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Civil Defense

Lesson Plan & Activities: 1950-1974: Civil Defense - Grade Level [4-12]

Duck and Cover was produced in 1951 for use in elementary schools. Kids were taught how to "duck and cover" — diving below their desks or against a wall if a bright flash of light appeared.
U.S. Civil Defense

Former Nebraska Gov. Val Peterson was head of the Federal Civil Defense Administration when he warned citizens against the dangers of massive fallout from the hydrogen bomb.

A New Look at the H-Bomb
Former ... Read more

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Beef State

Introduction

Lesson Plans: 1950-1974: Beef State - Grade Level [4]

Nebraska has had only two official state names:

• The Tree Planter State, 1895 - 1945 and
• The Cornhusker State, 1945 - present. (Many outsiders may think that this last title derived from the football team, rather than the other way around.)

However, beef had become so important to Nebraska’s economy by the 1950s that from 1956 through 1965, the Nebraska license plate carried the motto,

The Beef State

That title was never an official state name ... Read more

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The End of the Cold War

Fall of Berlin Wall
After the Berlin Wall came down, there was still a lot of military hardware left on both sides.
From the 1990 NET program, Cold Warriors Never Die

In the late 1980s, the Cold War came to a dramatic end. The economies of nations behind the Iron Curtain were in trouble. People in East Germany, for instance, could see the prosperity and wealth of their West German neighbors. In Russia, there were long lines of people waiting to buy food. ... Read more

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The Omaha & Ponca Tribes

The Omaha and Ponca Native American tribes are closely related. Both tribes speak a language called the Dhegiha division of the Siouan linguistic stock. They speak a similar language to that spoken by several tribes who lived further south during the historic period, the Osage, Kansa and Quapaw tribes.

These are the Native American tribes mentioned in early Nebraskan historic records from roughly 1770 to 1850 CE.

These language facts and the historical stories told within the tribes suggest that all of ... Read more

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The Battle

In August 1720, Villasur’s army arrived at the Platte River somewhere around Grand Island. The troops crossed the Platte and then the Loup River where Villasur started encountering Oto and Pawnee Indians. He attempted to negotiate with them at various times using a Spanish slave who was a Pawnee named Francisco Sistaca. Near present-day Schuyler, Nebraska, Sistaca disappeared. Villasur became very nervous about the belligerence and numbers of the local Indians, whose villages were south of the Platte, near present-day ... Read more

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Mackay, the Otos & Omaha

In the late 1700s, Spanish officials in St. Louis decided to expand their trade up the Missouri. To do that they needed to protect the river from incursions from competitors and they needed to build a series of fortified trading posts. In the 1790s Spain began patrolling the Missouri and Mississippi rivers with gunboats. The boats were called galiots (pronounced gah-le-OATs) were about fifty feet long and armed with cannons. A galiot could usually be rowed or sailed by their ... Read more

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The Voyage of Discovery - Introduction

President Jefferson selected Meriwether Lewis to head an expedition that would explore the newly purchased land. In turn, Lewis asked William Clark to help him lead the first military expedition in 1804. President Jefferson had ambitious plans for the expedition including scientific observations, map-making, ethnography, diplomacy and discovery of new routes for the lucrative fur trade:

"[The] aim would be to make friends and allies of the far Western Indians while at the same time diverting valuable pelts from the rugged ... Read more

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Finding Their Way Through a Difficult Passage

For Lewis and Clark, as well as the explorers who followed them, one of their main tasks was to map an unknown territory. Maps would allow trappers, immigrants and settlers to find their way west. To draw the maps, Lewis and Clark had to figure out the longitude and latitude at each point, and they relied on the best technology available at the time:

• a sextant, which cost $77
• an octant
• an artificial horizon
• a surveying compass
• and a scientific ... Read more

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Landmarks and Gold Fever

Chimney Rock was one of the best-known landmarks on the Oregon and Mormon Trails. About 350,000 pioneers passed by Chimney Rock. Fur trader Warren A. Ferris left the oldest known written description of Chimney Rock. On May 26, 1830, his party reached " ‘Nose Mountain,’ or as it is more commonly called, the ‘Chimney,’ a singular mound, which has the form of an inverted funnel." Joseph Hackney, a "Forty-Niner" on his way to the California gold fields, described Chimney Rock ... Read more

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Conflicts Among the Tribes & Settlers

There were many Native American tribes living on the Great Plains, competing for scarce resources. Of course, the various tribes came into conflict with each other.

The Lakota (or Sioux) is actually a broad group of people that includes the seven bands of the Western (or Teton) Lakota, the Dakota (Yankton and Yanktoni) and the Nakota (Santee). This group of tribes lived in the Plains for only a part of their known history. The Lakotas originally lived in the northern woodlands. ... Read more

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The Civil War Connection

When the 37th Congress met on July 1, 1861, members returned to an unfinished capitol building, several unfinished laws, and news of the first battles of the Civil War. But even during those awful times, three major laws were passed that affected the history of Nebraska. Why did Congress and President Abraham Lincoln turn their attention to homesteading, the creation of land grant colleges, and the transcontinental railroad in a time of war?

Before the Civil War, Northern states had wanted ... Read more

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Range Management as a Science

Essie Davis was part of a new trend – a more scientific approach to ranching. Range management is the handling of grasslands where cattle graze in order to maintain and increase both plant and animal production. Proper range management is crucial to successful ranching, and so, it is not surprising that Nebraska is where it was born.

The story of range management began in the late 1800s at the University of Nebraska. Charles Edwin Bessey was a botanist (an expert in ... Read more

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Citizenship for Native Veterans

During World War I, about 9,000 American Indians served in the armed services. They fought and died in defense of a nation that still denied most of them the right to participate in the political process. Congress, as a result, enacted legislation on November 6, 1919, granting citizenship to Indian veterans of World War I who were not yet citizens.

"BE IT ENACTED . . . that every American Indian who served in the Military or Naval Establishments of the United ... Read more

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World War II

Even before the United States was dragged into World War II on December 7, 1941 food was always something that could be sold on a large scale, a strategic commodity. Through the Lend-Lease program established in March of 1941, the United States was already providing critical food to Allied Nations like England, France, China, and the Soviet Union. The Russians particularly enjoyed a canned beef specialty, tushonka millions of which were created at the Omaha Cudahy Plant.

Read ... Read more