OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – There is a big birthday party going on during this year’s Native Omaha Days celebration.
The Omaha Star is celebrating 85 years of publishing in the state of Nebraska.
The newspaper and the iconic building have been a vital part of Omaha’s African-American community.
On Wednesday afternoon, officials gathered for a ceremony to recognize the paper’s new owner and celebrate the Star’s longevity.
It is a flower worthy of celebration for Terri Sanders and the Omaha Star.
Sanders is the aforementioned new owner and the publisher of the paper.
“It’s a big deal because the paper is vibrant,” Sanders said.
The Star’s first paper was published in 1938.
Civil rights activist Mildred Brown and her husband founded the paper. When Mildren died in 1989, the paper passed to the hands of her niece, Dr. Maguerite Washington. Phyllis Hicks was the paper’s third published, followed by Frankie Williams. Terri Sanders is the fifth Black woman to operate the Omaha Star.
“It was important for me not to see this [paper] go away and no harm or no foul, but someone else takes this over that knew nothing about our community,” Sanders said. “I grew up here.
Vicki Quaites-Ferris also grew up in North Omaha. Vicki is getting things ready for the Native Omaha Days celebration.
She remembers reading The Star years ago.
“The fact that the Omaha Star is still running, the fact that we can still be able to put information and newsworthy information about what’s happening in the African-American community,” Quaites-Ferris said. “To have that spread out into other parts of the city.”
For more than eight decades, the Omaha Star has told the good news of the city’s Black community.
Pictures from the Star over the years concentrate on the history of all things good that happened in a community that’s often viewed in a negative light.
“Those pictures show what organizations were vibrant back then and those pictures show who were some of the people in the community,” Sanders said. “So, Whitney young, who went on to national prominence, got his start right here in Omaha, Nebraska.”
Sanders says when she meets with other Black newspaper owners across the country, they are amazed that a Black paper has been in business for such a long time — in Nebraska, no less.
“People always ask me when I travel, ‘Are there Black people in Nebraska?’” Sanders said. “Yes, there are… so I have a t-shirt that says that.”
Sanders told 6 News that it’s important to continue to tell the good stories of the Black community, especially now, when there are forces working to minimize and rewrite the true Black story in America.
“We are here to tell the story and we’ve been here 85 years,” Sanders said. “We will not be erased.”
Sanders says the Star will continue to grow and she has plans to eventually convert the historic building into a museum.
Copyright 2023 WOWT. All rights reserved.
