The stories are distinct, but their origin is the same: a neighborhood so vibrant, so unified that individual accomplishments and devastations touched every house from Tech High to Kountze Park. A neighborhood where, depending on the night, they might see Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Ray Charles, James Brown, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens or Jackie Robinson – just walking down 24th Street. A neighborhood despite its humble size and remote location in middle America, became a progressive beacon in the national protest movement, recognized by would-be presidents and would-be revolutionaries.
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Photos: The Nebraska Hall of Fame
Edward Creighton, 1820-1874
Helped start many Omaha institutions, including First National Bank and Union Pacific
Red Cloud, 1822-1909
Oglala war leader who was born near what is now North Platte
Robert W. Furnas, 1824-1905
Second governor of Nebraska, who lived in Brownville
Standing Bear, 1829-1908
Ponca Chief Standing Bear was a Native civil rights leader who lived in the Niobrara River valley.
J. Sterling Morton, 1832-1902
Secretary of agriculture and founder of Arbor Day who farmed in Nebraska City
Charles E. Bessey, 1845-1915
Botanist who taught at the University of Nebraska, where he also served as chancellor
William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody, 1846-1917
Soldier, hunter and entertainer who owned a ranch near North Platte
Susette LaFlesche Tibbles, 1854-1903
Native American rights activist who was born in Bellevue, raised on the Omaha Indian Reservation near Macy, later lived in Lincoln and died in Bancroft
John J. Pershing, 1860-1948
World War I general who taught military science at UNL and graduated from the NU College of Law
George Norris, 1861-1944
George Norris: Senator, congressman and father of Nebraska's unicameral legislature who lived in Beatrice, Beaver City and McCook.
Thomas R. Kimball, 1862-1934
Architect who designed Omaha's Burlington Station, St. Cecilia Cathedral and many other notable buildings in the region
Nathan Roscoe Pound, 1870-1964
Dean of the NU College of Law and Harvard Law School who was born and raised in Lincoln
Hartley Burr Alexander, 1873-1939
Philosopher who was born in Syracuse, taught at UNL and wrote the inscriptions on the Nebraska State Capitol
Willa Cather, 1873-1947
Pulitzer Prize-winning author who lived in Red Cloud
Alvin Saunders Johnson, 1874-1971
Economist, founder of The New School and editor of the The New Republic who was born near Homer
Grace Abbott, 1878-1939
Social worker and advocate for immigrants and children who was born and raised in Grand Island
Bess Streeter Aldrich, 1881-1954
Author who lived in Elmwood and Lincoln
Dwight Palmer Griswold, 1893-1954
Senator and governor who was born in Harrison and ran the newspaper in Gordon
Nathan J. Gold, 1894-1970
President of the Gold and Company Department Store in Lincoln
Mari Sandoz, 1896-1966
Author who was born near Gordon and later lived in Lincoln
Loren Eiseley, 1907-1977
Anthropologist and nature writer who lived in Lincoln and studied at UNL
