Nebraska History

On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory, divided by the Parallel 40° North. The territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha.

In the 1860s, the first great wave of homesteaders poured into Nebraska to claim free land granted by the federal government. Many of the first farm settlers built their homes out of sod because they found so few trees on the grassy land.

Nebraska became the 37th state in 1867, shortly after the American Civil War. At that time, the capital was moved from Omaha to Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln after the recently assassinated President of the United States Abraham Lincoln.

The Arbor Day holiday began in Nebraska, and the National Arbor Day Foundation is still headquartered in Nebraska City.

Prohibition in the U.S. was adopted in 1918, with Nebraska serving as the thirty-sixth and final state required to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution [4].

Nebraska has a long history of civil rights activism, starting in 1912 with the foundation of Omaha's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter. Recent legislation proposed by Senator Ernie Chambers continues a legacy that includes the Black Panthers, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Creighton University's unique DePorres Club.