African Americans in Nebraska or Black Nebraskans are residents of the state of Nebraska who are of African American ancestry. With history in Nebraska from the Lewis and Clark Expedition through the Civil War, emancipation, the Reconstruction era, resurgence of white supremacy with the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow Laws, the Civil Right movement, into current times, African Americans have contributed vastly to the economics, culture, and substance of the state.
History The history of African Americans in Nebraska includes towns and cities across the state and crosses all sectors of society, including the economy, culture, politics, education, and much more.
The first recorded Black person in Nebraska was York (1770–75 – after 1815), an explorer who was enslaved by William Clark and traveled on the Missouri River with the expedition. There are records of free Black people and enslaved Black people living at and nearby Fort Lisa, which was located north of Omaha on the Missouri near the Ponca Hills of rural Douglas County.Fletcher Sasse, Adam. (2021) #OmahaBlackHistory: African American People, Places and Events from the History of Omaha, Nebraska. Olympia, WA: CommonAction Publishing. They reportedly lived at the post and in neighboring farmsteads.Federal Writers' Project. (1939) "The Negro comes to Nebraska" , Negroes in Nebraska. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
Early Black residents
After the Nebraska Territory was established, enslaved people were brought during the slave trade.
The first free black person to live in Nebraska was Sally Bayne, who moved to Omaha in 1854. A clause in the original proposed Nebraska State Constitution from 1854 limited voting rights in the state to "free white males", which kept Nebraska from entering the Union for almost a year. In the 1860s, the U.S. Census showed 81 "Negroes" in Nebraska, ten of whom were accounted for as slaves.(1938) Authur Goodlett. American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936–1940. Retrieved October 29, 2007. At that time, the majority of the population lived in Omaha and Nebraska City.
Some of the earliest African-American residents of Nebraska may have arrived by the Underground Railroad via a small log cabin outside of Nebraska City built by Allen Mayhew in 1855. There are several documented reports of activity on the Nebraska Underground Railroad.(2003) "The Negroes of Nebraska: Immigration" . Retrieved October 29, 2007.
There were settlements, including villages, towns and neighborhoods created by African Americans across the state. The earliest Black settlements in Nebraska were neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska City, Brownville, and Auburn. Later, the cities of Valentine, Grand Island, North Platte, Beatrice, and Alliance all had numbers of Black people living there.
The Black population in Grand Island existed in the city since at least the 1870s, with a Black neighborhood including churches, businesses, and more. It included people who worked as cowboys, maids, chauffeurs, and other servitude positions. There were also railroad porters and others.Fletcher Sasse, Adam. "A History of African Americans in Grand Island, Nebraska," NorthOmahaHistory.com. Retrieved December 5, 2025.
John Grant Pegg was the Leading Colored Republican of the Western States Meet in Conference. In 1906, he was appointed as the City Weights and Measures Inspector by J. C. Dalhman, Mayor of Omaha 1910. Pegg held the post for 10 years until his death in 1916. He encouraged and sponsored many of the black settlers who went by wagon out to Cherry County, Nebraska, to homestead benefiting from The Kincaid Homestead Act of 1904, where a black colony was established and where his brother, Charles T. Pegg, lived.Mr. John Grant Pegg Realizes Fond Dream, Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) 8 Aug 1912, page 9, accessed January 20, 2018 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16707088/
Black homesteaders tended to settle in central and western Nebraska. They formed small colonies and stayed largely self-sufficient when possible. Other substantial Black homesteading counties in Nebraska were in Dawson, Harlan, and Custer. Other rural towns with identifiable populations included Crawford, Stromsburg, and Seward. The towns of Overton, Brownlee, and DeWitty were established by Black settlers."African American Homesteaders," by Making Invisible Histories Visible, Omaha Public Schools. Retrieved November 23, 2022. Today, the town of DeWitty, later known as Audacious, is recognized as the longest-standing Black town in Nebraska history."DeWitty - An African American Settlement in the Sandhills," Explore Nebraska History. Retrieved November 23, 2022."The DeWitty Settlement," Nebraska Public Media. Retrieved November 21, 2022."DeWitty Nebraska", National Park Service. Retrieved November 21, 2022.Garner, C. (August 4, 2018) "DeWitty/Audacious, Nebraska (1908- )" BlackPast.org. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
African American populations in Nebraska's two largest cities grew greatly over the decades. In smaller cities the population receded for several reasons. For instance, after living there for more than 50 years, the Black community of more than 200 residents in North Platte was violently forced to leave the city in 1929. Meanwhile, settlement in Omaha continuously grew from 1870 through 2010, when the number of Black residents started to recede in the city. Settlement in Lincoln grew continuously from its establishment into the 1950s, when it began receding. The city of Omaha and particularly the North Omaha community is largely associated with the state's Black population today, despite the once-wide-ranging presence of Black people across Nebraska.Works Progress Administration. (1939) "Negroes in the professions", Negroes in Nebraska. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
Politics
Political organizing by Black people in Nebraska began in the 1860s. Edwin R. Overall (1835–1901) was an early civil rights activist and politician in Omaha. After being an Underground Railroad conductor in Chicago, he moved to Omaha, where he led the establishment of the National Afro-American League and a Nebraska branch of the same organization. He was the first Black person in Nebraska to be nominated to the state legislature in 1890, which he lost."The Life of Edwin Overall" by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com. Retrieved February 3, 2021. From the 1870s through the 1880s, political organizing among Black people in Nebraska was led by several people. In Omaha, Cyrus Bell, Dr. Stephenson, John Lewis, Edwin Overall, and Samuel Colman organized the Black community, working to support local Black newspapers and advocate for local and national improvement in rights for African Americans.[No Headline]. Weekly Louisianian (New Orleans, Louisiana). Saturday, September 11, 1875. Page: 1
The Golden Link Literary Club was founded in Omaha in 1871 to serve as a de facto political organizing committee, with many political leaders closely associated with it. The club itself was closely associated with the St. John's A.M.E. Church. Members included Dr. W. H. C. Stephenson as president, Dr. Matthew O. Ricketts, Abraham W. Parker,father of George Wells Parker W. H. Washington, Rev. R. Ricketts, Emmanuel S. Clellans, J. Johnson, C. C. Cary, and Overall's wife.. In 1882, the club celebrated the seating of John R. Lynch to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi after a long legal battle.Loud for Lynch the Colored People Celebrating the Seating of the Representative. Omaha Herald (Omaha, Nebraska). Wednesday, May 10, 1882 Volume: XVII Issue: 163 Page: 8
In 1892, Dr. Matthew Ricketts was the first black person elected to serve in the Nebraska Legislature and in 1895 Silas Robbins was the first black lawyer admitted to the Nebraska State Bar Association.Fletcher Sasse, Adam. "African American Firsts in Omaha", NorthOmahaHistory.com. Retrieved November 22, 2022. Since then, there have been more than 13 African American legislators in Nebraska's House."A History of North Omaha's African American Legislators", Adam Fletcher Sasse, North Omaha History.com. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
In 1897 and 1898, Edwin Overall organized a Congress of White and Colored Americans to be held in Omaha during the Trans-Mississippi Exposition which took place from June 1 to November 1, 1898.A Proposed Congress. Afro-American Sentinel (Omaha, Nebraska). Saturday, January 22, 1898. Page: 1 Overall worked with Rev. Dr. John Albert Williams and Cyrus D. Bell to bring a convention of the National Colored Personal Liberty League led by Henry Clay Hawkings to Omaha August 17, 1898, during the Expo.For an Ethical Conference. Omaha Daily Bee (Omaha, NE), July 24, 1898, Part I, Page 5 Nebraska Governor Holcomb and Mayor Moores welcomed those in attendance, and Cyrus Bell and J. C. Parker of Omaha and D. Augustus Stroker, J. Milton Turner, and Dr. Crossland played prominent roles as well with P. G. Lowery supplying music.Colored American Day. Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska). Tuesday, August 16, 1898. Page: 2 On August 22, the National Colored Press Association met in Omaha as wellColored American Day. Planning for a Large Attendance and a Good Time. Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska). Wednesday, August 10, 1898. Volume: XXXIII Issue: 314 Page: 5
The first State Convention of Black people ever held in Nebraska was held in 1871."Conventions by year." (n.d.) Colored Conventions Project. In 1876, Dr. Stephenson, Edwin Overall, William R. Gamble (father of Lucy Gamble) and the Rev. W. W. H. Wilson were elected to be a delegates to the National Convention of Colored Men in Nashville on April 5, 1876, .Here and There. Brevities over the Wires from Various Places. Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois). Wednesday, January 19, 1876. Volume: IV Issue: 257 Page: 5 R. D. Curry, John Lewis, Calvin Montgomery, and P. Hampten were alternates to the Nashville Convention. One of the most important issues in the meeting was the denunciation of lynchings, particularly in Louisiana and Mississippi.The Colored Men. A State Convention Held In Omaha Yesterday. The Proceedings--Officers Elected--Addresses. Daily Nebraska Press (Nebraska City, Nebraska). Wednesday, January 19, 1876. Page: 4 In May 1876, he was a delegate to the Nebraska Republican Convention.The Convention. Proceedings of the Second Day of the Nebraska Republican Convention at Fremont. Daily Nebraska Press (Nebraska City, Nebraska). Thursday, May 25, 1876. Page: 1