While it’s commonly believed slavery ended on Juneteenth, the date in June 1865 when the last slaves, in parts of Texas, learned the Civil War had ended and they were free people, the Reconstruction era brought new threats to new-found freedoms. The formation of the Ku Klux Klan, passage of the Black Code – legal slavery – and Jim Crow laws were among those challenges, according to a local museum exhibit dedicated to the history of the Emancipation Proclamation.

In a recent survey of the best cities for college graduates to start their careers in, Omaha ranked 15th in the large cities category. CoworkingCafe, an information hub for CRE news and reports, compared cities across the country based on employment, financial, and lifestyle opportunities in each city. The cities were split into three categories based on population: large cities with populations of over 400,000, small cities with populations less than 150,000, and medium cities sitting in-between. 

Black and Pink is a national LGBTQIA+ organization that works to liberate and work alongside system-impacted LGBTQIA+ individuals as well as those who have been impacted by HIV/AIDS. The organization started in 2005, they are based in Omaha, NE and are working with many chapters across the country to assist queer individuals. Black and Pink is also an abolitionist organization and works to end the current incarceration system in the United States.