The DePorres Club was an early pioneer organization in the
Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska, whose "goals and tactics foreshadowed the efforts of
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
activists throughout the nation in the 1960s." The club was an affiliate of
CORE
Core or cores may refer to:
Science and technology
* Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages
* Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding
* Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber
* Core, the centra ...
.
History
The DePorres Club was formed in 1947 by a group of African American high school students and white college students who worked with Rev. John Markoe of
Creighton University
Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...
, a Catholic
Jesuit University in Omaha. The club’s early mission was to improve interracial relations on the Creighton campus. Their patron,
Martin de Porres
Martín de Porres Velázquez (9 December 1579 – 3 November 1639) was a Peruvian lay brother of the Dominican Order who was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. He is the patron saint of mixed-r ...
, a
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
vian of mixed ancestry, was
canonized
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...
by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in 1962. Within a year DePorres extended their reach, working to challenge the history of
racism in Omaha. According to club member and eventual founder of the
Great Plains Black History Museum
The Great Plains Black History Museum currently resides on the first floor of the historic Jewell Building in North Omaha, Nebraska. It was formerly located at 2213 Lake Street in the Near North Side neighborhood in North Omaha. It was housed in ...
Bertha Calloway
Bertha Calloway (July 14, 1925 – November 25, 2017) was an African-American community activist and historian in North Omaha, Nebraska. The founder of the Negro History Society and the Great Plains Black History Museum, Calloway won awards from ...
, the organization deliberately targeted Reid’s Ice Cream, the Coca-Cola bottling plant at 3200 North 30th Street, Dignotti’s Doughnut Shop, Harry’s Tea Club, the Greyhound Bus station, the
Hotel Fontenelle
Hotel Fontenelle was an upscale hotel located at 1806 Douglas Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Designed by noted architect Thomas Rogers Kimball in the Late Gothic Revival style, it opened in 1915 and was demolished in 1983. It was named aft ...
, the
Paxton Hotel
The Paxton Hotel, formerly known as Paxton Manor and currently known as The Paxton, is located at 1403 Farnam Street in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Designed by local architect Joseph G. McArthur, the current building was constructed i ...
, and
Eppley Air Field for not hiring black workers.
The group met at Creighton until it became too controversial and was asked to move off campus. ''
Omaha Star
''The'' ''Omaha Star'' is a newspaper founded in 1938 in North Omaha, Nebraska, by Mildred Brown and her husband S. Edward Gilbert. Housed in the historic Omaha Star building in the Near North Side neighborhood, today the ''Omaha Star'' is the on ...
'' publisher and community ally
Mildred Brown
Mildred D. Brown (December 20, 1905–November 2, 1989) was an African-American journalist, newspaper baker, and leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska. Part of the Great Migration (African American), Great Migration, she came fro ...
volunteered the newspaper's office for the club after Creighton kicked them off campus. In 1948 a group of 30 members of the DePorres Club participated in the club's first sit-in at a restaurant by the
Douglas County Courthouse in
Downtown Omaha
Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerline ...
. When the group arrived the owner told them that white customers would stop coming into the restaurant if blacks were served; in response, the group stayed until the owner agreed to allow African American patrons. The Club also called for a general boycott against the
Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company for their segregation practices and poor service to the
Near North Side neighborhood four years before the
Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States ...
.
Aside from its activism, the club regularly held other activities, as well. They staged events to raise funds, had their own dances and picnics. They painted houses for poor families and stuffed acres of envelopes.
In the following years the club hosted a community center called the Omaha DePorres Center to meet the needs of low-income families, and eventually started branches in Denver and Kansas City.
[(n.d]
Mildred Brown
''Nebraska Studies.''
See also
*
Timeline of the civil rights movement in Omaha, Nebraska
*
History of North Omaha, Nebraska
North Omaha, Nebraska has a recorded history spanning over 200 years, pre-dating the rest of Omaha, encompassing wildcat banks, ethnic enclaves, race riots and social change. North Omaha has roots back to 1812 and the founding of Fort Lisa. It ...
*
History of Omaha, Nebraska
The history of Omaha, Nebraska, began before the settlement of the city, with speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa staking land across the Missouri River illegally as early as the 1840s. When it was legal to claim land in Indian Co ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deporres Club
History of North Omaha, Nebraska
Civil rights movement
African-American history in Omaha, Nebraska
African Americans' rights organizations
African-American Roman Catholicism
Organizations based in Omaha, Nebraska