List of riots and civil unrest in Omaha, Nebraska

The following is a list of riots and civil unrest in Omaha, Nebraska. With its economic roots in cattle processing, meatpacking, railroads, manufacturing and jobbing, the history of Omaha has events typical of struggles in other American cities over early 20th-century industrialization and labor problems. Racial tension was deeply based in economic and social competition as older immigrants had to contend with different ethnic groups from eastern and southern Europe and African Americans from the South. The latter were recruited for jobs in the expanding meatpacking plants as World War I shut off immigration from Europe. While numerous African Americans migrated to the city in its growing industrial phase, they were a distinct minority within the overall state population.Larsen and Cotrell. (2002) Omaha: The Gate City. University of Nebraska Press. p 172. Civil disorder in Omaha has related to the most critical events and tensions of an era, from showing support of homeless people in the 1890s; to anti-strikebreaker sentiment, focused on new Japanese residents at the turn of the 20th century; to anti-war events in the 1970s. The 1960s inner-city riots that destroyed parts of the Near North Side neighborhood were another manifestation of social and economic tension breaking out in violence.

Often the violence did little to resolve the problems at their roots: for instance, labor inequities were persistent because of major industries' opposition to unionizing and insistence on "open shop" policies into the 1940s and beyond. Just as workers were finally achieving some successes, industries underwent major restructuring, causing loss of tens of thousands of jobs and movement of industrial work away from Omaha, stranding many in the working classes for some time.Larsen and Cotrell. (2002) Omaha: The Gate City. University of Nebraska Press. p 135. The challenges facing African Americans in Omaha with regard to economic inequity and social immobility also persist but the form has varied with social and economic changes.Luebtke, F.C. (2005) Nebraska: An Illustrated History. University of Nebraska Press. p. 334. The racial tension persists in part because of problems with crime arising from dysfunctions of poverty, entwined issues of class and race, and the relative geographic and social isolation of some of the minority communities."The U.S. Justice Department Says Omaha Has Racial Tension", KMTV.com. June 20, 2007. Retrieved 7/8/08.(2003) Community Relations Service FY 2002 Annual Report. U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Service. Retrieved 7/8/08.

19th century In the late 19th century civil unrest in Omaha was chiefly related to labor disputes that arose with industrialization. During the 1880s and '90s, the Governor of Nebraska repeatedly sent in the state militia during labor disputes in the smelting, railroad and meatpacking house industries.Luebtke, F.C. (2005) Nebraska: An Illustrated History. University of Nebraska Press. p 134. In 1895 the American Protective Association threatened large-scale riots throughout the city after Nebraska state law forced a complete alteration of the police and fire boards in the city."A.P.A. makes trouble", New York Times. August 2, 1895. Retrieved 4/16/08.

Riots and civil unrest in Omaha in the 19th century chronological order Date Issue Event 1877 Labor dispute A railroad riot led to nearby military units being called out to suppress the violence.Macy, J. (1887) Our Government: How it Grew, what it Does, and how it Does it. Ginn and Company. p. 131. The strikes were part of a nationwide series of strikes to protest the growing influence of railroad corporations in the U.S. Other similar events happened in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, and Ogden, Utah.Hine, R.V. and Faragher, J.M. (2007) Frontiers: A Short History of the American West. Yale University Press. p. 119. These events led General Phillip Sheridan to recommend the permanent stationing of a U.S. Army regiment in Omaha. Writing about the events, Sheridan remarked, "There is no telling when greater trouble than the Indian difficulties on the plains may exist nearer home."Hutton, P.A. (1999) Phil Sheridan and His Army. University of Oklahoma Press. p 178. July 12, 1878 Homelessness A group of fifty homeless men forced their way onto a train near Neola, Iowa, that was bound for Omaha. The conductor wired ahead and warned officials, who waited in Council Bluffs with an armed contingent of 200 to run the men out of town. Forty were arrested; they said another 200 men were to follow the next day."Bold tramps in Iowa", The New York Times. July 12, 1878. Retrieved 4/21/08. May 4, 1880 Labor dispute Hundreds of workers at the Omaha Smelting Works surrounded the plant on May 4, and went on strike. When more than 100 black men were brought in as strikebreakers, the strikers offered to pay their fares back to their homes. The black workers reportedly accepted, joining the white workers on the picket line until transportation arrived. The strike continued until at least May 21. That day at least 700 men paraded, as city leaders threatened to bring in the state militia."Strike at Omaha", The New York Times. May 22, 1880. Retrieved 4/24/08. March 9, 1882 Labor dispute The Camp Dump Strike pitted state militia against unionized strikers. Reportedly the first Omaha riot to receive national attention, on March 12 the Nebraska governor called in U.S. Army troops from Fort Omaha to protect strikebreakers at the Burlington Railroad. They brought along Gatling guns and a cannon for defense, and the event purportedly ended.[950DE2D9163DE533A25751C1A9659C94639FD7CF "The strike at Omaha"], The New York Times. March 12, 1882. Retrieved 4/16/08. November 13, 1887 Politics A crowd of 200 gathered in the Sheelytown (ethnic Irish) neighborhood of South Omaha and threatened the anarchists who hung an anarchist flag outside a building. As a larger crowd started gathering, police arrived and removed the flag without further incident."The Red flag torn down", The New York Times. November 14, 1887. Retrieved 4/21/08. August 2, 1891 Labor dispute A mob of 500 attacked the Omaha Granite and Smelting Works, later an ASARCO facility, damaging property and driving out workers. Police were reported powerless against the mob, and the mob was labeled drunk."Omaha mob at work", The New York Times. Retrieved 4/20/08 October 8, 1891 Lynching Joe Coe, also known as George Smith, a 50-year-old African-American railroad porter, was lynched by a mob after being accused of raping a 14-year-old. Coe had an alibi and witnesses attesting to his innocence. Because he had been convicted of rape several years before in neighboring Council Bluffs, the mob assumed he was guilty of this event. A crowd of 10,000 gathered for the lynching.Bristow, D.L. (2002) A Dirty, Wicked Town. Caxton Press. p 253. 1893 Labor dispute A strike by hundreds of butchers in South Omaha's packing houses was broken by the government bringing in six companies of militias and strikebreakers. April 22, 1894 Unemployment Kelly's Army, an "industrial army" of 2000 homeless men, were traveling from California to Washington, D.C. to protest the continuing recession, at the time the worst in the country's history. They traveled through Omaha. Kelly's Army was halted in Council Bluffs when a mob of Omaha supporters stopped a train bound for St. Louis, Missouri. They intended to commandeer the train for Kelly's Army, but were stopped by military forces from Fort Omaha."Afraid of Kelly's Army of Tramps: Railroads Call on Omaha Authorities for Protection to Property", The New York Times. April 25, 1894. Retrieved 4/20/08. When the supporters had first tried to get a train in Council Bluffs, they were thwarted by the railroads. They crossed back over the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge and went to the Union Pacific Yards to get an engine and several cars. But, "General" Kelly would not accept the stolen equipment. Soon Kelly's Army kept moving into Iowa on foot."Wouldn't use a stolen train; Mob of Kelly's friends seized engines and cars", The New York Times. April 21, 1894. Retrieved 4/20/08.Jack London. "The March of Kelly's Army: The Story of an Extraordinary Migration." Retrieved 4/20/08 August 6, 1894 Labor dispute A general strike called on July 29 escalated when workers in the South Omaha meatpacking plants were replaced by strikebreakers. Widespread violence was reported against the imported laborers, and two companies of Nebraska state militia arrived on August 10 to protect them. After their arrival, workers continued unabated."Strikers rioting in South Omaha; Two Men Injured and Serious Trouble Is Anticipated To-day", The New York Times. August 8, 1894. Retrieved 4/21/08."Militia guard South Omaha", The New York Times. August 11, 1894. Retrieved 4/21/08. The strike was broken September 10.Dillingham Commission. (1918) Reports of the Immigration Commission: Immigrants in the Industries. U.S. Senate. p 369. March 12, 1895 Religious conflict Fighting among Polish immigrants at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Omaha included clubs, fist fighting and a gunfight between a fake priest of the parish and parishioners who supported the local Bishop. When the Bishop took the side of the parishioners against the priest over ownership of the church, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court."A fight follows Mass", The New York Times. March 13, 1895. Retrieved 4/16/08. When the Court ruled in favor of the Bishop, the dissident priest and his supporters burnt the building to the ground. The congregation disbanded and never reformed.Peattie, E.W. (1895) "How they live at Sheely: Pen picture of a strange settlement and its queer inhabitants," in (2005) Impertinences: Selected Writings of Elia Peattie, a Journalist in the Gilded Age. University of Nebraska Press. p 61. November 18, 1898 Transportation After the Trans-Mississippi Exposition many of the large streetcars employed to carry throngs of passengers were removed from service by the Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway and Bridge Company. In the face of increasingly uncomfortable crowding on the small cars, a large demonstration by a group of residents from the Walnut Hill suburb took over several streetcars in the city to protest."Against crowding cars: Members of an Omaha Association Take a Firm Stand", The New York Times. November 19, 1898. Retrieved 4/21/08. February 5, 1899 Legal process Dozens of people were locked into the Vendome Hotel in Downtown Omaha during a smallpox outbreak that primarily afflicted guests. Several guests, mainly traveling businessmen, stirred to riot-like proportions when they were kept in the building after almost a week, claiming they were denied due process by being incarcerated against their wills."Omaha's hotel prisoner", The New York Times. February 6, 1899. Retrieved 4/20/08.

20th century Social tensions related to two world wars and several labor disputes resulted in violent upheavals in the first half of the 20th century, including the lynching of a black man in Omaha, followed by a race riot in 1919. The first recorded incidences of recorded racial discrimination occurred, pitting whites against Japanese and Greek immigrants. The emerging civil rights movement in Omaha raised expectations and the Vietnam War produced its own tensions. In the 1960s, African Americans violently protested in several different events, reacting against police brutality and other issues.