A History of African Americans in Nebraska

Black people have been present in Nebraska from its earliest days as a U.S. territory. The first U.S. Census of Nebraska, conducted in 1860, counted eighty-one Black people who, together, formed .28 percent of the young territory’s 28,841 residents. That number grew to 3,443 Black residents in 1900, representing 3.5 percent of the 102,555 residents of the state of Nebraska. The number and location of Black Nebraskans varied greatly through the twentieth century, comprising 13.7 percent of the state’s population in 1940 and 11.8 percent in 2020. Although African Americans have been relatively small in numbers, the historical record reflects the formative role that they have played in Nebraska’s history, and in the national movements for political equality and racial justice. The struggles Black Nebraskans endured as they contributed to the political, economic, social, and cultural development of the state prepared them for leadership on the national stage. If one is to know the history of Nebraska, and of Nebraska’s influence on U.S. history, they must know the history of Nebraska’s Black people and Black communities.