Omaha Civil Rights History Timeline

Upon reflecting on 2020 and the major uprisings that happened here and across the country, we saw comments describe people protesting in the streets as “not Omaha.” Quite the contrary, Omaha has a deep history rooted in violence and racism, but also social responsibility and advocacy. This history though is often not shared or known and therefore becomes forgotten. As an information and news organization, we felt it was our duty to unearth this history and make it available to the masses, which led us to create the Omaha Civil Rights History Timeline.

This timeline spans from 1855 to 2020 and incorporates highlights of Omaha’s fraught and inspiring legacy from the displacement of the Indigenous UmonHon (Omaha) Tribe to the marches for James Scurlock. We worked with our friends at the Great Plains Black History Museum and North Omaha History to curate the events here and acknowledge that this project is not comprehensive or conclusive, but rather one small flashlight on Omaha’s expansive and sometimes very dark past.

In order to bring this project to the present, we partnered with BFF Omaha to host a call for local BIPOC artists. We selected 5 incredible pieces to be featured on the back of each timeline, 100 of each: Mars Black, Jada Messick. Nathan Ruleaux, Sarah Hummel Jones, and Natori Pittman. BFF Omaha also helped us find and hire graphic designer Rico Childs to bring the concept to life. Then, with the help of a mini-grant of $500 from One Omaha, we were able to cover a significant portion of our printing costs, enabling us to share these with the community free of charge. If you like this project, we do ask for a suggested donation of $5 so that we can make more copies and continue to spread the message.

If you would like to request a copy, submit your information via the form below and we will mail one to you.
We are working with local businesses to serve as pick-up sites as well and will post the list here once they are available.

Request a Timeline:

“Know History, Respect History, and Make History” – Preston Love Jr.