaha, dividing the African-American community and causing social problems. In 1976, the Omaha Public Schools started court-ordered busing to achieve integration.
In 1981, arsonists burned an East Omaha duplex after an African-American family signed a rental agreement there. This arson remains unsolved.
In 1993, the Nebraska Parole Board voted to reduce the sentences of Rice and Poindexter. However, the Nebraska Board of Pardons refused to hold a hearing on the matter. This same situation happened at least three more times with the same outcome.
In 1995, an African-American gang member murdered an Omaha police officer named Jimmy Wilson, Jr. The city responded by putting cameras in every police car and giving North Omaha officers body armor. Later that year, arsonists tipped over and burned an African-American woman's car in East Omaha, near the site of the 1981 arson. Both cases are unsolved.
In 1996, the Omaha public schools ended court-ordered busing. That same year, the Omaha World-Herald reported that a resident of Rose Garden Estates said he found the idea of being part of the city "increasingly scary." He said he left Benson because he didn't like the changes, mentioning "Too much crime, too much racial tension, too much school busing." He went to the suburbs to get away from that, and now he was being forced back in. The man, an insurance company employee, said his problems were not about race but asked to remain anonymous.
In 1997, an African-American Gulf War veteran named Marvin Ammons was shot and killed by an Omaha police officer. A grand jury accused the officer of manslaughter, but the judgment was thrown out due to jury misconduct. A second grand jury found the officer not guilty and criticized the Omaha Police Department for mishandling the case.
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In 2000, George Bibins, an African American, led Omaha police on a high-speed chase. He was shot and killed by officer Jared Kruse at the end of the chase. Charges were filed against the officer, but special prosecutors sent them to a grand jury, which decided not to recommend charges. The Omaha Police Department did not make a decision on the use of force because Jared Kruse refused to be questioned. He was allowed to retire a year later due to PTSD. A second jury in the civil case refused to give damages to Bibins' family.
That year, the Nebraska State Legislature set limits on how long politicians could serve. Some people used this to target State Senator Ernie Chambers, an African American who had served North Omaha for 27 years. In 2005, Chambers became the longest-serving State Senator in Nebraska history, with over 32 years of service. Because of the 2002 law, Chambers could not immediately run for reelection when his term ended in 2009. So he waited until 2013 and ran again. He was reelected consistently until term limits again prevented him from running in 2021. In total, Ernie Chambers represented North Omaha in the Legislature for 46 years.
Busing to integrate public schools was a debated topic in Omaha. School problems were one reason middle-class people moved to the suburbs. But the move to suburbs also happened as the city grew and new highways were built. People in Omaha, like other Americans, preferred larger, newer homes. Middle-class African Americans have also moved to the suburbs in Omaha and other cities.
Schooling Changes
From 1976 to 1999, Omaha had a busing plan to integrate its schools. Busing was an early goal of civil rights leaders and groups in Omaha. They saw integrated busing as an important step in improving race relations. When the city thought about ending busing in the 1990s, a group of Black education administrators praised the system. They said it improved race relations and the education of Omaha's students.
Omaha Public Schools ended busing for integration in 1999. They responded to parents who wanted neighborhood schools and more choices. The district created magnet schools to attract students from middle-class families. Like in many other cities, concerns about schools are high. Omaha has started to explore assigning students based on family income to change the makeup of their schools. This also aims to help with low test scores among poor children in the inner city. There have been delays in efforts to combine the Omaha public school district with smaller, newly added districts in the western part of the city.
Omaha in the 2000s
Senator Ernie Chambers suggested a plan to separate Omaha's schools in the Nebraska State Legislature. This was in response to concerns from suburban districts outside Omaha. The state legislature wanted to find a way to use suburban districts to help integrate the city's schools. The law aimed to solve a border dispute between Omaha schools and mostly white suburban districts. It created a "learning community" of area school districts that would share taxes and had to create a plan to integrate schools in the Omaha area.
Chambers wanted to create three districts in the city. Each would follow geographic lines that roughly matched where different racial groups lived: African Americans in North Omaha, Hispanic/Latinos in South Omaha, and white people in West Omaha. Chambers said his plan would give African American parents in North Omaha more control over their district. The State Legislature signed this plan into law in April 2006, and it started in 2008.
Within a month of the law passing, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a lawsuit. They argued that because Omaha's neighborhoods were already separated by race, the new school districts would also be separated by race. This would go against United States law. The case also gained national attention. Critics called the plan "state-sponsored segregation."
In February 2007, unknown attackers robbed, firebombed, and spray-painted a racist message on an East Omaha grocery store. The store was owned by an immigrant from Ethiopia. That crime is unsolved.
In October 2007, the Omaha World-Herald reported that recent census numbers showed Omaha had the fifth highest poverty rate for African Americans among the 100 largest U.S. cities. More than one in three lived below the poverty line. The city has plans for public and private development in North Omaha to help improve the area. Investment in roads, parks, and street design has already begun.
Some groups have tried to gain political power by opposing immigrants. But more people in the city have supported immigrants, including the Hispanic community, who are the most numerous recent immigrants. In 2007, a neo-Nazi group tried to organize a protest with 65 people outside the city's Mexican consulate. They were greatly outnumbered by thousands of counter-protesters and people celebrating the city's diversity.
In May and June of 2020, thousands of people protested in Omaha streets. They were protesting the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and other killings highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement. Police injured protesters with tear gas and projectiles. In one case, a bystander was shot in the face and blinded. A white bar owner in the Old Market, Jacob Gardner, shot and killed an unarmed Black protester named James Scurlock. County Attorney Don Kleine decided not to press charges against Gardner, which led to more protests. In July 2020, police arrested 120 peaceful protesters on a highway overpass. Despite Kleine's decision, a Special Prosecutor, Frederick Franklin, pressed charges against Gardner on September 15. Gardner was formally charged with four serious crimes, including manslaughter. On September 20, while in Oregon, Gardner died.
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