Speaker: Eric Ewing, Executive Director of Great Plains Black History Museum Across every state in the Great Plains, African American homesteaders claimed land, built communities, and shaped a distinct chapter of American history. Though their numbers were smaller than those of the vast wave of White settlers, Black homesteaders established homes, cultivated farms, and created […]

Speaker: Beth Dotan, Research Assistant Professor at the Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln This program will take a glimpse into the collections of Holocaust survivors who settled in Nebraska and Nebraska WWII servicemen who liberated individuals interned in Nazi concentration camps, existing under inconceivable conditions. A […]

Speakers: José Garcia and Linda Garcia Linda and Jose were each raised by Mexican American parents who grew up in both urban and rural settings, and who themselves were children of Mexican immigrants.Their deep understanding of the Spanish American experience—from the historical beginnings with the 1541 Coronado Expedition to the Fabled Land of Cibola (a […]

Authentic Mexican dancing performed by area children. The mission of Raices de mi Pueblo is to provide opportunity for the children to develop their self-esteem and confidence in their many talents and abilities.

Meet El Vaquero, America’s first cowboy, as portrayed by Angel Vigil. A composite of many different historic figures, El Vaquero is a Spanish colonial cowboy. These cowboys were the first Europeans to ride the open ranges and sleep under the stars. They learned to tame the wild horses of the plains and delivered vast herds […]

Speaker: Jessica Downing-Ford, Chautauqua Scholar Five years after Abigail Smith married John Adams, the American colonies adopted the British law of coverture. This law held that no female person had a legal identity. Married women owned nothing—not even the clothes on their backs. More importantly, they had no rights over their own bodies, or custody […]

Speaker: Taylor Keen Picture Cave is a 1,300 year old rock art site approximately 60 miles south of present day St. Louis and the former city of Cahokia. Picture Cave was inhabited by the ancestors of the Omaha, Ponca, Kansa/Kaw, Osage and Quapaw tribes, otherwise known as the Dhegiha. The stories entombed in the rock […]

Speaker: Angel Vigil, Chautauqua scholar Why are there rodeos? Why are there cowboys? Why are there horses in America? Where did the word cowboy come from? The Stetson cowboy hat? Why were there TV shows like Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, and The Cisco Kid? This fascinating presentation traces cowboy culture’s roots from the open plains of Spain to […]

Speaker: Dr. Catherine Biba, Associate Professor of History at Hastings College When the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 granting women the right to vote across the country, it marked a momentous expansion of American participatory democracy. But the battle to get to this point was long, contentious, and complicated; and it looked different in […]

Speaker: Vickie Schaepler, Coordinator of the Japanese Hall and History Project at Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering, Nebraska Faced by laws targeting only Asians, Japanese Immigrants began to settle in Nebraska in the early 1900’s. Many came following the railroads but stayed due to opportunities in business and agriculture. They overcame adversity, brought […]

Speaker: Rob Bozell, Retired State Archeologist Rob Bozell takes viewers back to the 15th Century, when Nebraska was populated only by Indigenous peoples. Learn their stories from their perspectives.  (Concurrent session with "Lewis and Clark: What Was Their Value Worth? – Seaman, York, Sacagawea, & Pomp Stories")