Charting our Path: UNO Libraries' Traveling Exhibits and Panels

UNO Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections continue to share the history of UNO’s Department of Black Studies through the new project Charting our Path: UNO Libraries' Traveling Exhibits and Panels. This program is funded in part by Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.

The project will create a traveling exhibit about the Department of Black Studies that will debut in February 2022. A two-part speaker series featuring members of the Omaha 54 and Black Studies alumni will also be presented in April 2022. The Black Studies department was established in 1971 and is one of the oldest in the country, made possible through the commitment and activism of students, faculty and staff, and members of the Omaha community. One group of students, known as the Omaha 54, were essential to the department’s founding. This group of students was arrested following a peaceful sit-in at the UNO Chancellor’s office.

The traveling exhibit is available for loan to schools, libraries, archives, museums, and other venues as well as UNO locations. Claire Du Laney, Outreach Archivist, is the grant’s PI and curator of the forthcoming traveling exhibitions as well as the exhibition Charting Our Path: Celebrating 50 Years of Black Studies (1971-2021) in Archives and Special Collections on the first floor of Criss Library. The exhibition is on view during regular library hours of operation through August 31, 2022. Find more info on the schedule of the traveling exhibit here.

For more information about Black Studies' 50th Anniversary events and programming, visit the Black Studies webpage.

About Charting Our Path

Charting Our Path: Celebrating 50 Years of Black Studies is a cooperative project of the Department of Black Studies and UNO Libraries. The project will honor the 50th anniversary of the Department of Black Studies in 2021-2022 through campus and community speakers, exhibits, and events as well as supporting expanding research, creative activity, and open access instructional resources. Support is provided by UNO’s Strategic Investment in Social Justice, Inequality, Race, and Class initiative. Charting Our Path is one of the ‘Telling Our Story’ proposals and was funded for 2021-2023. The project leads are Dr. Cynthia Robinson, Amy C. Schindler, and Claire Du Laney.

About the University of Nebraska at Omaha Libraries

UNO Libraries fulfill the UNO mission through dynamic services, highly qualified and adaptive personnel, unique and extensive collections, and accessible learning spaces and environments. With its two locations, Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library on UNO’s Dodge Campus and in KANEKO-UNO Library located in Omaha’s Old Market, UNO Libraries provides UNO students, faculty and staff, and the Omaha community with the resources and materials needed to excel academically and professionally.

About Humanities Nebraska

Charting our Path: UNO Libraries' Traveling Exhibits and Panels is one of many grants funded by Humanities Nebraska (HN). HN awards more than $257,000 in grants each year.

Created in 1973 as a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Humanities Nebraska (HN) is an independent, non-profit organization governed by a volunteer board of public and academic members. Humanities Nebraska funds programs that explore Nebraska's heritage, build community awareness, and strengthen our ties to cultural traditions at home and abroad.

The Nebraska Cultural Endowment is a public/private partnership that designates funds to HN for distribution.

Any non-profit group is eligible to apply for a grant from HN. The HN staff is available for grant consultation and will read proposal drafts. Contact the HN office if you need assistance with a project idea.

For a copy of Humanities Nebraska grant guidelines, contact HN at 215 Centennial Mall South, Suite 330, Lincoln, NE 68508, phone 402-474-2131, fax 402- 474-4852, or e-mail at info@humanitiesnebraska.org. The entire grant guideline packet is online at: www.humanitiesnebraska.org.