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On July 9, 1938, the first issue of the Omaha Star was published. The only newspaper focused on the Black community in Omaha, the Star sought to “bring joy and happiness” by publishing positive stories about its community. Also reporting on local and national news, the paper encouraged its readers to become politically active. The Omaha Star’s banner read: “Dedicated to the service of the people that no good cause shall lack a champion and that evil shall not thrive unopposed.”
Mildred Brown was that champion. Though the Omaha Star was co-founded with her husband, Edward Gilbert, she took over completely when they divorced in 1943. Brown was one of the most active members of the Omaha community and a staunch supporter of the DePorres Club. In 1963 Brown joined another Civil Rights group called 4CL, which eventually overtook the DePorres Club. An affiliate of the Congress of Racial Equality, the DePorres Club “foreshadowed the efforts of the civil rights activists throughout the nation in the 1960s.” Founded in 1947 at Creighton University, the club aimed to improve interracial relations on campus and boycotted certain companies that refused to hire Black employees, fighting against segregation. After being booted from the school for controversiality, Brown offered the Omaha Star office as a new meeting place.
In 1952, Brown met with the Omaha City Council to make her argument for the Omaha & Council Bluffs Streetcar Company to hire Black employees and therefore “end their lily-white hiring practices.” With a demanding yet charismatic presence, Brown packed a punch by saying, “If our boys can drive Jeeps, tanks, and jet planes in Korea in the fight for democracy, make democracy work at home.”
Through the newspaper, Brown sought to pave the way for racial equality and provide more opportunities for Black workers. She hired young Black people and provided them with scholarships. The Omaha Star publicly applauded businesses when they included Black employees in their workforces, as Woolworth’s did in 1962: “The store did not discriminate in its hiring policy. It hired people in accordance with their ability to produce and that is the way to put democracy in action,” the paper read.
Brown became a beloved figure in the Black community and beyond, as she caught the attention of President Lyndon Johnson, who commended her on her efforts and the balanced coverage of civil rights issues in the Omaha Star. He also appointed Brown to be a goodwill ambassador to East Germany.
As the first African American and one of only three women to be inducted into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame, Brown has earned her renown in the city. After her death in 1989, her niece, Dr. Marguerita Washington, ran the Omaha Star until 2016. Brown was posthumously inducted into the Nebraska Journalism Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Omaha Press Club Journalists of Excellence Hall of Fame in 2008. The Omaha Star building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places due to the paper’s historical and journalistic significance, as well as its role in the civil rights movement.
The newspaper is still published today by the Mildred D. Brown Memorial Study Center, a nonprofit organization founded by Washington, with a mission to “provide access to the Omaha Star’s inspirational archive materials and resources, to promote the future of community-based media, and to help area students, especially African Americans, envision career possibilities in journalism and communications.”
For more information, visit mildredbrowncenter.org.
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
