Browse Items (71 total)

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…

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,…

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…

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…

Dating back to the early part of the 20th century, African Americans in Omaha have attempted to band together to provide for the needs and care of the elderly in the community. This image, which dates back to 1913, features several women who worked…

Portrait of an unknown woman.

Photograph featuring white house in Hartington, Nebraska. This house was the birthplace of J.D. Clair Smith Jr. (born on May 31, 1908) and his grandpa Felber is on the front porch.

These framed photographs. newspaper advertisement, and business cards are from a Kearney area General Motors dealership started by George Sobotka {George's Super Surv later to be named George Motor Co.]. The final photo contains all the salesmen…

Black and white photograph of City National Bank of Kearney, Nebraska

Glass negative plates for photographs of farms in Kearney, Nebraska.