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Settlers knew that the federal government was making free land available, but what about the weather on the Great Plains? Weather controlled the conversations of farmers in the East. The weather would affect life on the “new land” — and it still does.
Since Nebraska is in the middle of the continent, there are extremes of weather here that do not happen on the coasts. Every group of people who have lived here have had to find ways to cope and ... Read more
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The Homestead Act of 1862 was a piece of inspired legislation. It allowed anyone who was over 21 or the head of a household to own land. The Homestead Act became a symbol of newfound freedom for many African Americans. The day that the Homestead Act went into effect — January 1, 1863 — was the same day that President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Many Black Americans began looking to the west as a place where ... Read more
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One of the first acts of the new Nebraska territorial legislature in 1855 was to provide for free public schools across the state, but life for children during the settlement period was probably centered less on school than it is now. The “Free Public School Act of 1855” created a territorial superintendent and provided for county school superintendents to be elected by popular vote. Each county superintendent was to organize school districts and levy a property tax to support the ... Read more
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The Homestead Act of 1862 stated that any person age twenty-one or head of a family could claim land. The Act also contained the provision that widows of Union soldiers could deduct the time of service their husbands spent in the Civil War from the five-year residency requirement. So, while the phrase "head of a family" did place limitations on which women could file, many women took advantage of the Homestead Act and other laws to file claims in their ... Read more
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Imagine what it would be like for your family to move to a new country. You would have to learn a new language and adjust to different customs. You would most likely have to leave many of your relatives behind.
What Factors Pushed People from their Homeland? Emigrants were pushed out of their homelands for a variety of reasons. Some were discriminated against because of their religious and political beliefs. Others weren’t able to buy land, either because they didn’t have ... Read more
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With the path wide open for cattle’s entry into Nebraska, three new markets for beef increased demand beyond the needs created by the Civil War.
In 1874, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer of the U.S. Cavalry emerged from an expedition into the Black Hills and announced that he had found gold there. Prospectors flooded into the area.
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While Crook watched over the Ponca at Fort Omaha, Tibbles worked feverishly to tell Standing Bear’s story and enlist support for the Ponca cause. He telegraphed the story of Crook’s interview with Standing Bear to eastern newspapers and wrote a very passionate editorial for the Omaha Herald on April 1, 1879. Tibbles enlisted the support of the ministers of the leading churches in Omaha and sent a telegram to Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, pleading with him to reverse ... Read more
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Judge Dundy’s decision in the case Standing Bear vs. Crook was an important development in the history of Indian-white relations. It established for the first time that Indians were something more than just "Uncle Sam’s stepchildren" to be regulated by the Interior Department as they pleased. Standing Bear and his followers were now free. But, the unanswered questions were: Free to do what? Free to go where?
They had no place to live, no food to eat, nor clothing to wear. ... Read more
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With the passage and ratification of the 18th Amendment in 1919, law enforcement officials all over the nation were charged with stopping:
". . . the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States . . . for beverage purposes . . . "
Congress and the states were left with the task of figuring out how to prohibit ... Read more
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Between 1910 and 1920, the African American population of Omaha doubled from around 5,000 to 10,315. Those 10,000 blacks made up five percent of Omaha’s population. Blacks made up only around one percent of the population of the state. Even with these small numbers, the rate ... Read more
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Not all of the original Nebraska National Guard served with the 134th in Europe. Companies E, F, G, and H were transferred to the 197th Infantry and served in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.
Few Nebraskans realized that an American possession and future state was invaded by Japan during World War II. Fewer still realized that a former Nebraska National Guard battalion was deployed to help stop Japanese expansion the area.
In 1942 the 134th Infantry Regiment’s Second Battalion was selected for ...
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There was a government savings bond program before the second world war began. It was a way for the federal government to borrow from its citizens to help finance the cost of preparing for war. After December 7th, savings bonds became "War Bonds." Individual citizens — even children — were encouraged to buy bonds. Nebraskans responded. Between the attack on Pearl Harbor and 1943, Nebraskans bought $240-million worth of bonds.
The state government also adopted a policy of investing all available ... Read more
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The construction of a $45 million ammunition depot (the largest in the nation) brought both growth and stress to Hastings, Nebraska. The development helped the Hastings community recover from the Depression. However, it also brought a flood of immigrants and created new social pressures. At its peak, the depot employed approximately 2,000 military personnel and 6,692 civilian production workers. There were also 2,000 civilians still involved in construction of the plant. All together, there were over 10,000 workers.
You can see ... Read more
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Colonel Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. was airplane commander of the 509th that was responsible for dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. In 1942, Colonel Tibbets was Squadron Commander of the 340th Bomb Squadron, 97th Bombardment Group that was destined for England. Tibbets flew 25 missions in B-17s.
In March 1943, Colonel Tibbets returned to the United States to test the combat capability of Boeing’s new Super Fortress, the B-29. In September, 1944, he ... Read more
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One horrible by-product of war is that crimes against humanity sometimes occur away from the battlefields. A very sad example was the creation of concentration camps by Adolph Hitler’s National Socialist political party. Racist, nationalistic, imperialistic, anti-communist, and militaristic, the "Nazis" claimed that Jewish people were members of an "inferior race".
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What was it like to fly a bomber with atomic weapons on board? What was it like to know your mission was to kill thousands and even hundreds of thousands of civilians?
Much is demanded of the SAC atom-bomber crews. Their lives are something new in military history. For the first time in peacetime, SAC bomber crews were prepared to fly their missions at a moment’s notice. SAC commanders had to be constantly available; before the era of cell phones, they ... Read more
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At first, SAC had airplanes with nuclear bombs. Their mission was to discourage another nation from attacking the U.S. by being ready to deliver a massive nuclear attack. But it was clear that rockets were the emerging weapon of the future.
The reason was speed. Bombers fly ... Read more
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When people are faced with frightening situations, they will take amazing precautions — even if the perceived threat never happens. People in coastal cities facing a possible hurricane will stock up on food, store water in their bathtubs and board up their windows. Just before the century changed to the year 2000, people were worried that computers around the world would shut down, bringing down power grids, ATM machines, gasoline stations, health care, transportation systems, financial and governmental services. Many ... Read more
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As the evening of October 23, 1984, wore on, Arthur Kirk became more and more desperate and angry. Negotiations over the phone had broken down. His wife, Deloris, had talked with him at around 9:30 P.M., and she had urged him to hang up the phone and remember "the plans" they had. (She never explained what she meant by the phrase.) Moments later she wrote a note to an acquaintance standing next to her that said her husband would never ... Read more
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The resentment that many farmers felt against bankers reached the boiling point during the height of the farm crisis in the 1980s. Some bankers said they got the silent treatment on the street. A few were even assaulted by angry customers. Some farmers wore black armbands to protest foreclosures. Bankers became the target of bitter jokes making the rounds in Nebraska communities.
Question: What’s the difference between a dead skunk on the road and a dead loan officer?
Answer: There are skid ... Read more
