Native American Biography: Tsökahovi (Lewis/Louis) Tewanima, Hopi

 Lewis grew up on the Hopi reservation.  He lived in a time of conflict between the government and the parents of Hopi children.  The government wanted all the children in government schools.  They eventually took the children by force.  Lewis was first at Fort Wingate in New Mexico and then Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.  The philosophy was "kill the Indian, save the child."  Even with the trauma, at Carlisle Lewis was introduced to track and field.  He would become a long distance runner.  He participated in the Olympics of 1908 and 1912 winning the silver medal for the marathon in the 1912 Olympics.  He also participated in the Boston Marathon and was ahead for 18 miles, but did not finish the race.  

The Old Douglas Street, Aksarben Bridge

 The Douglas Street Bridge AKA Aksarben Brudge is the old street car bridge which ran between Omaha and Council Bluffs.  It was built by the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company and was opened to traffic in 1888.  It closed to traffic in 1966 after the completion of the I-480 bridge.  The bridge was also a toll bridge for cars.  A group, Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, raised money to purchase the bridge and charged tolls to pay back the bond.  When the bond was paid it became a free. bridge as of September 24, 1947.  The toll booths were paraded through town and it was declared toll free day.  The street cars had stopped running in 1955.  Buses and cars had become more popular.

A view under the freeway

This old pier is all that uis left of the Aksarben Bridge

Native American Biography: Alaqua Cox

 Aloqua Cox portrays an interesting character in the Marvel Universe, Maya Lopez/Echo.  Echo premiered in the Disney+ television series as Hawkeye as a character who is a rival to Hawkeye.  The character Echo is Native American, deaf and lost part of her leg.  In similar fashion Cox is Menominee and Mohican.  She grew up on the Menominee Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin.  She played high school sports for the Wisconsin school for the deaf.  She is deaf, and she lost part of her leg and uses prothesis.  The spin off series Echo explores more history of the character and her Native American background.  Her fiance is also deaf and they have two sons together.

Interesting tid bit is that both Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld both learned some ASL sign to communicate with Aliqua Cox on the set.  Hawkeye and Kingpin use sign to communicate with her.  She is an advocate for Native American issues and for the deaf community.

African American Cowboy Biography: Nat Love

 Nat Love not only had a distinctive name, his nickname was Deadwood Dick, but also a distinctive look with long hair, a hat pulled back and a white neckerchief.  He was born in Tennessee.  He won a raffle and used the prize money to travel west.  He first worked o a ranch in Texas and learned to shoot, rope and wrestle cattle.  He would later win a competition in Deadwood, South Dakota.  He won the shooting, roping, bronco riding, bridling and almost every prize.  He lived in Arizona and was contemporary with Pat Garret, Bat Masterson and Billy the Kid.  He married andf decided to settle down and from there lived in Los Angeles and worked for the train company.  He wrote his own autobiography.

Information from the book, The True West by Mifflin Lowe.

Magazine Article Review: Dash of the Decade: The Race, and Race in Lincoln

Dash of the Decade: The Race, and Race n Lincoln, Nebraska History Magazine, Lincoln Nebraska, Fall 2026.

The AAU National Champions were held in 1935 at Lincoln Memorial Stadium.  Six of the fastest sprinters in the world faced each other.  Jesse Owens was expected to win, with Ralph Metcalfe close behind.  However the day turned out differently.  Eulace Peacock won the 100 meter dash with Owens close behind.  Owens also lost to Peacock in the broad jump, eveen though both cleared 26 feet.  Owens had three very good jumps, and would have broken the world record had not Peacock already done so.  It appeared at that time Peacock was the better athlete.  However a pulled thigh muscle kept Peacock from qualifying for the Olympics where Owens ran and jumped to fame.  

Book Review: Spotlight on Native Americans: Cheyenne

 Spotlight on Native Americans: Cheyenne by Terra Rose Maron, Power Kids Press, Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 2016.

The Cheyenne are a people from the great plains area.  Their creation story says the creator mae three types of people, white, red and hairy.  The red people followed the hairy south.  The hairy people disappeared.  When the red people returned north the wite people were gone, so the red peope made their homes there.  The creator gavre them corn and buffalo.  At this time they lived in th Great Lakes area.  However their enemies (the Ojibwes and  Assiniboine drove them west.  There the became nomadic buffalo hunters.  By the 1830s the Cheyenne had become two groups, one in the north, Montana area and the other in the south, Arkansas area.  

War came to the Cheyenne on the Plains after an incident with a wagon train.  The soldiers from Fort Kearney countered by killing eight Cheyenne.  This lead to a war that lasted 30 years.  As part of this war Colonel John Chivington with a militia attacked a peaceful village under Black Kettle.  Many women and children were killed.  This is known as the Sand Creek Massacre.  Over 230 Native Americans were killed.  In 1867 Black Kettle's camp was attacked again by Colonel George Armstrong Custer.  Black Kettle was killed.  The southern Cheyenne were forced onto a reservation in Oklahoma.  In the 1860s the northern Cheyenne joined Red Cloud and the Sioux in the war over the Bozeman Trail.  They forced the abandonment of forts along the trail.  In the 1870s was broke out again as gold miners were taking Indian land with the support of the army.  The army was defeated at the battle of Rosebud and the Little Big Horn.  However these victories only made the army fight harder and bring more and more men.  They too were forced onto the reservation in Oklahoma, with the promise they could return if they did not like it.  They did not.  It was a sickly place with malaria.  Even though originally denied, a group returned to Montana and were finally granted a reservation.  

The Cheyenne were famous for their horse riding skills.  Young people learn to ride from a young age.  Cheyenne were famous for their governing council of 44, four chiefs from eleven different bands.  There are less bands today.  Cheyenne also had different societies.  The most famous of these is the dog soldiers.  

There are two sacred relics for the Cheyenne.  The first is the sacred arrows which are replenished each year in a cremony.  The other is the sacred medicine or buffalo hat.  The northern Cheyenne guard the sacred medicine hat and the northern Cheyenne the sacred arrows.  The southern Cheyenne share their reservation with the Arapaho.  They deal with environmental issues.  The southern Cheyenne support a wind farm.  The northern Cheyenne fight against strip coal mining.

Union Pacific Memorial, Omaha

 The Union Pacific extended from Omaha to the west.  The site at the corner of 10th and Cuming is where the original shops were located where the built the items and tools needed for the railroad.