Omaha, Nebraska

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Bullrun 2010 stops in Omaha, NE - Ice T & Coco spotting

Lady Gaga Interview on Channel 94.1 Omaha, Nebraska

Walking Tour of Downtown Omaha Nebraska - Part 1

Strength Training For Wrestlers-Omaha Nebraska

Ultimate Baseball Academy- Omaha, Nebraska

Dr. Robert Young's lecture in Omaha Nebraska- 6 of 7

#3 Close Up OMINOUS CLOUDS Omaha NE Storm 6-11-08

TERROR-Intro/Out of My Face (Omaha, NE) June 2010

Dr. Robert Young's lecture in Omaha Nebraska- 7 of 7

Taylor Swift Speak Now Fan Video : Omaha, NE

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1975 Omaha tornado
Coordinates: 41°15′N 96°00′W / 41.25°N 96°W / 41.25; -96
The 1975 Omaha tornado is a violent tornado that hit the Omaha, Nebraska metropolitan area. It was part of a two-day outbreak that struck the Midwest and Southern United States on May 6–7, 1975, ending in the very early hours of May 8 across Louisiana. South Dakota, Iowa, Texas and Mississippi were also struck by several tornadoes. In total, 36 tornadoes touched down across 6 states. The outbreak killed three people, while injuring hundreds more.
During the early afternoon of May 6, 1975, a tornado watch was issued for much of eastern Nebraska. Initial tornado activity started in northeast Nebraska throughout the first half of the afternoon. At around 4:15 PM, a tornado warning was issued for the Omaha area and an F4 tornado touched down about 15 minutes later in Sarpy County, Nebraska. The storm then moved north-east, cutting into Douglas County crossing Interstate 80 (injuring several motorists) and through west-central sections of the city of Omaha. The tornado chopped a path across 10 miles (16 km) of streets and residences, crossing the city's busiest intersection at 72nd & Dodge before lifting at 4:58 PM.

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Aksarben Village
Aksarben Village is a new million sq ft mixed-use development located on the land of the old Ak-sar-ben coliseum and horse track in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. There is over 750,000 sq ft (70,000 m²) of space for research and business office and 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m²) of retail and entertainment space. There are over 500 housing units and a 135 room hotel. There is also a 4.5-acre (1.8 ha) park that features a 90 ft (27 m) tall obelisk.
After the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben turned over the land to Douglas County in the 1990s, the county first tried to keep the horse track and coliseum open, but both failed. The land was then turned over to the Aksarben Future Trust who now owns the land. On June 26, 2005, plans were announced to turn the land into a pedestrian friendly mixed-use development combined with the south campus of University of Nebraska at Omaha, Aksarben Campus, and the already built First Data Campus. Construction began in 2006 and the first businesses began to open in 2008.
Aksarben Village is home to some of Omaha's major companies. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska has built and is occupying a 10-story building that opened in 2010 to house their headquarters.First Data built two office buildings there in the mid 2000's. Other business that have opened offices include DLR Group, Grubb & Ellis/Pacific Realty, and Olsson Associates.

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Atlanta
Atlanta ( /ətˈlæntə/, stressed /ætˈlæntə/, locally /ætˈlænə/) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S. It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.
Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998. The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city." With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation. The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.

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Baltimore
Baltimore ( /ˈbɒltɨmɔr/, colloquially /ˈbɔl.mɔr/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is located in the central area of the state along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. The independent city is often referred to as Baltimore City to distinguish it from surrounding Baltimore County.
Founded in 1729, Baltimore is the largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic United States and is situated closer to Midwestern markets than any other major seaport on the East Coast. Baltimore's Inner Harbor was once the second leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States and a major manufacturing center. After a decline in manufacturing, Baltimore shifted to a service-oriented economy.
At 620,961 residents in 2010, Baltimore's population has decreased by one-third since its peak in 1950. The Baltimore Metropolitan Area has grown steadily to approximately 2.7 million residents in 2010; the 20th largest in the country. Baltimore is also a principal city in the larger Baltimore–Washington combined statistical area of approximately 8.4 million residents.

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Blue Barn Theatre
The Blue Barn Theatre, located at 614 S 11th Street in Omaha, Nebraska, is a nationally recognized theater.
Begun in 1989, the theater was founded by a group of recent graduates from the theater program at Purchase College: Kevin Lawler, Hughston Walkinshaw, and Nils Haaland. The theater was started at the invite of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, with whom the theater initially shared a space.
The Blue Barn has primarily presented the works of contemporary American playwrights, including David Mamet, Sam Shepherd, Christopher Durang, and Lanford Wilson. The theater has also acted as a showcase for Omaha-based playwrights, such as Tim Siragusa, Robert Vivian, and Max Sparber. The theater often shares castmembers with Omaha-born filmmaker Alexander Payne, who has been a longtime supporter of the theater, volunteering to be interviewed on the stage of the Omaha Community Playhouse by theater cofounder Hughston Walkinshaw as a fundraising effort in 2002.

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Bockscar
Bockscar, sometimes called Bock's Car or Bocks Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Man" nuclear weapon over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the second atomic weapon used against Japan. It was assigned to the 393d Bomb Squadron, 509th Composite Group.
The name painted on the aircraft after the mission is a pun on "boxcar" after the name of its aircraft commander, Captain Frederick C. Bock.
Bockscar was flown on August 9, 1945, by the crew of another B-29, The Great Artiste, and piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney, commander of the 393d BS. The plane was co-piloted by 1st Lt. Charles Donald Albury, the normal aircraft commander of Crew C-15.The Great Artiste was designated as the observation, instrumentation support plane for the second mission, and another B-29, The Big Stink, flown by Group Operations Officer Major James I. Hopkins, Jr., as the photographic aircraft. The mission had as its primary target the city of Kokura, Japan, and as its only secondary, Nagasaki.

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Boston
Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.
In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and the first subway system in the United States (1897).

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Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon (French: République du Cameroun), is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. French and English are the official languages.
Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ("River of Prawns"), the name from which Cameroon derives. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884.

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Chicago
Chicago (ⁱ/ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃɪˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index. The city retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008^[update], the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, Chicago has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, ranking just behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.

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China
China (ⁱ/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.

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Cleveland
Cleveland ( /ˈkliːvlənd/) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location on the lake shore, as well as being connected to numerous canals and railroad lines. Cleveland's economy has diversified sectors that include manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, and biomedical. Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
As of the 2010 Census, the city proper had a total population of 396,815 and was the 45th largest city in the United States, and the second largest city in Ohio. It is the center of Greater Cleveland, the largest metropolitan area in Ohio. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2011 ranked as the 28th largest in the United States with 2,068,283 people. Cleveland is part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which in 2011 had a population of 2,871,084, and ranked as the country's 15th largest.

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Cozzens House Hotel
The Cozzens House Hotel, later known as the Canfield House, was a pioneer hotel located at 9th & Harney Streets in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Constructed in by Union Pacific promoter George Francis Train, the 120 room hotel cost $60,000 to build in 1867. The hotel was widely regarded as the finest hotel between Chicago, Illinois and San Francisco, California when it was constructed.
In May 1867 Train was at the Herndon House in Omaha when a windstorm hit the building. Train requested an African American steward in the hotel to stand with his back to the window he was sitting by, fearing the wind would blow it in and expecting the steward to block the glass with his own body. The hotel steward objected, and Train became angry and declared he would build a better hotel within 60 days. The Cozzens House Hotel, which was called the "Aladdin's Castle of George Francis Train", was his response.
That same day Train bought the lot across the street from the Herndon House and secured a builder for the facility. Asking the builder how much it would cost to make a three-story, 120 room establishment, the builder replied $1000 a day. Train said, "Show me you are worth it. I will be back to Omaha in 60 days and expect to sleep in the building." The building was finished upon his return. The building was a three story frame structure in the shape of a T, the front part being 132 feet (40 m) long by thirty-two feet wide, and the rear extension is 100 feet (30 m) long and fifty feet wide.

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Czechoslovak Museum
The Czechoslovak Museum is located at 2021 U Street in South Omaha, Nebraska.
The original Sokol Hall was established in 1911. It did not contain a Czech museum at that time, but was specifically a social hall for the Sokol organization. In the 1980s the museum was added to the building (a new building that replaced the original which had been destroyed by fire). Two Sokol members, Ed and Bea Pavoucek established the museum, gathering display materials from friends, other Sokol members, family, and their travel to Czechoslovakia and later, the Czech Republic. The museum continues today, though both Pavouceks are deceased (Edward in 1997 and Beatrice in 2006). The museum is administered independently of Sokols, though the board membership of the museum overlaps with Sokol leadership. Today the museum highlights the history of Slovaks and Czechs in Omaha. Located at Omaha’s only Sokol (est. 1911), the Czechoslovak Museum includes fine hand-cut lead crystal, costumes, photographs, showcases of memorabilia, a Czech/English reference library and a gift shop, which features only items imported from the Czech Republic. The museum is open by appointment.

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Dahlman neighborhood
The Dahlman neighborhood is located south of downtown Omaha, Nebraska. One of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, it was originally platted in 1856. It was later named after "Cowboy" James Dahlman, an eight-term mayor of Omaha.
Originally platted in 1854, the Dahlman neighborhood was full of ethnic enclaves. This fact was reflected in the Catholic Churches in the neighborhood: St. Wenceslaus served the area's Czechs (Bohemians), St Joseph's served Germans, St. Patrick's for the Irish, and St. Philomenia for the Italian community.
Dahlman has several landmarks. They include the Omaha Botanical Gardens at 6th and Cedar Streets, and the Bohemian Cafe at 13th and William Streets. The Prague Hotel and the Sokol Auditorium at 13th and Martha Streets are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The area is also home to Grace University at 9th and William Streets, St. Frances Cabrini Church at 10th and William Streets and Dietz United Methodist Church at 10th and Worthington Streets.
Dahlman Park, located at 615 Pine Street, has horseshoe pits, basketball and tennis courts and walking paths.

wn.com/Dahlman_neighborhood
Dallas
Dallas ( /ˈdæləs/) is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Divided between Collin, Dallas, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties, the city had a population of 1,197,816 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau.
The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (the DFW MSA) that according to the March 2010 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of 6,371,773. The metroplex economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2010 gross metropolitan product of $374 billion.
Dallas was founded in 1841 and was formally incorporated as a city in February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas and a major city in the American South, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea.

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Denver
Denver ( /ˈdɛnvər/) (Arapaho: Niinéniiniicíihéhe' ) is the largest city and the capital of the U.S. state of Colorado. As Denver County, it is the second most populous county in Colorado after El Paso County, which surpassed Denver County as of the 2010 Census. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (1.6 km) or 5,280 feet (1,609.344 m) above sea level, which is defined by the elevation of the spot of a benchmark on the steps of the State Capital building. The elevation of the entire city ranges from 5,130 to 5,680 feet. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Union Station and is the temporal reference for the Mountain Time Zone.

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Detroit
Detroit ( /diˈtrɔɪt/) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan, and the seat of Wayne County. It is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people, and serves as a major port on the Detroit River connecting the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the French explorer, adventurer, and nobleman Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac.
In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777 and ranked as the 18th most populous city in the United States. The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area with a population of 4,296,250 for the six-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, the United States' eleventh-largest, and a population of 5,218,852 for the nine-county Combined Statistical Area as of the 2010 Census. The Detroit–Windsor area, a critical commercial link straddling the Canada–U.S. border, has a total population of about 5,700,000.
Known as the world's traditional automotive center, "Detroit" is a metonym for the American automobile industry and an important source of popular music legacies celebrated by the city's two familiar nicknames, the Motor City and Motown. Other nicknames arose in the 20th century, including City of Champions beginning in the 1930s for its successes in individual and team sport,The D, D-Town, Hockeytown (a trademark owned by the city's NHL club, the Red Wings), Rock City (after the Kiss song "Detroit Rock City"), and The 313 (its telephone area code) Detroit became known as the "great arsenal of democracy" for its support of the U.S. role among the Allied powers during World War II.

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Dodge Park
Coordinates: 41°21′37″N 95°57′20″W / 41.360176°N 95.955539°W / 41.360176; -95.955539
N.P. Dodge Memorial Park, or simply Dodge Park, is a recreational area located at 11001 John J. Pershing Drive in North Omaha, Nebraska. Located on the Missouri River, the park is a haven for fishing, water skiing, and boating, as well as hiking throughout its riparian forests. Baseball fields, soccer fields, horseshoe pits, and tennis courts are included for sporting events. A picnic area, pavilions, historical monuments, and a campground are all popular among users.
The site of Dodge Park was a location of one of Lewis and Clark's campgrounds on their expedition across the Louisiana Purchase in 1804. Shortly thereafter Manuel Lisa, a Spanish fur trader, established Fort Lisa immediately to the northwest of the park. In the 1820s the American Fur Trading Company started Cabanne's Trading Post immediately to the north.
Dodge Park was donated to the City of Omaha in 1930 by a local real estate family. Their original donation of 146 acres (0.59 km²) grew into 450. A portion of the land donated is located west of Pershing Drive and was named Hummel Park as a tribute to J. B. Hummel, a long time superintendent of the Omaha's Parks and Recreation Department.

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Dundee Theatre
The Dundee Theatre is an historic 475-seat movie theater located at 4952 Dodge Street in Omaha, Nebraska USA. The Dundee is the last active single-screen movie theater in Omaha.
Built in 1925, the Dundee Theatre originally opened as a stage theater for vaudeville acts, playing host to many performers including famed escape artist Harry Houdini. The building was converted into a movie theater during the 1930s due to the Great Depression, however a stage, dressing rooms, and the original gold curtains still remain behind the movie screen.
In 1958, the owners of the Indian Hills Theater, the Cooper Foundation, purchased the Dundee from the Goldberg Circuit. The Dundee showed art and foreign movies until 1965, when the Dundee ran The Sound of Music for 118 weeks. At the time, it was second only to a theater in London for the longest first run of a film.
After a few more long runs of popular features, the theatre returned to programming art and foreign films. In 1974, the Cooper Foundation sold the Dundee to Edward Cohen and David Frank of Omaha. They changed the theater's offering to family pictures in an attempt to create a "top-notch house". The theater closed for a short time and in 1980 was purchased and renovated by the current owner, Denny Moran of Moran Theatres.

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Durham Museum
The Durham Museum (formerly known as the Durham Western Heritage Museum) is located at 801 South 10th Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The museum is dedicated to preserving and displaying the history of the United States' western region. The museum is housed in Omaha's former Union Station.
In 1971 after the establishment of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (now Amtrak), Union Pacific Railroad closed Union Station.The station was donated to the City of Omaha in 1973 and two years later the Western Heritage Museum opened. The museum closed from 1995 to 1996 for a $22 million renovation project largely funded by Charles and Margre Durham. For their contributions on the project, the Western Heritage Museum was renamed the Durham Western Heritage Museum the following year. On April 6, 2008 the Durham Western Heritage Museum became the Durham Museum. The change was driven by recent partnerships Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress and the National Archives which have provided the museum with a larger range of shows not limited to western heritage. The museum is an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affiliations program.

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El Museo Latino
El Museo Latino is a museum featuring Latino and Hispanic art and history that is located at 4701 South 25 Street in South Omaha, Nebraska. Established in 1993, it is the first Latino art & history museum & cultural center in the Midwest, and is one of only eleven Latino museums in the United States.
El Museo Latino opened in the Livestock Exchange Building in 1993, and in 1997 moved to its present brick and red tile roof building, an 1887 schoolhouse that was formerly the Old Polish Home.
El Museo Latino features exhibits about Latino and Hispanic art and history. Educational programs for kindergarten through twelfth grade, post-secondary, and adult audiences at the museum include lectures, slide presentations, films, art classes, workshops, demonstrations, art history classes, gallery talks, guided visits, and dance classes. Additionally, El Museo Latino is a resource center for Latino studies in the Midwest. Museum highlights have included an exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution organized by actor Edward James Olmos , along with works by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Photographer David Bacon and painter Terry Rosenberg have also been featured.

wn.com/El_Museo_Latino
Enola Gay
Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel (later Brigadier General) Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war. The bomb, code-named "Little Boy", was targeted at the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and caused extensive destruction.
The Enola Gay gained additional attention in 1995 when the cockpit and nose section of the aircraft were exhibited during the bombing's 50th anniversary at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution in downtown Washington, D.C. The exhibit was changed due to a controversy over original historical script displayed with the aircraft. Since 2003, the entire restored B-29 has been on display at NASM's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
The Enola Gay (B-29-45-MO, AAF Serial Number 44-86292, Victor number 82) was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed Martin) at its Bellevue, Nebraska, plant, at what is now known as Offutt Air Force Base, and was one of 15 B-29s with the "Silverplate" modifications necessary to deliver atomic weapons, which included an extensively modified bomb bay with pneumatic doors, special propellors, modified engines and the deletion of protective armor and gun turrets. Enola Gay was personally selected by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group, on 9 May 1945, while still on the assembly line.

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Equatoria
Equatoria is a region in the south of present-day South Sudan along the upper reaches of the White Nile. Originally a province of Egypt, it also contained most of northern part of present day Uganda including Albert Lake. It was an idealistic effort to create a model state in the interior of Africa that never consisted of more than a handful of adventurers and soldiers in isolated outposts.
Equatoria was established by Samuel Baker in 1870. Charles George Gordon took over as Governor in 1874, followed by Emin Pasha in 1878. The Mahdist Revolt put an end to Equatoria as an Egyptian outpost in 1889. Later British Governors included Martin Parr. Important settlements in Equatoria included Lado, Gondokoro, Dufile and Wadelai. The last two are in the part of Equatoria that is now in Uganda.
Under Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, most of Equatoria became one of the eight original provinces. The state of Bahr al Ghazal was split from Equatoria in 1948. In 1976, Equatoria was further split into the states of East and West Equatoria. The region has been troubled with violence during both the First and Second Sudanese Civil Wars, as well as the anti-Ugandan insurgencies based in Sudan, such as the Lord's Resistance Army and West Nile Bank Front.

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Field Club
Field Club is a neighborhood located in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. Roughly bounded by Pacific Street, 32nd Avenue, Center St., and 36th Street, the neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district on November 15, 2000. Field Club is the location of dozens of historically significant homes in the Omaha area, including the Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens.
In its earlier years Field Club was a late 19th century suburb located at the southwest boundaries of Omaha. It was connected to the city center by the new trolley system which made it a convenient place to live for the well-to-do of the time. It was a highly desirable area, as it was plotted between two developed green sites. The first of these green areas, east of the neighborhood, was Hanscom Park, Omaha's first city park, which was founded in 1872. Hanscom Park was named for early Omaha attorney Andrew Jackson Hanscom, influential in the battle to secure Omaha as the territorial capital. He was a major donor of land that became that park. The second site, located on the west, was the Omaha Field Club. Founded in 1898, it was Omaha's first country club and golf course, and is the namesake of the neighborhood.

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Fontenelle Boulevard
Fontenelle Boulevard is a roadway in the Omaha boulevard system located on the north end of Omaha, Nebraska. The boulevard shares its namesake Logan Fontenelle with several local institutions and fixtures, including Fontenelle Elementary School and Fontenelle Park.
Originally called Boulevard Avenue before 1900, Fontenelle Boulevard runs north from Military Road, intersecting with Sorenson Parkway at North 39th Street. It then flows northeast to become North 36th Street, which in turn becomes Martin Avenue. It effectively forms a ribbon from the neighborhood of Benson to Florence.
The Omaha Old People's Home was built at 3325 Fontenelle Boulevard in 1917, and today is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Nebraska School for the Deaf was located just off Fontenelle at 3223 North 45th Street. The Nebraska Children's Home Society built one of the first orphanages in Nebraska at 3549 Fontenelle Boulevard in 1885.
The American Lung Association Omaha Corporate Cup has been sporadically held along Fontenelle Boulevard since 1981.

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Fort Omaha
Fort Omaha, originally known as Sherman Barracks and then Omaha Barracks, is an Indian War-era United States Army supply installation. Located at 5730 North 30th Street, with the entrance at North 30th and Fort Streets in modern-day North Omaha, Nebraska, the facility is primarily occupied by Metropolitan Community College. A Navy Operational Support Center and Marine Corps Reserve unit, along with an Army Reserve unit occupy the periphery of the 82.5 acre fort. The government deeded all but four parcels of the land to the community college in 1974.
This is where Ponca Chief Standing Bear and 29 fellow Ponca were held prior to the landmark 1879 trial of Standing Bear v. Crook. Judge Elmer Dundy determined that American Indians were persons within the meaning of the law and that the Ponca were illegally detained after leaving Indian Territory in January 1879. The Fort Omaha Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district includes the 1879 General Crook House Museum, as well as the 1879 Quartermaster's office, 1878 commissary, 1884 guardhouse, 1883 ordnance magazine and 1887 mule stables.

wn.com/Fort_Omaha
Germany
Germany (ⁱ/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km² and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.

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Ghana
Ghana ⁱ/ˈɡɑːnə/ is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire.
Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms, including the inland Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Akyem, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Fante among others. Non-Akan states created by the Ga also existed as did states by the Dagomba. Prior to contact with Europeans trade between the Akan and various African states flourished due to Akan's gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874 over parts but not all of the country.
The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the First sub-Saharan African nation to do so from European Colonialism. The name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa.

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Gifford Park
Gifford Park is a historic neighborhood in midtown Omaha, Nebraska. It is roughly bounded by the North Freeway on the east, North 38th Street on the west, Dodge Street on the south and Cuming Street on the north. Its namesake park was added to the City parks network in 1916. The neighborhood is bounded by several historic neighborhoods, including Bemis Park, Gold Coast, and the Near North Side.
The land that comprises Gifford Park was part of one of the first claims in Omaha City, made by the first mayor of Omaha, Jesse Lowe. The community is named after Dr. Harold Gifford, Sr. who donated the property that became Gifford Park at 35th and Davenport Streets to the City of Omaha in 1912 for a neighborhood park. It was added to the city park system in 1916. The area of 33rd and California was a busy commercial center in the 1920s and 30s. The area included grocery stores, an upholstery shop, dentist, a delicatessen, tavern, bakery, theatre, barber shop, and a variety store. Other businesses in the area included a filling station, ice house, the California Beauty School, garage, butcher shop and drug store.

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Hanscom Park
Hanscom Park is a historic neighborhood in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. Its namesake public park is one of the oldest parks in Omaha, donated to the City in 1872. U.S. President Gerald R. Ford was born in a house in the Hanscom Park neighborhood. Its boundaries are Center Street on the north, South 42nd on the west, Interstate 480 on the east and Interstate 80 on the south.
Hanscom Park is one of the oldest parks and residential subdivisions in Omaha. Andrew J. Hanscom and James Megeath donated the 50-acre (200,000 m²) park in October 1872. Hanscom bought the land from Colonel Sam Bayliss, one of the original homesteaders in Omaha City in 1854. When the community was developed through the 1890s, it was on the western fringe of Omaha. The site was ideal for an upscale development because of its access to a new electric trolley line connecting it with downtown.
The neighborhood is home to several notable houses. One of them, the George N. Hicks House, has been designated an Omaha Landmark. In 1913, U.S. President Gerald Ford was born in his grandfather's mansion at 3202 Woolworth Avenue in the Hanscom Park neighborhood. Today the Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens celebrates this location.

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Hectare
The hectare ( /ˈhɛktɛər/ or /ˈhɛktɑr/; symbol ha) is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres (100 m by 100 m), and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the 'are' was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare ('hecto-' + 'are') was thus 100 'ares' or 1/100 km². A hectare of land is about 2.47 acres.
When the metric system was further rationalised in 1960, resulting in the International System of Units (SI), the are was not included as a recognised unit. The hectare is one of the non-SI units accepted for use with the SI units.
The metric system of measure was first given a legal basis in 1795 by the French Revolutionary government. The law of 18 Germinal, Year III (7 April 1795) defined five units of measure:
Although the law defined the length of the metre, there was no practical way of accurately measuring the metre (and hence the are) until 1799 when the first standard metre was manufactured and adopted.
The standard metre remained in the custody of successive French governments until 1875 when, under the Convention of the Metre, its supervision passed into international control under the auspices of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (GCPM). At the first meeting of the GCPM in 1889 when a new standard metre, manufactured by Johnson Matthey & Co of London was adopted, the are and hectare were automatically redefined.

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Herndon House
The Herndon House, later known as the International Hotel and then the Union Pacific Headquarters, was an early hotel located at Ninth and Farnam Streets in present-day Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Built in 1858 by Omaha pioneer Dr. George L. Miller along with several associates, it was financed by the sale of city-donated land and a $16,000 loan. Used as the headquarters building of the Union Pacific Railroad for more than 50 years, it was demolished in 1922.
The hotel was originally named for Lieutenant William Lewis Herndon of the U.S. Navy whose exploration of the Amazon River in the early 1850s captivated the United States. Billed as the best hotel in town, it was one of the finest between Chicago, Illinois and San Francisco, California. The building had more than 100 rooms and featured a fine menu for visitors, including clams and oysters, as well as local game.
Numbered among the guests were political figures, soldiers, railroad men, Indian chiefs, river-boat men, and ranchers. They included William T. Sherman, Major General Grenville M. Dodge, James E. Boyd, David Butler, Alvin Saunders, General J. M. Thayer, Brigham Young, Thomas C. Durant, P. T. Barnum, J. Sterling Morton and P. W. Hitchcock. In 1858 Logan Fontenelle, Joseph LaFlesche, and a contingent including Standing Hawk, No Knife, Young Crane, Little Hill and others stayed at the Herndon for several days, bound for Washington, D.C. to see President James Buchanan. A. J. McCune, one of the early operators of the hotel, also ran the Douglas House, another early Omaha hotel.

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Hollywood
Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood, and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.
On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg and Paul Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as if it were independent, although it is not the typical practice of the City of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. The bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor of California on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz^{[citation needed]} – two areas that were hitherto considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos. The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 123,436 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.

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Hotel Fontenelle
Hotel Fontenelle was an upscale commercial hotel once located at 1806 Douglas Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Designed by noted architect Thomas Rogers Kimball in the Late Gothic Revival style, it was built in 1914 and demolished in 1983. It was named for Logan Fontenelle, a well-known chief of the Omaha Tribe.
For many years it was the flagship of hotel magnate Gene Eppley's Eppley Hotel Company, which in the 1950s was the largest privately held hotel company in the US. He operated 22 units in six states. Eppley lived in the hotel after buying it in 1920, and died there in 1958. He had sold his hotel empire to the Sheraton Corporation, for thirty million dollars. The hotel remained in operation as the Sheraton-Fontenelle until 1968, at which time it became an independent, reverting back to the Fontenelle name. It was abruptly closed in 1970 due to the deteriorating condition of the hotel. Many attempts were made to redevelop it, but It remained empty until being demolished in 1983, when the site became a parking lot. The site is now the parking lot of the Roman L. Hruska Federal Courthouse.

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Houston
Houston ( /ˈhjuːstən/) (Alibamu: Yosti ) is the largest city in the state of Texas, and the fourth-largest city in the United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of 656.3 square miles (1,700 km²). Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, which is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with 6.08 million people as of July 1st, 2011.
Houston was founded in 1836 on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou. It was incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837, and named after then-President of the Republic of Texas—former General Sam Houston—who had commanded at the Battle of San Jacinto, which took place 25 miles (40 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center—the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Mission Control Center is located.

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Indian Hills Theater
The Indian Hills Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, was built in 1962 as a movie theater showcasing films in the Cinerama wide-screen format. The theater's screen was the largest of its type in the United States. Despite the protests of local citizens, Hollywood legends, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the theater was demolished in 2001 by Nebraska Methodist Health System for a parking lot.
The theater was built for Swanson Enterprises of Omaha at a cost of one million dollars by A. Borchman Sons Company. The theater was leased to the Cooper Foundation of Lincoln, Nebraska, for exhibition of films in the Cinerama format.
The theater was designed by architect Richard L. Crowther of Denver, Colorado, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Crowther is considered one of America's leading architects specializing in environmentally responsible design, passive-solar and natural-energy heating and cooling. Mr. Crowther has authored numerous books, including Sun-Earth: Sustainable Design, 1983, reprinted 1994, and Affordable Passive Solar Homes, SciTech, 1984. The original blueprints for the theater are in the Denver Public Library Special Collections Department.

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Indianapolis
Indianapolis /ˌɪndiəˈnæpɵlɨs/ (abbreviated Indy /ˈɪndi/) is the capital of the US state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 829,718. It is Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S. Census, is the 12th largest city in the U.S., the second largest city in the Midwest (behind Chicago), the second most populous state capital (after Phoenix, Arizona), and the most populous state capital east of the Mississippi River. Indianapolis is also one of the fastest growing regions in the United States.
For much of its history, Indianapolis has oriented itself around government and industry, particularly manufacturing. Today, Indianapolis has a much more diversified economy, contributing to the fields of education, health care, and finance. Tourism is also a vital part of the economy of Indianapolis, and the city plays host to numerous conventions and sporting events. Of these, perhaps the most well known is the annual Indianapolis 500 and the NHRA U.S. Nationals. Other major sporting events include the Brickyard 400 and the Men's and Women's NCAA Basketball Tournaments. 2012 marked the first time Indianapolis hosted the Super Bowl. Super Bowl XLVI was played at Lucas Oil Stadium, on February 5, 2012 in Downtown Indianapolis. Also held in Lucas Oil Stadium is the Drum Corps International World Championships, and the Music for All Bands of America Grand National Championships.

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Ireland
Coordinates: 53°20′N 08°00′W / 53.333°N 8°W / 53.333; -8
Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɪrlənd] ( listen); Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea.
Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is one of the most deforested areas in Europe. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland.

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Japan
Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.

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Joslyn Art Museum
The Joslyn Art Museum is the principal fine arts museum in the state of Nebraska, United States of America. Located in Omaha, it is the only museum in the state with a comprehensive permanent collection. Although it includes works from antiquity to the present day, its greatest strengths are in 19th and 20th century American and European art.
The museum opened in 1931, a gift to the people of Omaha from Sarah H. Joslyn in memory of her husband, George A. Joslyn. It occupies a large and impressive Art Deco building designed by John and Alan McDonald, constructed of Georgia Pink marble, with 38 different marbles from all over the world in the interior, close to downtown Omaha. The decorative panels on the exterior were designed by sculptor John David Brcin and refer to the peoples of the plains - the original Native American inhabitants and the later European explorers and settlers. Inscriptions carved on the building were written by Hartley Burr Alexander. A substantial extension, designed by Lord Norman Foster, opened in 1994.

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Joslyn Castle
The George and Sarah Joslyn Home (officially named "Lynhurst," yet known locally as Joslyn Castle), is a folly located at 3902 Davenport Street in the Gold Coast Historic District of Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Built in the Scottish Baronial style in 1903, the Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It was designated as an Omaha landmark in 1979.
George Joslyn made his fortune in the ready-print news business and owned the Western Newspaper Union. The Joslyns gave generously to many Omaha-area organizations, including Sarah Joslyn's donation which made Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum possible.
Joslyn Castle was designed by John McDonald, an important local architect. Shortly after George Joslyn bought a farm outside of Omaha in 1893, he began landscaping it. Landscape architect Jens Jensen designed the grounds, as well as the rock work and pools for the conservatory inside the house.
The 35-room mansion had four stories, as well as a carriage house tower, built before the Castle in 1901, and 5 acres (20,000 m²) of formal gardens and landscaping, including greenhouses, which were completed in 1899. George Joslyn spared little expense planting mature trees on the 5.5-acre (22,000 m²) grounds, and Sarah collected rare botanicals from around the world, especially orchids. According to The Friends of Joslyn Castle, the home was built in just eleven months at a cost of $250,000.

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Kenefick Park
Kenefick Park is located at 100 Bancroft Street in South Omaha, Nebraska. Located next to the Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha's botanical gardens, the park features "two of the greatest locomotives ever to power Union Pacific Railroad."
Sitting at the southwest point of the Lauritzen Gardens property along Interstate 80, the park welcomes motorists to Nebraska. It features a display of Union Pacific Big Boy #4023 and Union Pacific Centennial #6900 locomotives.
Kenefick Park was relocated in 2004 from Abbott Drive north of downtown to its current location in order to accommodate the CenturyLink Center Omaha. It is named in honor of former UP Chairman and CEO John Kenefick.

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Kenya
Kenya ( /ˈkɛnjə/ or /ˈkiːnjə/), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km² and a population of nearly 41 million, representing 42 different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi.
Kenya has a warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian Ocean which changes to wildlife-rich savannah grasslands moving inland towards the capital Nairobi. Nairobi has a cool climate that gets colder approaching Mount Kenya, which has three permanently snow-capped peaks. The warm and humid tropical climate reappears further inland towards lake Victoria, before giving way to temperate forested and hilly areas in the western region. The North Eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake (after Lake Superior in the US and Canada) and the world's largest tropical lake, is situated to the southwest and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya is famous for its safaris and diverse world-famous wildlife reserves such as Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park.

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Kountze Place
The Kountze Place neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska is a historically significant community on the city's north end. Today the neighborhood is home to several buildings and homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located between North 16th Avenue on the east to North 30th Street on the west; Locust Street on the south to Pratt Street on the north. Kountze Place was annexed into Omaha in 1887.
Bordered by the historic neighborhoods of the Near North Side, Saratoga and East Omaha, Kountze Place was an early upper middle class residential suburb developed by Omaha banker Herman Kountze in 1883. It was originally accessible only via streetcar.
In 1898 Kountze Place was home to the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, a showcase for Nebraska's agricultural and Omaha's urban lifestyles. In 1899 some of the land that the Expo occupied was developed into Kountze Park. The area around the Park was filled in with housing afterwards, with some Exposition buildings being converted into grand houses.

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Lithuania
Lithuania (ⁱ/ˌlɪθuːˈeɪniə/ or /ˌlɪθjuːˈeɪniə/; Lithuanian: Lietuva), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the largest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and a Russian exclave (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3.2 million as of 2011, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The Lithuanians are a Baltic people, and the official language, Lithuanian, is one of only two living languages (together with Latvian) in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, who was crowned as King of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian state, on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.

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Los Angeles
Los Angeles (ⁱ/lɒs ˈændʒələs/ loss-AN-jə-ləs; Spanish: [los ˈaŋxeles], which is written Los Ángeles; British pronounciation /lɒs ˈændʒəliːz/ loss-AN-jə-leez) with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in the state of California, and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of 468.67 square miles (1,213.8 km²), and is located in Southern California. Often known by its initials L.A., the city is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan statistical area and Greater Los Angeles Area region, which contain 12,828,837 and nearly 18 million people respectively as of 2010, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world and the second largest in the United States. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States, while the entire Los Angeles area itself has been recognized as the most diverse of the nation's largest cities. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos".

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Massachusetts
Massachusetts (ⁱ/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts is the 7th least extensive, but the 14th most populous and the 3rd most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state features two separate metropolitan areas – the eastern Boston metropolitan area and the western Springfield metropolitan area. Approximately two thirds of the state's population lives in Greater Boston, most of which is either urban or suburban. Western Massachusetts features one urban area – the Knowledge Corridor along the Connecticut River – and a mix of college towns and rural areas. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states and has the US's sixth highest GDP per capita.

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Mexico
Mexico (ⁱ/ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/; Spanish: México, IPA: [ˈmexiko] ( listen)), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States of America; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over 760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the thirteenth largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, the capital city.
In Pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory would eventually become Mexico as the colony's independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War and territorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

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Miami
Miami ( /maɪˈæmi/ or /maɪˈæmə/) is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625. The 42nd largest city proper in the United States, with a population of 408,568, it is the principal, central, and most populous city of the South Florida metropolitan area, and the most populous metropolis in the Southeastern United States. According to the US Census Bureau, Miami's metro area is the seventh most populous and fifth-largest urban area in the United States, with a population of around 5.5 million.
Miami is a major center and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2010, Miami was classified as a Alpha- World City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory. In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked thirty-third among global cities. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami "America's Cleanest City", for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets and city-wide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, and the world's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power. Miami is nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America", is the 2nd largest U.S. city (after El Paso) with a Spanish-speaking majority, and the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality.

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Milwaukee
Milwaukee /mɪlˈwɔːkiː/ is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States, and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the City of Milwaukee has a population of 594,833. Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee–Racine–Waukesha Metropolitan Area with a population of 1,751,316 as of 2010. Milwaukee is also the regional center of the seven county Greater Milwaukee Area, with an estimated population of 2,014,032 as of 2008.
The first Europeans to pass through the area were French missionaries and fur traders. In 1818, the French-Canadian explorer Solomon Juneau settled in the area, and in 1846 Juneau's town combined with two neighboring towns to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee. Large numbers of German and other immigrants helped increase the city's population during the 1840s and the following decades.

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Minne Lusa
The Minne Lusa neighborhood is located in North Omaha, Nebraska between Vane Street and Read Street on the north and Redick Avenue on the south; North 24th Street on the east and North 30th Street on the west. Platted in 1916, today it is located just north of the Miller Park neighborhood, and just south of Florence.
According to the Omaha Public Library, "Minne Lusa" comes from a Native American word of unknown origins that means "clear water". The Minne Lusa Pumping Station was built at the Florence Water Works north of the area in 1899. Presumably the neighborhood, established 17 years later, took its name from that.
The Minne Lusa neighborhood was first platted by Charles Martin in 1916, and by 1923 was a completed development. Southeast of the newly annexed community of Florence, Minne Lusa was touted as the "largest addition ever platted in Omaha." It included 800 lots on 33 blocks. Lot prices ranged from $450 to $1,000. Minne Lusa Boulevard bisected the subdivision and meandered north from Miller Park. Most homes reflected craftsman bungalow and period revival architectural styles. In general, larger homes were constructed on lots fronting Minne Lusa Boulevard while more modest homes were constructed along cross streets.

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Minneapolis
Minneapolis (pronunciation: ⁱ/ˌmɪniːˈæpəlɪs/), nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City", is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States. Its name is attributed to the city's first schoolteacher, who combined mni, the Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city.
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the city of Minneapolis is 382,578. Minneapolis lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital. Known as the Twin Cities, Minneapolis-Saint Paul is the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with approximately 3.3 million residents. The city is abundantly rich in water, with over twenty lakes and wetlands, the Mississippi river, creeks and waterfalls, many connected by parkways in the Chain of Lakes and the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. Among cities of similar densities, Minneapolis has the most dedicated parkland. It was once the world's flour milling capital and a hub for timber, and today is the primary business center between Chicago and Seattle, with Minneapolis proper containing the fifth highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies. It has cultural organizations that draw creative people and audiences to the city for theater, visual art, writing, and music. The community's diverse population has a long tradition of charitable support through progressive public social programs and VOLAGs, as well as private and corporate philanthropy.

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Morrison Stadium
Michael G. Morrison, S.J., Stadium is a 6,000-seat soccer-specific stadium located at 2500 California Plaza in the NoDo neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. The stadium is home to the Creighton Bluejays men's and women's soccer teams.
Designed by architectural firm DLR Group, the stadium opened in the fall of 2003 as the Creighton Soccer Field. During this season, the facility was limited to the artificial playing surface and berm seating located on the east side of the field. The grandstand, reserved seating, upper-level suites, press box, and video board were completed in the fall of 2004 when the facility was renamed Michael G. Morrison, S.J. stadium after the university's former president.
In seven seasons at Morrison Stadium, the Creighton men's soccer team owns a 50-11-11 record. The Creighton women's soccer team owns a 46-15-8 record.
Morrison Stadium hosted the Missouri Valley Conference men's soccer tournament in 2004 and 2007 and the women's soccer conference tournament in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Morrison Stadium is also the host for the Boys and Girls Nebraska High School Class A and Class B Soccer State Championships in May.

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Morton Meadows
Morton Meadows is a historic neighborhood located in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. The neighborhood lies between Center and Leavenworth Streets, from 42nd Street to Saddle Creek, and is sometimes referred to by its central boulevard, Twin Ridge. It is near the Dundee area, as well as the Gold Coast, Field Club and Country Club historic districts.
The neighborhood is home to the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Among its many historic churches, Bethel Lutheran at 1312 S. 45th Street, was founded in 1916 and celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2006. The church has Georgian Colonial architecture and beautiful stained glass designed by a parish member. It was featured in a tour of Midtown churches. Morton Meadows is one of the many area neighborhoods that may be affected by a proposed relocation of Omaha's Saddle Creek Road.
This neighborhood was founded in 1924 by Robert Messersmith as an attempt to portray the beauty of Omaha in a safe and family-friendly environment. According to the City of Omaha, the neighborhood is currently in application process to be recognized as an historic district of significance to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2004, a survey found that 232 of the 295 total properties surveyed could be classified as contributing to the historic nature of the district. Much of the neighborhood bounded by Woolworth Avenue on the north, South 48th Street on the west, Center Street on the south, and South 42nd Street on the east is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

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Naas
Naas (English pronunciation: /ˈneɪs/; Irish: Nás na Ríogh, pronounced [n̪ˠaːsˠ n̪ˠə ɾˠiː], or An Nás [ən̪ˠ n̪ˠaːsˠ]) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. With a population of just over twenty thousand, it is also the 2nd largest town in the county in terms of Population, but is the largest town in terms of boundaries and area.^{[citation needed]} Naas is a major commuter suburb, with many people residing there and working in Dublin. The nearby N7 dual carriageway and M7 motorway connect it with Dublin and the south and southwest.
The Irish language name for Naas, Nás na Ríogh literally means Meeting Place of the Kings, as the place historically hosted meetings of pre-Norman Irish kings from the Kingdom of Leinster.^{[citation needed]} After the Norman invasion in 1169-71, some meetings of the Irish parliament were held in the town.^{[citation needed]} Many of the earlier settlers in Kildare were Cambro-Normans from Wales, and so the medieval church was dedicated to Saint David.^{[citation needed]}

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Nebraska
Nebraska (ⁱ/nəˈbræskə/) is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. Its state capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River.
The state is crossed by many historic trails, but it was the California Gold Rush that first brought large numbers here, and it became a state in 1867. Certain landmarks still compete for the notional distinction 'Where the West Begins'.
There are wide variations between winter and summer temperatures, and violent thunderstorms and tornadoes are common. The state is characterized by treeless prairie, ideal for cattle-grazing, and it is a major producer of beef, as well as pork, maize and soybeans. Nebraska is overwhelmingly rural, as the 8th least-densely populated state of the United States.
Ethnically, the largest group are German-Americans, and the state has the biggest Czech-American population per head. During the Great Migration, many African Americans came to Omaha, and they continue to campaign for improved conditions. More recently, Native American activism has increased, with a drive for self-determination in a climate of co-operation with state officials on regional issues. It is traditionally a Republican-voting state.

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Nebraska Outback
The Nebraska Outback is the north-central region of the U.S. state of Nebraska. It comprises Boyd, Holt, Rock, Blaine, Brown, Keya Paha and Cherry counties.
Calling this region the "Nebraska Outback" is part of a tourism campaign led by a nonprofit organization called the North Central Nebraska RC & D Council. It is sponsored by six counties, five Natural Resource Districts, twenty-nine local communities and three local Chambers of Commerce.
The North Central Nebraska RC&D Council partners with communities, organizations and agencies to assist the local people in the development of their communities, counties and region. The Outback is bordered by South Dakota on the north, and a small section of the Missouri River runs at the region’s eastern edge. The area has a population of 26,984 people on 12,627 square miles (32,700 km²) of land, or 2.1 people per square mile.
The outback is connected with the rest of Nebraska by way of four Nebraska byways: Bridges to Buttes Byway (Highway 20), the Outlaw Trail (Highway 12) and small sections of the Loup Rivers Scenic Byway (Highways 91/11), and the Sandhills Journey (Highway 2) in Blaine County. The Cowboy Trail is a bicycling, walking and equestrian trail that will eventually cross 321 miles (517 km) east-west from Norfolk to Chadron.

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Nebraska Panhandle
The Nebraska Panhandle is an area in the west of the state of Nebraska. A panhandle is an area extending from the rest of a political unit; the Nebraska panhandle is two-thirds as broad as the rest of the state. It is approximately 100 miles east to west and 125 miles north to south. The Nebraska panhandle roughly encompasses the area in Nebraska between 102° and 104°W longitude and 41° and 43°N latitude. It comprises eleven counties with a combined land area of 14,180.76 square miles (36,728.0 km²), or about 18.45 percent of the state's land. Its population as of the 2000 census was 90,410 inhabitants, or about 5.28 percent of the state's population. Its largest city is Scottsbluff, in the west-central part of the area.
Major cities in the Nebraska panhandle include:
The Nebraska panhandle has a great deal of geographical and geological diversity; the region itself is made up of several smaller areas. Areas, features, and sites of interest in the Nebraska panhandle include:
The Nebraska panhandle borders the states of South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado.

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Nebraska Territory
The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska Territory was created by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. The territorial capital was Omaha.
An enabling act was passed by Congress in 1864. Delegates for a constitutional convention were elected; this convention did not produce a constitution. Two years later, in 1866, a constitution was drafted and voted upon. It was approved by 100 votes. However, a clause in this constitution that limited suffrage to "free white males" delayed Nebraska's entry into the Union for almost a year. The 1866 enabling act for the state was subject to a pocket veto by President Andrew Johnson. When Congress reconvened in 1867, it passed another bill to create the state of Nebraska, on the condition that Nebraska's constitution be amended to remove the suffrage clause. This bill was also vetoed by President Johnson. Congress then overrode his veto.

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New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The city is referred to as New York City or The City of New York to distinguish it from the State of New York, of which it is a part. As a global power city, New York exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural capital of the world.
Located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs—The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated 2011 population of 8,244,910 distributed over a land area of just 305 square miles (790 km²), New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City Metropolitan Area's population is the United States' largest, with 18.9 million people distributed over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km²), and is also part of the most populous combined statistical area in the United States, containing 22.1 million people as of the 2010 Census.

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Nigeria
Nigeria ⁱ/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims in the North and Christians in the South; a very small minority practice traditional religion. Since 2002 there have been a spate of clashes, particularly in the North of the country, between government forces and the Islamists Boko Haram, militant jihadists who seek to establish sharia law.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE. The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BC and the 2nd millennium.

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Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (Pawnee: Uukuhuuwasiri ) is the capital and the largest city in the US state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,322,249 residents. Oklahoma City's city limits extend into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties, though much of those areas outside of the core Oklahoma County area are suburban or rural (watershed). The city ranks as the eighth-largest city in the United States by land area (including consolidated city-counties; it is the largest city in the United States by land area whose government is not consolidated with that of a county).
Oklahoma City features one of the largest livestock markets in the world. Oil, natural gas, petroleum products and related industries are the largest sector of the local economy. The city is situated in the middle of an active oil field and oil derricks dot the capitol grounds. The federal government employs large numbers of workers at Tinker Air Force Base and the United States Department of Transportation's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. (These two sites house several offices of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department's Enterprise Service Center, respectively.)

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Papillion Creek
Papillion Creek is a 15.5-mile-long (24.9 km)tributary of the Missouri River in Nebraska. Its watershed lies in Washington, Douglas and Sarpy counties, including parts of the city of Omaha. The main branch of Papillion Creek is known as Big Papillion Creek.^{[citation needed]} Some of the tributaries include Little Papillion Creek, Thomas Creek, Cole Creek, Northwest Branch of West Papillion Creek, West Papillion Creek and South Papillion Creek. Papillion Creek empties into the Missouri River south of Bellevue and just north of the mouth of the Platte River.
Locals often refer to the creek as the "Papio Creek".^{[citation needed]}
Within its watershed lie Glenn Cunningham Lake, Standing Bear Lake, Zorinsky Lake and Wehrspann Lake at the Chalco Hills Recreation Area, which were created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the aftermath of extensive flooding in 1964 and 1965.

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Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( /ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə/) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,526,006 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. Philadelphia is also the commercial, cultural, and educational center of the Delaware Valley, home to 6 million people and the country's fifth-largest metropolitan area. The Philadelphia metropolitan division consists of five counties in Pennsylvania and has a population of 4,008,994. Popular nicknames for Philadelphia are Philly and The City of Brotherly Love, the latter of which comes from the literal meaning of the city's name in Greek (Greek: Φιλαδέλφεια ([pʰilaˈdelpʰeːa], Modern Greek: [filaˈðelfia]) "brotherly love", compounded from philos (φίλος) "loving", and adelphos (ἀδελφός) "brother").

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Port of Omaha
The Port of Omaha is a port of entry in the United States with facilities on the west side of the Missouri River in Omaha, Nebraska. The official address is located at 5229 Boeing Court in East Omaha. The Port was formally sanctioned by the U.S. Congress in 1888.
Founded immediately on the settlement of Omaha in 1856, the Port of Omaha was surveyed by Benjamin H. Barrows. Originally located at the foot of Davenport Street in Downtown Omaha, in recent years that site has been redeveloped as a boat launch and docking location called Miller's Landing. In addition to originally handling outbound barge shipments of grain and passenger boats, the Port also handled inbound shipments of steel and asphalt.
Starting in the 1930s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to channelize the Missouri River, and business leaders in Omaha immediately began clamoring for increased barge traffic to the city. In 1937 the Omaha Chamber of Commerce began lobbying the Nebraska State Legislature to create a dock authority that could take funds from the Public Works Administration to support the development of the Port property. The Union Pacific Railroad, based in Omaha, supported the move believing it would generate more business for its tracks. In 1938 John Latenser, Sr. drew up plans, which were subsequently submitted and denied by the PWA. Subsequent bids to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Works Progress Administration failed as well, leaving the city without adequate docking facilities when barge traffic opened in 1940.

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Republic of Ireland
Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.59 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. In the 1937 constitution, the name of the state is given as simply "Ireland". The Constitution of Ireland (Article 4) and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provides that the "Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is "the description of the state".
Ireland is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. A developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index, Ireland is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom.
The modern Irish state was established in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. The partition of Ireland had already been provided for in previous British legislation in 1921 in response to opposition to Irish Home Rule or independence by Unionists, who formed a majority in the north-eastern part of the country. Six of the nine counties in the northern province of Ulster were established under that legislation as Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, with which the Irish state shares its only land border. The state is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south east, and the Irish Sea to the east.

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San Antonio
San Antonio ( /ˌsænænˈtoʊni.oʊ/) is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.3 million. It was the fastest growing of the top 10 largest cities in the United States from 2000-2010, and the second from 1990-2000. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. San Antonio has characteristics of other western urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas and a low density rate outside of the city limits. The city is one of the two principal municipalities of the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area, the other being New Braunfels. Commonly referred to as Greater San Antonio, the metropolitan area has a population of 2.2 million based on the 2011 U.S. Census estimate, making it the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the United States and third-largest in the state of Texas.
The city was named for San Antonio de Padua, whose feast day is on June 13, when a Spanish expedition stopped in the area in 1691. Famous for Spanish missions, the Alamo, the River Walk, the Tower of the Americas, the Alamo Bowl, Marriage Island and host to SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta Texas theme parks, the city is visited by approximately 26 million tourists per year according to the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau. The city is home to the four-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, one of the largest in the country.

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San Diego
San Diego /ˌsæn diːˈeɪɡoʊ/ is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round climate, natural deep-water harbor, extensive beaches, long association with the U.S. Navy, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology enclave. The population was 1,301,617 at the 2010 census.
Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego was the first site visited by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Cabrillo claimed the entire area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later. The Presidio and Mission of San Diego, founded in 1769, were the first European settlement in what is now California. In 1821, San Diego became part of newly independent Mexico, and in 1850, became part of the United States following the Mexican-American War and the admission of California to the union.

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San Francisco
San Francisco (/ˌsæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.6 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland. The only consolidated city-county in California, it encompasses a land area of about 46.9 square miles (121 km²) on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, giving it a density of about 17,179 people per square mile (6,632 people per km²). It is the most densely settled large city (population greater than 200,000) in the state of California and the second-most densely populated large city in the United States after New York City. San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 13th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 805,235 as of the 2010 Census. The San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area has a population of 4,335,391.
In 1776, colonists from Spain established a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for Francis of Assisi a few miles away. The California Gold Rush of 1849 propelled the city into a period of rapid growth, increasing the population in one year from 1,000 to 25,000, and thus transforming it into the largest city on the West Coast at the time. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. During World War II, San Francisco was the port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, massive immigration, liberalizing attitudes, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States.

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Scotland
Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba ([ˈalˠ̪apə] listen (help·info))) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland constitutes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.

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Scriptown
Scriptown was the name of the first subdivision in the history of Omaha, which at the time was located in Nebraska Territory. It was called "Scriptown" because scrip was used as payment, similar to how a company would pay employees when regular money was unavailable. Its original survey placed the location from the Missouri River to North 30th Street, Cuming to Fort Street.
The Omaha Land Company, made of businessmen including representatives from the Lone Tree Ferry Company that founded Omaha City, "secured" land around the city of Omaha in late 1854. This was quickly subdivided and lots were quickly distributed to persuade influential legislators who supported Omaha City becoming the territorial capitol.
Colonel Lorin Miller, later mayor of Omaha, surveyed Scriptown in the spring and summer of 1855. It was bound by 16th street on the east, 24th on the west and Cuming Street on the south to Fort Street on the north.
The area was developed quickly, and included a number of prominent homes. Neighborhoods eventually formed from Scriptown included Gifford Park, Kountze Place, Prospect Hill, Saratoga and the Near North Side. These areas were incorporated into the city of Omaha in 1877.

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Seattle
Seattle (pronounced /siːˈætɫ̩/ ( listen) see-AT-əl or /siːˈæɾɫ̩/) is the county seat of King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country. The city is a major coastal seaport situated on a narrow isthmus between Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington, about 114 miles (183 km) south of the Canada–United States border. In 2010, Seattle was the sixth busiest port in the United States, serving as a major gateway for trade with Asia.
The Seattle area had been inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent white settlers.Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to its current site and renamed "Seattle" in 1853, after Chief Seattle of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.

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Siouxland
Coordinates: 43°00′N 96°24′W / 43.0°N 96.4°W / 43.0; -96.4
Siouxland is a vernacular region that encompasses the entire Big Sioux River drainage basin in the U.S. states of South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa.
A "vernacular region" is a distinctive area where the inhabitants collectively consider themselves interconnected by a shared history, mutual interests, and a common identity. Such regions are "intellectual inventions" and a form of short-hand to identify things, people, and places. Vernacular regions reflect a "sense of place," but rarely coincide with established jurisdictional borders.
The lower Big Sioux River drainage basin stretches from Sioux City, Iowa to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, an area that includes much of northwestern Iowa, the northeast corner of Nebraska, the southeast corner of South Dakota, and the extreme southwest corner of Minnesota.
The term "Siouxland" was coined by author Frederick Manfred in 1946. Manfred was born in Doon, Iowa, a small town in Lyon County.

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Southwest Airlines
Coordinates: 32°50′48″N 96°51′40″W / 32.846666666667°N 96.861°W / 32.846666666667; -96.861 (Southwest Airlines Headquarters)
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), operating as Southwest Airlines, is the largest low-cost carrier in the U.S. headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The airline was established in 1967 adopting its current name in 1971, and as of June 5, 2011 (2011 -06-05)^[update] is the largest airline in the United States based upon domestic passengers carried.
Although it operated Boeing 727 aircraft for a short time during the 1970s and 1980s, between that time and 2012 the airline operated only Boeing 737 aircraft, and as of September 30, 2011 (2011 -09-30)^[update] was the largest operator of the 737 worldwide with over 550 of these aircraft in service, each operating an average of six flights per day.
In May 2011 the airline acquired Orlando-based AirTran Airways, with full integration of the carriers taking place over several years, and on March 1, 2012, the company was issued a single operating certificate meaning that from a technical standpoint, Southwest and AirTran became one airline. As a result, following the merger, Southwest also began operating the Boeing 717.

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Sudan
Sudan (ⁱ/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان‎, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان‎, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.

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Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic ⁱ/ˈtoʊɡoʊ/, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east, and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi) with a population of approximately 6.7 million.
Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons. The official language is French, with many other languages spoken in Togo, particularly those of the Gbe family. The largest religious group in Togo are those with indigenous beliefs, and there are significant Christian and Muslim minorities. Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie and Economic Community of West African States.
From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the coastal region was a major trading centre for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast". In 1884, Germany declared Togoland a protectorate. After World War I, rule over Togo was transferred to France. Togo gained its independence from France in 1960.

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Union Pacific Center
The Union Pacific Center at 1400 Douglas Street is one of downtown Omaha, Nebraska's newest high-rise buildings. It houses the headquarters of the Union Pacific Railroad and its parent company, the Union Pacific Corporation. It officially opened in June 2004 and rises 317 ft (97 m) making it the fourth tallest building in Omaha. The old headquarters located directly across the street, was torn down in 2008 to make way for the new WallStreet Tower Omaha.

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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.

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Woodmen Tower
The Woodmen Tower is a 478-ft (146-m) high-rise building at 1700 Farnam Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, and is the headquarters of the Woodmen of the World insurance company. Originally completed in 1969, the Woodmen rises 30 stories. It was the tallest skyscraper in Omaha for over 30 years, until the construction of the First National Bank Tower.
Featured prominently in the film About Schmidt, the Woodmen Tower replaced several buildings in historic downtown, including the Old City Hall and Edward Rosewater's Bee Building.
The Woodmen Tower rises just west of the J. L. Brandeis and Sons Store Building
In September 2006, the Woodmen Tower marked the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks by displaying large American flags draped from its upper floors.

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Xalapa
Xalapa or Jalapa (/həˈlɑːpə/; [xaˈlapa]), officially Xalapa de Enríquez is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of 413,136. The municipality has an area of 118.45 km². Xalapa lies near the geographic center of the state and is the second-largest city in the state after the city of Veracruz.
Xalapa comes from the Nahuatl roots xal-li "sand" and a-pan "water place", which approximately means "spring in the sand." It is classically pronounced [ʃaˈlapan] in Nahuatl, though the final [n] is often omitted; the [ʃ] sound (like English sh) was written x in the 16th century, but does not occur in modern Spanish, and its counterpart is the [x] or [h] sound, normally written j. The spelling Xalapa (like the word México) reflects the archaic pronunciation. The full name of the city is Xalapa-Enríquez, named in honor of 19th-century Governor Juan de la Luz Enríquez. The city's nickname "La ciudad de las flores" (The City of Flowers), was bestowed by Alexander von Humboldt, who visited the town on 10 February 1804. However, the reference is firmly embedded in its earlier colonial history. In folklore, the Spaniards believed that Xalapa was the birthplace and home of the "Florecita", which literally means little flower.

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Yantai
Yantai (Chinese: 烟台; pinyin: Yāntái) is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay, Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao and Weihai to the southwest and east respectively.
The largest fishing seaport in Shandong and a robust economic center today, Yantai used to be known to the West as Chefoo, a misnomer which refers, in Chinese, solely to Zhifu Island, which is historically governed by Yantai.
The contemporary name of Yantai came from the watchtowers constructed on Mount Qi in 1398, during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (yan—smoke; tai—tower). The towers served to raise alarms against invasions of Japanese pirates.
The prefecture-level city of Yantai administers 12 county-level divisions, including 4 districts, 7 county-level cities, 1 county and one development zone.
These are further divided into 148 township-level divisions, including 94 towns, 6 townships and 48 subdistricts.

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Šiauliai
Šiauliai ( Lithuanian (help·info)), is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania.
Šiauliai is referred to by a various names in different languages: Samogitian: Šiaulē, Latvian Saule (historic) and Šauļi (modern), German: Schaulen, Polish: Szawle, Russian: Шавли (Shavli - historic) and Шяуля́й (Shyaulyai - modern), Yiddish: שאַװל (Shavel).
The city was first mentioned in written sources as Soule in Livonian Order chronicles describing the battle of Saule. Thus the city's founding date is now considered to be September 22, 1236, the same date when the battle took place, not far from Šiauliai. At first it developed as a defense post against the raids by the Teutonic and Livonian Orders. After the battle of Grunwald in 1410, the raids stopped and Šiauliai started to develop as an agricultural settlement. In 1445, a wooden church was built. It was replaced in 1634 with the brick church which can be seen in the city center today.

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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ⁱ/ˈeɪbrəhæm ˈlɪŋkən/ (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union while ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, Lincoln was mostly self-educated. He became a country lawyer, a Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator in the 1830s, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives in the 1840s. After a series of debates in 1858 that gave national visibility to his opposition to the expansion of slavery, Lincoln lost a Senate race to his arch-rival Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln, a moderate from a swing state, secured the Republican Party nomination. With almost no support in the South he swept the North and was elected president in 1860. His election was the signal for seven southern slave states to declare their secession from the Union and form the Confederate States of America. The departure of the Southerners gave Lincoln's party firm control of Congress, but no formula for compromise or reconciliation was found. And the war came.

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Adele Astaire
Adele Astaire, born Adele Marie Austerlitz, (September 10, 1896 – January 25, 1981), was an American dancer and entertainer. She was Fred Astaire's elder sister.
Adele was born Adele Marie Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, the daughter of Johanna "Ann" (née Geilus), an American-born Lutheran of German descent, and Frederic "Fritz" Emanuel Austerlitz (September, 1868–1924), an Austrian Roman Catholic brewer of Jewish descent from Vienna. Adele became an Episcopalian, like her younger brother.
In 1905 Adele Astaire had a successful vaudeville act with her younger brother, Fred Astaire. They developed it into a celebrated adult career on Broadway and on the London stage. Adele was the bigger star of the two during their time performing together, and she was a special favorite of Great Britain's royalty.
On May 9, 1932, after a successful stint with Fred in the revue The Band Wagon (1931) on Broadway, Adele Astaire retired from the stage to marry Lord Charles Arthur Francis Cavendish (August 29, 1905–March 23, 1944), the second son of the 9th Duke of Devonshire, and moved to Ireland, where they lived at Lismore Castle. She had three children, a daughter in 1933 and twin sons in 1935, each of whom died soon after birth. By this marriage she was properly styled Lady Charles Cavendish and would have been called Lady Charles in social circumstances.

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African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.
African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.
African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.

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Ahman Green
Ahman Rashad Green (pronounced /ɑːˈmɑːn/; born February 16, 1977) is a retired American football running back. He is the all-time leading rusher for the Green Bay Packers. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 3rd round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He played college football at Nebraska.
Green also played for the Houston Texans, and was a four-time Pro Bowl selection with the Packers.
He is now a co-owner of the Green Bay Blizzard of the Indoor Football League.
Green was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and attended Omaha North before transferring to Omaha Central for high school. He was a high school All-American selection and state 'Player of the Year' as a senior.
Green was a standout running back and three year starter for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was an integral component and key contributor on two national championship squads.
As a freshman, Green was perhaps overshadowed by his backfield mates running back Lawrence Phillips and quarterback Tommie Frazier. But Green's freshman year at Nebraska was certainly a memorable one. He was a major contributor during Nebraska's 1995 Championship run. He rushed for 1,086 yards (still the school's single-season freshman rushing record) and 13 touchdowns on 141 carries (7.7 avg.) and was honored as a freshman All-America selection by Football News. In addition, he earned Big Eight all-conference and 'Freshman of the Year' honors.

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Alexander Payne
Alexander Payne (born Constantine Alexander Payne; February 10, 1961) is an American film director and screenwriter, known for films like Sideways (2004) and Election (1999). His films are noted for their dark humor and satirical depictions of contemporary American society.
Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Peggy (née Constantine) and George Payne, restaurant owners. He is of Greek descent (his grandfather Anglicized the last name from Papadopoulos). He was the youngest of three sons and grew up in the same neighborhood as billionaire Warren Buffett. Payne attended Creighton Preparatory School high school and later Stanford University, where he double majored in Spanish and History. As a part of his Spanish degree, he studied at the University of Salamanca (Spain). Payne got his MFA in 1990 from the UCLA Film School.

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Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is currently the third highest-ranked American player, behind Mardy Fish and John Isner.
He became a Grand Slam singles champion when he won the title at the 2003 US Open, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the finals, which currently makes him the last North American male player to win a grand slam singles event. Roddick has reached four other Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005 and 2009, and the US Open in 2006), losing to Roger Federer each time. He is married to Brooklyn Decker, a Sports Illustrated swimwear model and actress.
Roddick was born in Omaha, Nebraska to Jerry and Blanche Roddick. Roddick's father was a businessman and his mother was a school teacher. She now directs the Andy Roddick Foundation. Roddick has two older brothers, Lawrence and John (All-American tennis player at University of Georgia (1996–98) and head tennis coach at the University of Oklahoma), who were both promising tennis players at a young age.

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Anna Mae Winburn
Anna Mae Winburn, née Darden (August 13, 1913 - September 30, 1999) was an African American vocalist and jazz bandleader who flourished beginning in the mid 1930s. She is best known for having directed the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female big band that was perhaps one of the few — and one of the most — racially integrated dance-bands of the swing era.
Anna Mae Winburn was born to a musical family in Port Royal, Tennessee, and migrated to Indianapolis, Indiana, at a young age. Her mother's maiden name was "Cornell." She, with two of her sisters, came west from Kokomo, Indiana.
Anna Mae Winburn and her then husband, James Rose, had a son:
Anna Mae's marriage and children
Anna Mae married Eustace "Duke" Pilgrim (b. 1921 as Eustace Michael Pilgrim; d. 1970) around 1948. Together, they had 4 children. They lived in Elmhurst, NY among many Harlem transplants and jazz greats. Duke Pilgrim had a prior marriage to Alberta Adams.
Winburn died in 1999 in Hempstead, New York.
Her first known publicized performance was singing with the studio band of Radio WOWO, Fort Wayne. She worked at various clubs in Indiana, including the Chateau Lido in Indianapolis (where she appeared under the pseudonym Anita Door).

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Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák (/ˈdvɔrʒɑːk/ DVOR-zhahk or /dɨˈvɔrʒæk/ di-VOR-zhak; Czech: [ˈantoɲiːn ˈlɛopolt ˈdvor̝aːk] ( listen); September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many of other orchestral and vocal-instrumental pieces.
His best-known works include his New World Symphony, the Slavonic Dances, the Symphonic Variations, "American" String Quartet, Piano Quintet No 2, the opera Rusalka, Cello Concerto in B minor and choral works Stabat Mater, Requiem and Te Deum. Today, he is considered to be one of the most important composers of the Romantic era.
Dvořák was born on September 8, 1841, in the Bohemian village of Nelahozeves, near Prague (then part of Bohemia in the Austrian Empire, now Czech Republic), where he spent most of his life. He was baptized as a Roman Catholic in the church of St. Andrew in the village. Dvořák's years in Nelahozeves nurtured the strong Christian faith and love for his Bohemian heritage that so strongly influenced his music. His father, František Dvořák (1814–1894), was an innkeeper, professional player of the zither, and a butcher. Although his father wanted him to be a butcher as well, Dvořák pursued a career in music. He received his earliest musical education at the village school, which he entered in 1847, aged six. From 1857 to 1859 he studied music in Prague's only organ school, and gradually developed into an accomplished player of the violin and the viola. He wrote his first string quartet when he was 20 years old, two years after graduating.

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Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II (ⁱ/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.
Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.

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Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra. After a short but notable career as a stage actress in the late 1920s, she made 85 films in 38 years in Hollywood, before turning to television.
Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award four times, and won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. She was the recipient of honorary lifetime awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1981, the American Film Institute in 1987, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Golden Globes, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Screen Actors Guild. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is ranked as the eleventh greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.
Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens in Brooklyn, New York on July 16, 1907. She was the fifth and youngest child of Catherine Ann (née McPhee) and Byron E. Stevens; the couple were working-class, her father a native of Massachusetts and her mother an immigrant from Nova Scotia, Canada. Stanwyck had English and Scottish ancestry. When she was four, her mother was killed when a drunken stranger pushed her off a moving streetcar. Two weeks after the funeral, Byron Stevens joined a work crew digging the Panama canal and was never seen again. Ruby and her brother Byron were raised by their elder sister Mildred, five years Ruby's senior. When Mildred got a job as a John Cort showgirl, Ruby and Byron were placed in a series of foster homes (as many as four in a year), from which Ruby often ran away.

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Ben Nelson
Earl Benjamin "Ben" Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is the senior United States Senator from Nebraska, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Nelson entered politics in 1990, when he was elected the 37th Governor of Nebraska. He was re-elected in 1994 with 74% of the vote. Nelson ran for an open seat in the U.S. Senate in 1996, losing to Republican Chuck Hagel, and left the Governor's office in January 1999 due to term limits, after serving two full terms. Nelson was elected to the U.S. Senate in the 2000 election after incumbent Bob Kerrey retired.
On December 27, 2011, Nelson announced that he would not seek a third Senate term in 2012.
Nelson was born in McCook, in southwestern Nebraska. He is the only child of Birdella Ruby (née Henderson) and Benjamin Earl Nelson. He earned a B.A. in 1963, a M.A. in 1965, and a J.D. in 1970 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Nelson made his name and money in the insurance industry. After graduating from law school, Nelson landed a job as assistant general counsel for Central National Insurance Group of Omaha. In 1975, he became state insurance director before going back to work for Central National Insurance as an executive vice president and eventually president. He won his first elected office in 1990 when he became governor of Nebraska.

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Bob Boozer
Robert Louis "Bob" Boozer (April 26, 1937 – May 19, 2012) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He won a gold medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics and won an NBA Championship as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971.
Boozer was born and raised in North Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated from Tech High in Omaha. He attended Kansas State University, where he helped lead the Wildcats to the 1958 Final Four and where he received All-America honors in 1958 and 1959. A versatile 6’ 8” forward, he was selected by the Cincinnati Royals with the first non-territorial pick of the 1959 NBA Draft, but he postponed his NBA career for one year so that he could remain eligible to play in the 1960 Summer Olympics. During that year he played with the Peoria Caterpillars, where he won the National AAU Tournament title and earned MVP honors for the tournament.
He won a gold medal with the Olympic team after they won eight games by an average of 42.4 points. The team was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

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Bob Gibson
Robert "Bob" Gibson (born November 9, 1935) is a retired American baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1975). Nicknamed "Hoot" and "Gibby", Gibson tallied 251 wins, 3,117 strikeouts, and a 2.91 earned run average (ERA) during his career. A nine-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, he won two Cy Young Awards and the 1968 National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. In 1981, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Gibson overcame childhood illness to excel in youth sports, particularly basketball and baseball. After briefly playing under contract to both the basketball Harlem Globetrotters team and the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Gibson decided to only continue playing baseball professionally. Once becoming a full-time starting pitcher in July 1961, Gibson began experiencing an increasing level of success, earning his first All-Star appearance in 1962. Gibson won two of three games he pitched in the 1964 World Series, then won 20 games in season for the first time in 1965. Gibson also pitched three complete game victories in the 1967 World Series.

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Bob Kerrey
Joseph Robert "Bob" Kerrey (born August 27, 1943) was the 35th Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987 and a United States Senator from Nebraska from 1989 to 2001. After serving in the Vietnam War and being awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions, he moved into politics. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992. From 2001 to 2010, Kerrey served as president of The New School, a university in New York City. In May 2010, he was selected to become the head of the Motion Picture Association of America. But in July 2010, both Kerrey and the MPAA could not reach an agreement and former Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd was selected instead. On February 27, 2012, aides confirmed that Kerrey was filing to seek election to his old Senate seat, to replace the retiring Democratic incumbent Ben Nelson. He faces Republican nominee Deb Fischer.
Kerrey was born in Lincoln, Nebraska where he attended the public schools, graduating from Lincoln Northeast High School. He credits Bob Reese, his chemistry teacher, for inspiring his pursuit of a career in the sciences. He went on to earn a degree in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1966. Kerrey pledged Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, and during his senior year he was tackled into the Society of Innocents, the chancellor's senior honorary society of spirit boosters.

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Buddy Miles
George Allen Miles, Jr. (September 5, 1947 – February 26, 2008), known as Buddy Miles, was an American rock and funk drummer, most known as a founding member of The Electric Flag in 1967, then as a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys from 1969 through to January 1970.
George Allen Miles was born in Omaha, Nebraska on September 5, 1947. He was known as a child prodigy, originally playing drums in his father, George Miles, Sr.'s, jazz band, The Bebops, beginning at age 12. Miles Sr. had played upright bass with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon.
In his teens Miles Jr. was often seen hanging out as well as recording at the Universal Promotions Corporation (U.P.C.) recording studios, which later became Rainbow Recording Studios
Miles was given the nickname "Buddy" by his aunt after the drummer Buddy Rich.
Miles played in a variety of rhythm and blues and soul acts as a teenager, including Ruby & the Romantics, the Ink Spots, the Delfonics and Wilson Pickett. By 1967 he moved to Chicago where he formed the Electric Flag with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. Nick Gravenites was the vocalist on this (and also some other Bloomfield LP's). The blues-soul-rock band made their live debut at the Monterey Pop Festival in mid 1967 and released their debut Columbia album, A Long Time Comin', early the next year (1968). Miles sometimes sang lead vocals for the group in addition to playing drums. The group broke up after their second album An American Music Band (late 1968) and Miles formed The Buddy Miles Express, with Jim McCarty, later the guitarist for Cactus. A Greatest Hits album by The Electric Flag was issued in 1971 by Columbia. In 1974 The Electric Flag reformed briefly and released the Atlantic album The Band Kept Playing.

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Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917) was an American soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), in Le Claire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US Army as a scout. One of the most colorful figures of the American Old West, Buffalo Bill became famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes, which he toured in Great Britain and Europe as well as the United States.
William Frederick Cody ("Buffalo Bill") got his nickname after the American Civil War when he had a contract to supply Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. Cody earned the nickname by killing 4,280 American bison (commonly known as buffalo) in eighteen months, (1867–1868).Bill Comstock also had the nickname. Cody and Comstock competed in a buffalo-shooting match over the exclusive right to use the name, which Cody won by killing 69 bison to Comstock's 48.

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Chip Davis
Louis F. "Chip" Davis, Jr. (born November 15, 1947 in Hamler, Ohio) is the founder and leader of the music group Mannheim Steamroller.
He also wrote the music for C.W. McCall, including the 1975 hit "Convoy".
Louis F. Davis was born in September 5, 1947 in Hamler, Ohio and his family moved to Sylvania, Ohio when he was two. He began piano lessons at age 4 and had composed his first piece of music at age 6. He graduated from Sylvania High School and went on to graduate from the University of Michigan music school, specializing in bassoon and percussion.
After touring with the Norman Luboff Choir, he took a job with an Omaha, Nebraska advertising agency writing jingles. These included spots for a local bakery featuring the fictional trucker C. W. McCall. The spots were co-written with advertising writer William Fries, who became the voice of McCall. The spots were so popular, they were persuaded to begin writing non-advertising songs featuring McCall. The most famous of these is the 1975 "Convoy". The duo released a total of five albums between 1974 and 1979. Davis was named ASCAP Country Music Writer of the Year in 1976. During these early years, some of Davis' compositions that fell into the category of what was known as "New Age Music" were featured in a concert by the Voices of Mel Olson in the Witherspoon Hall of Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, USA, with Davis directing the community chorale for those songs.

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Dick Cavett
Richard Alva Cavett (English pronunciation: /ˈkævɨt/; born November 19, 1936) — known as Dick Cavett — is a former American television talk show host known for his conversational style and in-depth discussion of issues. Cavett appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States in five consecutive decades, the 1960s through the 2000s.
In recent years, Cavett has written a blog for the New York Times, promoted DVDs of his former shows, and hosted replays of his classic TV interviews with Groucho Marx, Katharine Hepburn, and others on Turner Classic Movies channel.
Cavett was born in Nebraska, but sources differ as to the specific town, locating his birthplace in either Gibbon, where his family lived, or nearby Kearney, the location of the nearest hospital. His mother Erabel "Era" (née Richards) and his father Alva B. Cavett both worked as educators. When asked by Lucille Ball on his own show about his heritage, he said he was "Scottish, Irish, English, and possibly partly French, and, and uh, a dose of German." He also mentioned that one grandfather "came over" from England, and the other from Wales. Cavett's grandparents all lived in Grand Island, Nebraska. His paternal grandparents were Alva A. Cavett and Gertrude Pinsch. His paternal grandfather was from Diller, Nebraska and his paternal grandmother was an immigrant from Aachen, Germany.^{[citation needed]} His maternal grandparents were the Rev. R. R. and Etta Mae Richards. Rev. Richards was from Carmarthen, Wales and was a Baptist minister who served parishes across central Nebraska.^{[citation needed]}

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Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy Hackett McGuire (June 14, 1916 – September 13, 2001) was an American actress.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Eventually, she reached Broadway, first appearing as an understudy to Martha Scott in Our Town, and subsequently starring in the domestic comedy, Claudia.
Brought to Hollywood by producer David O. Selznick on the strength of her stage performance, McGuire starred in her first film, a movie adaptation of her Broadway success, Claudia, and portrayed the character of a child bride who almost destroys her marriage through her selfishness. Her inaugural screen performance was popular with both the public and critics alike and was the catalyst for not only a sequel, Claudia and David (both movies co-starring Robert Young), but also for numerous other film roles.
By 1943, at the age of 27, she was already playing mother roles, in such movies as A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1947 for Gentleman's Agreement. Other notable films include The Enchanted Cottage, A Summer Place , Three Coins in the Fountain, Friendly Persuasion, Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.

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Doug Ingle
Douglas "Doug" Ingle (born September 9, 1945 in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.) is a founding member and former organist, vocalist and primary composer for the band Iron Butterfly. He also had a short stint with the pop group Stark Naked and the Car Thieves in the early 1970s after he left Iron Butterfly.
Ingle's father Lloyd, a church organist, introduced him to music at an early age. Ingle moved from his native Nebraska within three months of his birth to the Rocky Mountains and after spending his impressionable years as a mountain child moved to San Diego, California.
His work is featured on Iron Butterfly albums Heavy, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Ball and Metamorphosis. Most famously, he authored the band's biggest hit, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". He co-authored their remaining three hits("Soul Experience", "In the Time of Our Lives", and "Easy Rider") with other members of the group. When he originally wrote "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", he had not intended it to run seventeen minutes long. The album and subsequent single release of the title track vaulted Ingle and the band to national prominence. "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" received the first Platinum Record sales award in the history of the Recording Industry and became a landmark record in psychedelic rock.

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Edward Parsons Smith
Edward Parsons Smith (1860–1930) was the mayor of Omaha, Nebraska from 1918 to 1921.
Smith was born September 30, 1860. He beat incumbent Mayor "Cowboy" Jim Dahlman in 1918 on a reform ticket aiming to defeat Tom Dennison's political machine, which at that point had run Omaha for at least 15 years. Dennison's displeasure with Smith's moral stance was frequently voiced, and took shape in the Omaha Race Riot of 1919. During that riot Smith was strung up and almost lynched by a mob. After being rescued by Omaha Police detectives and taken to Omaha's Ford Hospital, Smith's political will never returned. He died May 21, 1930.

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Elliott Smith
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity. His primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. Smith had a distinctive vocal style characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery" and use of multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies.
After playing in the rock band Heatmiser for several years, Smith began his solo career in 1994 with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars. In 1997 he signed a contract with DreamWorks Records, for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when his song "Miss Misery"—included in the soundtrack for the film Good Will Hunting—was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1998.

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Eric Crouch
Eric Eugene Crouch (born November 16, 1978) is an American football quarterback for the Omaha Nighthawks. He also is a TV sports analyst and recreational equipment vendor.
Crouch played college football for the University of Nebraska. In 2001 Crouch won the Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the most outstanding collegiate football player in the United States. He also won the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, given annually to the best collegiate quarterback in the US. During that year running Nebraska's option offense, he completed 105 of 189 passes for 1,510 yards and seven touchdowns, while also rushing for 1,115 yards and 18 touchdowns. Crouch was the USA Today Nebraska Player of the Year, and a Parade All-American athlete at Millard North High School, where he was a two-time All-State selection at quarterback. Crouch appeared on the cover of the video game NCAA College Football 2K3.
Ankle surgery forced Crouch to redshirt for the 1997 co-national championship-winning season. In 1998, Bobby Newcombe began the season as the starting quarterback, but he was sidelined by a knee injury after the first game and Crouch took over the starting duties. Against UAB, Crouch rushed for two touchdowns and completed 11 of 17 passes in his first career start. 1998 proved to be a chaotic season for the Cornhuskers. Crouch made another start before being replaced by a healthy Bobby Newcombe. Newcombe started the next five games, but was pulled in the middle of a game because of a PCL strain. Senior walkon, Monte Christo, took over for Newcombe, and started the following week against Texas. With Texas leading 10-0 in the middle of the second quarter, Christo was pulled and replaced by Crouch. Crouch remained the starter for the rest of the season, which ended with a 23-20 loss to Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.

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Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. He is particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with whom he made ten films.
Gene Kelly, another major innovator in filmed dance, said that "the history of dance on film begins with Astaire". Beyond film and television, many classical dancers and choreographers, Rudolf Nureyev, Sammy Davis, Jr., Michael Jackson, Gregory Hines, Mikhail Baryshnikov, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins among them, also acknowledged his importance and influence.
Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna "Ann" (née Geilus) and Frederic "Fritz" Austerlitz (born September 8, 1868, as Friedrich Emanuel Austerlitz). Astaire's mother was born in the United States to Lutheran German immigrants from East Prussia and Alsace, while Astaire's father was born in Linz, Austria, to Jewish parents who had converted to Catholicism.

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Frederick Krug
Frederick Krug (1855 – November 18, 1930) was the German-immigrant founder of the Frederick Krug Brewing Company of Omaha, Nebraska. Krug is often cited as one of the founders of Omaha. In addition to operating the brewery for almost the entire duration of his life, Krug operated Krug Park in the Benson community and was the president of the Home Fire Insurance Company, which was founded in Omaha in 1884.
Fred Krug was born in Niederzwehren near Cassel Germany on December 22, 1833. He lived in Niederzwehren until 19 years of age where he was trained as a brewer. He then immigrated to the U.S. in 1852, settling in St. Louis, Missouri. In St. Louis he met his wife Anna and had a son, William. In 1858 he moved to Council Bluffs where he worked in a small brewery. Later the same year he moved to Omaha with his wife and son. He established his first small brewery on Farnam Street. Later his business moved to Jackson Street between 10th and 11th streets. On October 17, 1893, he and his family celebrated the grand opening of the new Fred Krug Brewery. At the time this new brewery was one of the largest and most modern of its kind. The capacity of the brewery was reported to be 150,000 barrels per year and employed approximately 500 men.

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Frederick Metz
Frederick Metz (1832–1901) founded and owned the Metz Brewery in Omaha, Nebraska, for forty years. He was also a two-time representative in the Nebraska Legislature, and an influential member of Omaha society.
Born in Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Germany, Frederick was educated as a forester. In 1851 he emigrated to the United States of America through the port of New Orleans, Louisiana, and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked in the mercantile business. In 1857 he came to Bellevue, Nebraska and continued in the merchandising trade until 1862. Frederick next went to Denver, Colorado and established a wholesale and commission business in general merchandise, which he owned until 1864. In 1864 Frederick returned to Nebraska and with his brother Joseph purchased the McCumbe Brewery, the first brewery in Nebraska, which they renamed Metz Brewery. Frederick served in the Nebraska Senate in 1871 and again 1885. He was president of German Savings Bank in Omaha.
He married Louisa Beate Gesser of St. Louis in 1855. Frederick and Louisa had four sons and three daughters together. In 1873 Louisa died and was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery. In 1877 Frederick married Adele Wassmer, who was born in Holstein, Germany, and had emigrated to Nebraska. Together they had one son and one daughter. Metz died at the brewery at the age of 69, and was also interred at the Prospect Hill Cemetery in North Omaha.

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Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Monique Union (born October 26, 1972) is an American actress and former model. Among her notable roles is as the cheerleader opposite Kirsten Dunst in the film Bring it On. Union starred opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the blockbuster film Bad Boys II and played a medical doctor in the CBS drama series City of Angels. She starred with LL Cool J in Deliver Us from Eva in 2003.
Union was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She is the daughter of Theresa (née Glass), a former dancer, social worker, and phone company manager, and Sylvester C. Union, an AT&T manager and military sergeant. She was raised Catholic. At the age of eight, her family moved to Pleasanton, California, where she grew up and attended Foothill High School. In high school, Union was an all-star point guard in basketball and a year-round athlete, also playing in soccer and ran track.
Union attended the University of Nebraska before moving on to Cuesta College. She eventually transferred to UCLA and earned a degree in sociology. While studying there, she interned at the Judith Fontaine Modeling & Talent Agency to earn extra academic credits. Invited by the agency's owner, Judith Fontaine, Union started working as a model to pay off college loans.

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Gale Sayers
Gale Eugene Sayers (born May 30, 1943), also known as "The Kansas Comet", is a former American college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons during the 1960s and early 1970s. He played college football for the University of Kansas, and was twice recognized as an All-American. He was a first-round pick in the 1965 NFL Draft, and played his entire pro career for the NFL's Chicago Bears.
Sayers is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. His friendship with fellow Chicago Bear Brian Piccolo was the basis for the 1971 movie Brian's Song. He is a successful entrepreneur in the information technology field and an active philanthropist.
Born in Wichita, Kansas and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Sayers graduated from Omaha Central High School. There he set a state long jump record of 24'11 3/4". He went on to play college football at the University of Kansas and was a two-time All-American. During his Jayhawk career, he rushed for 2,675 yards and gained 3,917 all-purpose yards. In 1963, he set an NCAA Division I record with a 99-yard run against Nebraska. In his senior year, he led the Jayhawks to a 15-14 upset victory over Oklahoma with a 96-yard kickoff return. Sayers is considered by many to have been the greatest open field runner in college football history.^{[citation needed]} While being interviewed by Len Kasper and Bob Brenly during a broadcast of a Chicago Cubs Baseball game on Sept. 8th, 2010, Sayers said he had originally intended to go to the University of Iowa. Sayers said that he decided against going to Iowa after the Iowa head coach, Jerry Burns, did not have time to meet Sayers during his on campus visit.^{[citation needed]}

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George Crook
George R. Crook (September 8, 1828 – March 21, 1890) was a career United States Army officer, most noted for his distinguished service during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. During the 1880s, the Apache nicknamed Crook Nantan Lupan, which means "Grey Wolf."
Crook was born to Thomas and Elizabeth Matthews Crook on a farm near Taylorsville, Ohio (near Dayton). Nominated to the United States Military Academy by Congressman Robert Schenck, he graduated in 1852, ranking near the bottom of his class.
He was assigned to the 4th U.S. infantry as brevet second lieutenant, serving in California, 1852–61. He served in Oregon and northern California, fighting against several Native American tribes. He commanded the Pitt River Expedition of 1857 and, in one of the several engagements, was severely wounded by an Indian arrow. He established Fort Ter-Waw in what is now Klamath, California.
Crook was promoted to first lieutenant in 1856, and to captain in 1860. He was ordered east and in 1861, with the beginning of the American Civil War, was made colonel of the 36th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

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Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. As the first person appointed to the vice-presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment (after Spiro Agnew had resigned), when he became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, he became the only President of the United States who was never elected President nor Vice-President by the Electoral College. Before ascending to the vice-presidency, Ford served nearly 25 years as the Representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district, eight of them as the Republican Minority Leader.
As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War. With the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in Vietnam essentially ended. Domestically, Ford presided over arguably the weakest economy since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure. One of his more controversial acts was to grant a presidential pardon to President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. During Ford's incumbency, foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the President. In 1976, Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but lost the presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

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Gottlieb Storz
Gottlieb Storz (1852 - 1939) was a pioneer entrepreneur in Omaha, Nebraska. Born in Benningen, Wurttemberg, Germany, Storz was the founder of the Storz Brewery. He was an important member of Omaha's German immigrant community, and an important businessman in Omaha history. Storz was regarded as a "giant in the brewing world".
After immigrating to the United States in 1870 from Germany, in 1876 Storz moved to Omaha and became the foreman of a brewery founded in 1863. Storz learned brewing in Wurttemberg and had several years experience in New York and at the William Lemp Brewing Company in St. Louis. After arriving in Omaha, Storz worked at Joseph Baumann's brewery. In 1876, Bauman died. Storz was renamed the foreman under Baumann's widow, then rented the brewery from her to run it himself.
In 1891 Storz founded the Omaha Brewing Association, with himself as president. After purchasing the company, in 1892 Storz built a state-of-the-art facility at 1819 North 16th Street in North Omaha, located at the intersection of Sherman Avenue (North 16th Street) and Clark Street.

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Greek Town Riot
The Greek Town Riot was a race riot in South Omaha, Nebraska on February 21, 1909. According to the New York Times, 3,000 men were responsible for killing one boy, displacing the entire population of Greek Town, and burning down the Greek neighborhood in South Omaha.
In February 1909, a Greek immigrant man was taking English lessons from a young woman in South Omaha. For some reason, a policeman named Edward Lowery (of Irish descent) arrested him and the young woman on February 19, 1909. While Lowery transported them to the jailhouse, the Greek man pulled out a handgun and mortally wounded the officer. Greek immigrants had come to the city as strikebreakers, and earlier arrivals resented them. Among those who were hostile were ethnic Irish, who had a large community in South Omaha. Omaha newspapers were particularly renowned for their yellow journalism during this period. They fanned racist flames with salacious headlines about the case . The Omaha Daily News wrote, "Their quarters have been unsanitary; they have insulted women... Herded together in lodging houses and living cheaply, Greeks are a menace to the American laboring man – just as the Japs, Italians, and other similar laborers are."

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Gregg Olson
Greggory Olson (born October 11, 1966 in Scribner, Nebraska) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played with the Baltimore Orioles (1988–93), Atlanta Braves (1994), Cleveland Indians (1995), Kansas City Royals (1995, 1997), Detroit Tigers (1996), Houston Astros (1996), Minnesota Twins (1997), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–99) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2000–01). Olson batted and threw right-handed.
Olson attended Northwest High School in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was a pitcher and led the Huskies to four straight state titles. His father, Bill Olson, was his high school coach.
In the state championship game of his senior year, Olson threw a no-hitter.
After graduating from High School in 1985, Olson went on to pitch at Auburn University for three seasons.
Olson used to come into save situations blowing people away with his 90-plus fastball and a devastating curveball, known as "Uncle Charlie." He was drafted by the Orioles in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1988 amateur draft and made his debut late in the season.

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Gurdon Wattles
Gurdon Wallace Wattles (May 12, 1855 - January 31, 1932) was an early businessman, banker and civic leader in Omaha, Nebraska who became responsible for bankrolling much of early Hollywood. Wattles was said to possess "all the right credentials to direct Omaha's fortunes for the twentieth century in the post-pioneer era: humble beginnings, outstanding ability, a fine intellect, impeccable manners, driving ambition, and a ruthless streak."
Gurdon Wallace Wattles was the third son of James Wattles and Elizabeth Ann "Betsy" Whitton. He was born on May 12, 1855 in the town of Richford, Tioga County, New York and died on January 31, 1932 at Hollywood, California. He was the grandson of Jehiel Wattles and Phoebe Lathrop; and Dr. Tower Whitton, a 1796 graduate of Dartmouth College.
His first name, Gurdon, was derived from his ancestor Brampton Gurdon who was a Member of Parliament for Sudbury (1621) and High Sheriff of Suffolk. His daughter, Muriel Gurdon, married Richard Saltonstall, Jr., the son of Sir Richard Saltonstall, Sr., who led a group of English settlers up the Charles River to settle in what is now Watertown, Massachusetts in 1630.

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Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American film and stage actor.
Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins. He made his Hollywood debut in 1935, and his career gained momentum after his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, a 1940 adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts and 12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda moved both toward darker epics as Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West and lighter roles in family comedies like Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball.
Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity. His family and close friends called him "Hank". In 1999, he was named the sixth-Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute.

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Horace Cleveland
Horace William Shaler Cleveland (December 16, 1814 – December 5, 1900) was a noted American landscape architect, sometimes considered second only to Frederick Law Olmsted. His approach to natural landscape design can clearly be seen in projects including the Grand Rounds in Minneapolis; Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts; the boulevard system in Omaha, Nebraska; Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island; and St. Anthony Park in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Horace William Shaler Cleveland was born to Richard Jeffry Cleveland and Dorcas Cleveland on December 16, 1814 in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Horace was later educated at the Lancaster School, a Unitarian Universalist school organized by his parents in accordance with the theories of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827). The school emphasized frequent excursions for direct observation and study of nature through drawing and map-making. The family was socially linked to philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson through Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Horatio Greenough, and one of Emerson's cousins. As a result Transcendentalism strongly influenced Cleveland's upbringing.

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Houston Alexander
Houston Alexander (born March 22, 1972) is an American professional mixed martial artist, who fights as a light heavyweight and heavyweight. He also works as a DJ in North Omaha, Nebraska. In his MMA career he holds notable victories over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Alessio Sakara and Keith Jardine, All by stoppage due to strikes.
Alexander made his UFC debut at UFC 71 on May 26, 2007 against Keith Jardine. He knocked out Jardine in 49 seconds during the first round.
He has since trained full-time; three times a day and seven days a week.
Alexander then signed a new three-fight contract with the UFC. At UFC 75 Alexander beat Alessio Sakara. Just like his previous fight, Sakara threw a couple of early shots before Alexander countered with close-contact strikes. "The way I was taught was that all your strength is inside versus outside,” Alexander said before the fight of his explosive ability when close to an opponent. "My short strikes are really, really good, and that’s from lifting weights and doing a lot of reps."

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James Dahlman
James Charles Dahlman (December 15, 1856 – January 21, 1930), also known as Jim Dahlman, Cowboy Jim and Mayor Jim, was elected to eight terms as mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, serving the city for 20 years over a 23-year-period. A German-American and an agnostic, Dahlman grew up in a ranching area and started working as a Texas cowboy. He was elected as a county sheriff and small town mayor in western Nebraska before moving to Omaha.
Called the "perpetual Mayor" in Omaha, Dahlman was seen by many as a cover man for the city's vice elements. Earning the reputation as the "wettest mayor in America", Dahlman saw the number of saloons in Omaha double during his first 10 years as mayor. The term "Dahlmanism" was coined to describe his politics.
James Charles Dahlman was born in Yorktown, DeWitt County, Texas in 1856. He was the eldest son of Charles and Mary Dahlman, both German Americans. At age 17, he won a Texas state riding competition and became a cowhand shortly afterwards. He was known as an expert with the lariat. In 1878, at the age of 22, Dahlman killed his brother-in-law during an argument and fled to western Nebraska, where he used the name "Jim Murray". Dahlman later learned a judge ruled the killing was self-defense. After working as a cowpuncher at the N-Bar Newman Ranch near Gordon for several years, Dahlman became a range boss.

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Jim Suttle
James H. "Jim" Suttle (born c. 1944 or 1945) is the 50th and current mayor of Omaha, Nebraska.
Suttle held the position of vice chairman of the Board of Directors for the Omaha-based engineering and design firm HDR, Inc. He also served as executive vice president and director of corporate development for HDR. He is a licensed professional engineer in Nebraska and has served as a member and chairman of the Nebraska Board of Engineers and Architects.
In 2005, Suttle was elected to represent District 1 on the Omaha City Council. As a councilman, he served on the board of the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency and as a member of the Omaha-Douglas Building Commission. Suttle previously served as Public Works Director for the City of Omaha, and once held transportation planning positions with local governments in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Wichita, Kansas.
Four council members, led by Frank Brown, voted to strip $200,000 from a project backed by Suttle to create another streetscape in Florence, moving the funds to another project. The vote marked the first time several years that Omaha City Council members had agreed to take away funds from another member's district.

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Joe Coe
Joe Coe, also known as George Smith, was an African-American laborer who was lynched on October 18, 1891 in Omaha, Nebraska. Overwhelmed by a mob of one thousand at the Douglas County Courthouse, the twelve city police officers stood by without intervening. Afterward, the mayor called the lynching "the most deplorable thing that has ever happened in the history of the country."
Coe was a married man with two children who lived on North 12th Street north of downtown Omaha. On October 7, 1891 Lizzie Yates, a five-year-old white child who also lived in North Omaha, accused Coe of assaulting her. Before the verdict was passed rumors swept through Omaha about Coe getting away with the crime, about the girl dying, and about Coe receiving a small punishment.
A crowd of men was already gathered at the old Douglas County Courthouse the day when Coe was brought in, to witness an unrelated, scheduled hanging, an official execution. In the crowd, rumors circulated that the girl had died and the suspect's punishment was only 20 years in jail. Having seen Coe brought in earlier, the crowd decided he was guilty. Rumors flew around Omaha that the girl had died, the guilty party was in jail, and was only going to be punished with 20 years' incarceration.

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Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.
McCrea was born in South Pasadena, California, the son of Thomas McCrea, who was an executive with the L.A. Gas & Electric Company. As a boy, he had a paper route, and delivered the Los Angeles Times to Cecil B. DeMille and other people in the film industry. He also had the opportunity to watch D. W. Griffith filming Intolerance, and was an extra in a serial starring Ruth Roland.
McCrea graduated from Hollywood High School and then Pomona College (class of 1928), where he had acted on stage and took courses in drama and public speaking, and appeared regularly at the Pasadena Playhouse, Even as a high school student, he was working as a stunt double and held horses for cowboy stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix. He worked as an extra, stunt man and bit player from 1927 to 1928, when he signed a contract with MGM, where he was cast in a major role in The Jazz Age (1929), and got his first leading role that same year, in The Silver Horde. He moved to RKO in 1930, where he established himself as a handsome leading man who was considered versatile enough to star in both dramas and comedies.

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Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host and comedian, known for thirty years as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Governor Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Johnny Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.
Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s Carson became an American icon and remained so until his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar. Late night hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Fallon have all cited Carson's influence on their late-night talk shows, which resemble his in format and tone.
Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, in the year 1925, to Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a power company manager, and Ruth Hook Carson, who was of Irish descent. He grew up in the nearby towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwest Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at the age of eight. At the age of twelve, Carson found a book on magic at a friend's house and immediately purchased a mail-order magician's kit. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at fourteen and was paid $3; many other performances at local picnics and country fairs followed.

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Johnny Rodgers
Johnny Steven Rodgers (born July 5, 1951) is a former American college football player voted the University of Nebraska's "Player of the Century" and the winner of the 1972 Heisman Trophy.
Nicknamed "The Jet" for his rapid acceleration and speed on the field, Rodgers was voted high school athlete of the year as a player for Omaha's Tech High.
As a player with the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, Rodgers served as a punt return specialist, pass receiver, and running back. Rodgers broke virtually every offensive team record, was twice named to the College Football All-America Team and won the Walter Camp Award and the Heisman Trophy in 1972 for most outstanding player in college football in the United States.
In his three years with the Cornhuskers, the versatile Rodgers established an all-purpose NCAA yardage record of 5,586. Former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, who served as Nebraska's offensive coordinator in the early 1970s, wrote in his 1985 book More Than Winning that Rodgers had the greatest ability to return punts of any player he ever saw. Likewise, College Football News has described him as "the greatest kick returner in college football history." Rodgers returned seven punts and nine kickoffs for touchdowns in his college career, both NCAA records.

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Kenneth Lay
Kenneth Lee "Ken" Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006) was an American businessman, best known for his role in the widely reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation. Lay and Enron became synonymous with corporate abuse and accounting fraud when the scandal broke in 2001. Lay was the CEO and chairman of Enron from 1985 until his resignation on January 23, 2002, except for a few months in 2000 when he was chairman and Jeffrey Skilling was chief executive officer (CEO).
On July 7, 2004, Lay was indicted by a grand jury on 11 counts of securities fraud and related charges. On January 31, 2006, following four and a half years of preparation by government prosecutors, Lay's and Skilling's trial began in Houston. Lay was found guilty on May 25, 2006, of 10 counts against him; the judge dismissed the 11th. Because each count carried a maximum 5- to 10-year sentence, legal experts said Lay could have faced 20 to 30 years in prison. However, he died while vacationing in Snowmass, Colorado, on July 5, 2006, about three and a half months before his scheduled October 23 sentencing. Preliminary autopsy reports state that he died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. As a result of his death, on October 17, 2006, the federal district court judge who presided over the case vacated Lay's conviction. There have been conspiracy theories surrounding his death.

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Lloyd Hunter
Lloyd Hunter (died 1961) was a trumpeter and big band leader from North Omaha, Nebraska. He led band across the Midwest from 1923 until his death. Hunter had also worked with Jessie Stone in Kansas City, Missouri.
Hunter was trained by Josiah Waddle, the first African American musician to organize a band in Omaha, around 1915. Hunter's bands played regionally, filling high school auditoriums, jitney ("Dime-a-Dance") halls, farm buildings and amusement parks throughout Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota from the 1920s through the 1950s.
Lloyd Hunter's Serenaders were one of several black territory bands African American community of the Near North Side of Omaha from the early 1920s through the big band era.
In 1924, Hunter formed his first 6-piece band. In 1927 it become an 8-piece band with Lloyd Hunter on trumpet, Elmer Crumbley on trombone, Noble Floyd on clarinet and alto sax, Bob Welch on trombone, tenor sax and bass sax; Burton Brewer on piano; Julius Alexander on banjo; Wallace Wright on tuba, and; Amos Clayton on drums. As was usual, the band toured the area playing one night stands. By 1929, the band was heard on radio stations KGBZ in York, Nebraska; KFAB in Lincoln, Nebraska; and WOW in Omaha.

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Logan Fontenelle
Logan Fontenelle (1825 – July 16, 1855), also known as Shon-ga-ska (White Horse), was a trader of French and Omaha ancestry, who served for years as an interpreter to the US Indian agent at the Bellevue Agency in Nebraska. He was especially important during the negotiations with Omaha leaders in 1853-1854 about ceding land to the United States prior to settlement on a reservation. His mother was a daughter of Big Elk, the principal chief, and his father was a respected French-American fur trader.
European Americans thought Fontenelle was a chief, but he was never adopted into the tribe. According to tribal practices at the time, which had a patrilineal system, because of his white father, adoption would have been the only way he could have advanced to chief. The Omaha considered him a half-breed and a "white man." Fontenelle lived on the reservation and died young at the age of 30, killed with five Omaha by an enemy band of Sioux while on the tribal summer buffalo hunting trip.
Fontenelle acted as an interpreter in Omaha negotiations during 1853-1854 for land cessions, first in Nebraska, with 60 Omaha men and the US Indian agent Gatewood; they came to agreement in January 1854. Later that year, Fontenelle accompanied a delegation of seven gente chiefs of the Omaha who went to Washington, DC for further talks. Fontenelle was one of the signatories of the treaty. The Omaha were forced to accept changes to the treaty, but signed on that trip to cede 4,000,000 acres (16,000 km²) of Omaha land to the United States. Within a couple of years, the Omaha removed to a reservation in northeast Nebraska in the Blackbird Hills, essentially present-day Thurston County.

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Luigi Waites
Luigi Waites (July 10, 1927 – April 6, 2010) was a jazz drummer and vibraphonist from Omaha, Nebraska. He performed weekly gigs in the Omaha area both solo and with ensembles such as Luigi, Inc. He served the Omaha music community for over 60 years. He toured Europe twice and performed with jazz legends such as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. Luigi, Inc has shared the stage with Jean-Luc Ponty, James Brown and Dizzy Gillespie.
Luigi Waites was born Lewis Waites on July 10, 1927 in Omaha, Nebraska to Ione Kelley and Sylvester Waites. Waites began playing drums at age twelve, and soon after began playing local nightclubs around Omaha. At the time the two local musicians unions were segregated.
During his high school years, Waites regularly played in bars and clubs which sometimes affected his ability to get enough sleep on school nights. He might perform as a professional musician until the wee hours and then jump into a taxicab standing by in front of his mother's house to rush him to class at Central High School the next morning. This, to the chagrin of some of his instructors, since on a teacher's salary in that day most schoolteachers could not afford to take a cab to work each day. While Waites served in the U.S. Army during WWII at Camp Lee, Virginia, he met jazz drummer Elvin Jones.Luigi married Eva Jean Little in 1950 and beget six children.

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Malcolm X
Malcolm X ( /ˈmælkəm ˈɛks/; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Arabic: الحاجّ مالك الشباز‎), was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. Detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
Malcolm X's father died—killed by white supremacists, it was rumored—when he was young, and at least one of his uncles was lynched. When he was thirteen, his mother was placed in a mental hospital, and he was placed in a series of foster homes. In 1946, at age 20, he went to prison for breaking and entering.
In prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam and after his parole in 1952 he quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years Malcolm X was the public face of the controversial group, but disillusionment with Nation of Islam head Elijah Muhammad led him to leave the Nation in March 1964. After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, he returned to the United States, where he founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. In February 1965, less than a year after leaving the Nation of Islam, he was assassinated by three members of the group.

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Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, Brando was one of only three professional actors, along with Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, named by Time magazine as one of its 100 Persons of the Century in 1999.
Brando had a significant impact on film acting, and was the foremost example of the "method" acting style. While he became notorious for his "mumbling" diction and exuding a raw animal magnetism, his mercurial performances were nonetheless highly regarded, and he is widely considered as one of the greatest and most influential actors of the 20th century. Director Martin Scorsese said of him, "He is the marker. There's 'before Brando' and 'after Brando'." Actor Jack Nicholson once said, "When Marlon dies, everybody moves up one." He was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fourth greatest screen legend among male movie stars.

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Meg Saligman
Meg Saligman is a mural artist. Saligman has painted more than fifty murals all over the world including Philadelphia PA, Shreveport, LA, Mexico City, and many other places. Meg has a way of mixing the classical and contemporary aspects of painting together.
Saligman's most famous mural is "Common Threads" in Philadelphia. It is painted on the west wall of the Stevens Administrative Center at the corner of Broad and Spring Garden Streets. Other major works include “Philadelphia Muses” on 13th and Locust Streets, a multimedia “Theatre of Life” on Broad and Lombard Streets, "Passing Through" over the Schuykill Expressway, and the paint and LED light installation at Broad and Vine Streets, "Evolving Face of Nursing". <[1]> Meg's work can be viewed nationally in Shreveport, Louisiana with "Once in a Millenium Moon," and in Omaha, Nebraska with "Fertile Ground."
Saligman grew up in the small town of Olean NY. In high school she helped to paint one of the murals in Olean. Meg's first independent mural was painted on the front of a sweater factory that no longer exists, owned by a man that is now her husband.

wn.com/Meg_Saligman
Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon territory for the United States before European nations. They also collected scientific data, and information on indigenous nations. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806.
Meriwether Lewis was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in the present-day community of Ivy. He was the son of Lt. William Lewis of Locust Hill (1733 – November 17, 1779), who was of Welsh ancestry, and Lucy Meriwether (February 4, 1752 – September 8, 1837), daughter of Thomas Meriwether and Elizabeth Thornton who were both of English ancestry. (Thornton was the daughter of Francis Thornton and Mary Taliaferro). After his father died of pneumonia, he moved with his mother and stepfather Captain John Marks to Georgia in May 1780. They settled along the Broad River in the Goosepond Community within the Broad River Valley in Wilkes County (now Oglethorpe County).

wn.com/Meriwether_Lewis
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule, Jr.; (September 23, 1920) is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has received multiple awards, including a Juvenile Academy Award, an Honorary Academy Award, two Golden Globes and an Emmy Award. Working as a performer since he was a child, he was a superstar as a teenager for the films in which he played Andy Hardy, and he has had one of the longest careers of any actor, to date spanning 90 years actively making films in ten decades, from 1920s to 2010s. For a younger generation of fans, he gained international fame for his leading role as Henry Dailey in The Family Channel's The Adventures of the Black Stallion, as well as the film itself.
Rooney was born Joseph Yule, Jr. in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Joseph Yule, was from Scotland, and his mother, Nellie W. (née Carter), was from Kansas City, Missouri. Both of his parents were in vaudeville, appearing in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl when Joseph, Jr. was born. He began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.

wn.com/Mickey_Rooney
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American film and stage actor.The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men".
He often played outsiders, often "victim-heroes," - examples include the social climber in George Stevens's A Place in the Sun, the anguished Catholic priest in Hitchcock's I Confess, the doomed regular soldier Robert E. Lee Prewitt in Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity, and the Jewish GI bullied by antisemites in Edward Dmytryk's The Young Lions. Later, after a disfiguring car crash in 1956, and alcohol and prescription drug abuse, he became erratic. Nevertheless important roles were still his, including "the reckless, alcoholic, mother-fixated rodeo performer in Huston's The Misfits, the title role in Huston's Freud, and the concentration camp victim in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg."
Clift received four Academy Award nominations during his career, three for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor.

wn.com/Montgomery_Clift
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. His career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s, when his commercial success made him one of the better known stars of that decade. His films include 48 Hrs. (1982), Cape Fear (1991), Afterglow (1997), Affliction (1997), The Good Thief (2003), and Warrior (2011). He has been nominated for three Academy Awards, twice for Best Actor and once for Best Supporting Actor.
Nolte was born Nicholas King Nolte in Omaha, Nebraska on February 8, 1941. His mother, Helen (née King), was a department store buyer, and his father, Franklin Arthur Nolte, was a farmer's son who worked in irrigation pump sales, and who was an All-American football player at Iowa State University in 1934. Nolte's paternal grandfather was of German descent. Nolte's maternal grandfather, Matthew Leander King, invented the hollow-tile silo and was prominent in early aviation. His maternal grandmother ran the student union at Iowa State University. He has an older sister, Nancy, who was an executive for the Red Cross.

wn.com/Nick_Nolte
Nubian people
The Nubians (Arabic: نوبي‎, Nuubi) are an ethnic group originally from Nubia northern Sudan, and southern Egypt now inhabiting North Africa and some parts of East Africa.
The Nubian people in Sudan inhabit the region between Wadi Halfa in the north and Aldaba in the south. The main Nubian groups from north to south are the Halfaweyen, Sikut, Mahas, and Danagla. They speak different dialects of the Nubian language.
In ancient times Nubians were depicted by Egyptians as having very dark skin, often shown with hooped earrings and with braided or extended hair. Ancient Nubians were famous for their vast wealth, their trade between Central Africa and the lower Nile valley civilizations, including Egypt, their skill and precision with the bow, their 23-letter alphabet, the use of deadly poison on the heads of their arrows, their great military, their advanced civilization, and their century-long rule over the united upper and lower Egyptian kingdoms.
Nubians are the people of southern Egypt and northern Sudan, settling along the banks of the Nile from Aswan. Their Nubian language is an Eastern Sudanic language, part of the Nilo-Saharan phylum.

wn.com/Nubian_people
Nuer people
The Nuer (also known as the Nei Ti Naath (roughly meaning original people) are a confederation of tribes located in South Sudan and western Ethiopia. Collectively, the Nuer form one of the largest ethnic groups in East Africa. They are a pastoral people who rely on cattle products for almost every aspect of their daily lives. The Nuer border such tribes as the Dinka, Anyuak, Shilluk and other minor tribes in both Ethiopia and Sudan.
The Nuer are among the very few African tribes that successfully fended off colonial powers in the early 20th century.^{[citation needed]} The Nuer warriors are among the most skilled fighters in Africa; they wielded weapons made of finely crafted iron.
The nature of relations among these various southern tribes were greatly affected in the 19th century by the intrusion of Ottomans, Arabs, and eventually the British. Some ethnic groups made their accommodation with the imperial attackers and others did not, in effect pitting one southern ethnic group against another in the context of foreign rule. For example, some sections of the Dinka were more accommodating to British rule than were the Nuer. The Dinka treated the resisting Nuer as hostile, and hostility developed between the two groups as a result of their differing relationships to the British.^{[citation needed]}

wn.com/Nuer_people
Otoe tribe
The Otoe or Oto are a Native American people. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa and Missouri tribes.
The Otoe were once part of the Siouan tribes of the Great Lakes region, a group commonly known as the Winnebago. At some point, a large group split off and began to migrate to the South and West. This group eventually split again, coalescing into at least three distinct tribes: the Ioway, the Missouria and the Otoe. The latter settled in the lower Nemaha River valley. They adopted the horse culture and semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Great Plains, making the American bison central to their diet and culture.^{[citation needed]}
Following the Louisiana Purchase by the United States, the Lewis and Clark Expedition headed up the Missouri River to explore the new territory. The Otoe were the first tribe they encountered. They met at a place on the west bank of the Missouri River that would become known as the Council Bluff.
Like other Great Plains tribes, the Otoe periodically left their villages to hunt for buffalo. Between 1817 and 1841, the Otoe lived around the mouth of the Platte River in present-day Nebraska. During this time, the remaining families of the Missouria rejoined them. They gathered with others to trade for European goods.^{[citation needed]}

wn.com/Otoe_tribe
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny (/məˈθiːni/mə-THEE-nee; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer.
He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progressive and contemporary jazz, post-bop, latin jazz and jazz fusion. Pat Metheny has three gold albums and 19 Grammy Awards. He is the brother of jazz flugelhornist and journalist Mike Metheny.
Metheny was born and raised in Lee's Summit, Missouri, a suburb southeast of Kansas City. Following his graduation from Lee's Summit High School, he briefly attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida in 1972, where he was quickly offered a teaching position. He then moved to Boston to take a teaching assistantship at the Berklee College of Music with jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton. He first made his name as a teenage prodigy under the wing of Burton. In 1974 he made his recording debut on two sessions for pianist Paul Bley's and Carol Goss' Improvising Artists label, along with fretless electric bassist Jaco Pastorius.

wn.com/Pat_Metheny
Pawnee people
Pawnee people (also Paneassa, Pari, Pariki) are a Caddoan-speaking Native American tribe. They are federally recognized as the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.
Historically, the Pawnee lived along outlying tributaries of the Missouri River: the Platte, Loup and Republican rivers in present-day Nebraska and in northern Kansas. They lived in permanent earth lodge villages where they farmed. They left the villages on seasonal buffalo hunts, using tipis while traveling.
In the 1830s, the Pawnee numbered about 2,000 people, as they had escaped some of the depredations of exposure to Eurasian infectious diseases. By 1859, their numbers were reduced to about 1,400; however, by 1874 they were back up to 2,000. Still subject to encroachment by the Lakota and European Americans, finally most accepted relocation to a reservation in Indian Territory. This is where most of the enrolled members of the nation live today. Their autonym is Chatickas-si-Chaticks, meaning "men of men".
There are approximately 3,240 enrolled Pawnee, with 1,791 living in Oklahoma. Their tribal headquarters is in Pawnee and their tribal jurisdictional area is in parts of Noble, Payne, and Pawnee Counties. Their elected president is George E. Howell. Enrollment into the tribe requires a minimum 1/8th blood quantum.

wn.com/Pawnee_people
Ponca
The Ponca (Páⁿka iyé: Páⁿka or Ppáⁿkka pronounced [pãŋꜜka]) are a Native American people of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan-language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. Their traditions and historical accounts suggest they originated as a tribe east of the Mississippi River in the Ohio River valley area and migrated west for game and as a result of Iroquois wars.
The term Ponca was the name of a clan among the Kansa, Osage, and Quapaws. The meaning of the name is unknown.
At first European contact, the Ponca lived around the mouth of the Niobrara River in northern Nebraska. According to tradition, they moved there from an area east of the Mississippi just before Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Siouan-speaking tribes such as the Omaha, Osage, Quapaw and Kaw also have traditions of having migrated to the West from east of the Mississippi River. The invasions of the Iroquois from their traditional base in the north pushed those tribes out of the Ohio River area. Scholars are not able to determine precisely when the Dhegian-Siouan tribes migrated west, but know the Iroquois also pushed tribes out from the Ohio and West Virginia areas in the Beaver Wars. The Iroquois maintained the lands as hunting grounds.

wn.com/Ponca
Preston Love
Preston Haines Love (26 April 1921, Omaha, Nebraska – 12 February 2004, Omaha, Nebraska) was a renowned alto saxophonist, bandleader and songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska.
Preston Love grew up in North Omaha and graduated from North High.
He became renowned as a professional sideman and saxophone balladeer in the heyday of the big band era. He was a member of the bands of Nat Towles, Lloyd Hunter, Snub Mosley, Lucky Millinder and Fats Waller before getting his big break with the Count Basie Orchestra when he was 22. Love played and recorded with the Count Basie band from 1945–1947 and played on Basie's only #1 hit record, 'Open The Door Richard.'
Love eventually became a bandleader himself, playing with Lena Horne, Billie Holiday, his friends Johnny Otis and Wynonie Harris, with whom he had several hits.
In 1952, he launched the short-lived Spin Records, as a joint effort with songwriter Otis René ("When It's Sleepy Time Down South"). The label released material by the Preston Love Orchestra, among others.

wn.com/Preston_Love
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( /ˈrʌdjəd ˈkɪplɪŋ/ RUD-yəd KIP-ling; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature. He was born in Bombay, in the Bombay Presidency of British India, and was taken by his family to England when he was five years old. Kipling is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (a collection of stories which includes "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"), Just So Stories (1902) (1894), Kim (1901) (a tale of adventure), many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888); and his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The White Man's Burden (1899) and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works are said to exhibit "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".

wn.com/Rudyard_Kipling
Russell Patterson
Russell Patterson (December 26, 1893 – March 17, 1977) was a celebrated and prolific American cartoonist, illustrator and scenic designer. Patterson’s art deco magazine illustrations helped promote the idea of the 1920s and 1930s fashion style known as the flapper.
Patterson was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Although he claimed he knew at age 17 that he wanted to be a magazine cover artist, he took a circuitous route to his ultimate success in that field. His family left his hometown of Omaha and settled in Montreal when he was still a boy. He studied architecture briefly at college, then became an undistinguished cartoonist for some newspapers in Montreal, contributing Pierre et Pierrette to La Patrie. Rejected by the Canadian army at the start of World War I, he moved to Chicago to become a catalog illustrator.
A trip to Paris gave him the opportunity to paint and attend life-drawing classes. However, it also left him in debt, and so he reluctantly returned to the dull work of advertising art in Chicago.

wn.com/Russell_Patterson
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. Respected for his natural style and versatility, Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. In a screen career that spanned 37 years, he was nominated for nine Academy Awards for Best Actor—a record he holds with Laurence Olivier—of which he won two.
Tracy discovered his talent for acting while a student at Ripon College, and subsequently gained a scholarship for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He spent seven years in the theatre, working in a succession of stock companies and intermittently on Broadway. Tracy's breakthrough came in 1930, when his lead performance in The Last Mile caught the attention of Hollywood. After a successful film debut in Up the River, Tracy was signed to a contract with Fox Film Corporation. His five years with Fox were unremarkable, and he remained largely unknown to audiences after 25 films. In 1935, Tracy joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Hollywood's most prestigious studio. His career flourished with a series of hit films, and in 1937 and 1938 he won consecutive Oscars for Captains Courageous and Boys Town. By the 1940s, Tracy was one of the studio's top stars. In 1942 he appeared with Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year, beginning a popular partnership that produced nine movies over 25 years.

wn.com/Spencer_Tracy
Ted DiBiase
Theodore Marvin "Ted" DiBiase, Sr. (born January 18, 1954) is a retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. DiBiase achieved championship success in a number of wrestling promotions, holding thirty titles during his professional wrestling career. He is best recalled by mainstream audiences for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled as "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
Among other accolades in the WWF, DiBiase was the first WWF North American Heavyweight Champion, a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion (with Irwin R. Schyster) and the 1988 King of the Ring. DiBiase also created his own championship, the Million Dollar Championship. He was well known for his cutting-edge heel promos, which were often concluded with his trademark evil laugh; DiBiase has been described by WWE as the organization's "most despised villain" during the late 1980s. He held the WWF Championship belt in 1988 after purchasing it from André the Giant, but this period is not recognized by WWE as an official title reign. Nonetheless, DiBiase frequently performed in main event matches and has been cited as one of the finest in-ring technicians in history.

wn.com/Ted_DiBiase
Tillie Olsen
Tillie Lerner Olsen (January 14, 1912 – January 1, 2007) was an American writer associated with the political turmoil of the 1930s and the first generation of American feminists.
Olsen was born to Russian Jewish immigrants in Wahoo, Nebraska and moved to Omaha while a young child. There she attended Lake School in the Near North Side through the eighth grade, living among the city's Jewish community. At age 15, she dropped out of Omaha High School to enter the work force. Over the years Olsen worked as a waitress, domestic worker, and meat trimmer. She was also a union organizer and political activist in the Socialist community. In the 1930s she joined the American Communist party. She was briefly jailed in 1934 while organizing a packing house workers' union (the charge was "making loud and unusual noise"), an experience she wrote about in The Nation and The Partisan Review. She later moved to San Francisco, California, where in 1936 she met and lived with Jack Olsen, who was an organizer and a longshoreman. She married Jack in 1944, on the eve of his departure for service in World War II. San Francisco remained her home until her 85th year when she moved to Berkeley, California, to a cottage behind her youngest sibling.

wn.com/Tillie_Olsen
Todd Storz
Robert Todd Storz (May 8, 1924 – April 13, 1964) is credited with being the father of the Top 40 radio format, which Gordon McLendon then went on to perfect with great commercial success during the 1950s and 1960s.
Todd Storz was the grandson of Omaha brewing legend Gottlieb Storz. Growing up in the family mansion in Omaha, Todd grew to love Ham Radio while living there.
In 1949 Todd, along with his father Robert, purchased radio station KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska; Todd became the station's general manager. At the time, typical AM radio programming consisted largely of blocks of pre-scheduled, sponsored programs of a wide variety, including radio dramas and variety shows. Local popular music hits, if they made it on the air at all, had to be worked in between these segments.
Storz noted the great response certain songs received from the record-buying public and compared it to the way certain selections on jukeboxes were played over and over, which he, program director Bill Stewart, national program director and on-air personality Jim "Grahame Crackers" Richards as well as KOWH staff observed. According to Dick Fatherly's research, Storz also commissioned a study from the University of Omaha before switching KOWH to a music focused/"Top 40" format.

wn.com/Todd_Storz
Wallace Thurman
Wallace Henry Thurman (1902–1934) was an American novelist during the Harlem Renaissance. He is best known for his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, which explores discrimination among black people based on skin color.
Thurman was born in Salt Lake City to Beulah and Oscar Thurman. Between his mother's many marriages, Wallace and his mother lived with Emma Jackson, his maternal grandmother. His grandmother's home doubled as a saloon where alcohol was served without a license. When Thurman was less than a month old, his father abandoned his wife and son. It was not until Wallace was 30 years old that he met his father.
Thurman's early life was marked by loneliness, family instability and illness. He began grade school at age six in Boise, Idaho, but his poor health eventually led to a two-year absence from school, during which he returned to Salt Lake City. From 1910 to 1914, Thurman lived in Chicago, but he would have to finish grammar school in Omaha, Nebraska. During this time, he suffered from persistent heart attacks. While living in Pasadena, California's lower altitude in the winter of 1918, Thurman came down with influenza during the worldwide Influenza Pandemic. Considering his history of illness, he surprisingly recovered and then returned to Salt Lake City, where he finished high school.

wn.com/Wallace_Thurman
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett (/ˈbʌfɨt/; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely considered the most successful investor of the 20th century. He is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people. He was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2008 and is the third wealthiest person in the world as of 2011. In 2012, American magazine Time named Buffett one of the most influential people in the world.
Buffett is called the "Wizard of Omaha", "Oracle of Omaha", or the "Sage of Omaha" and is noted for his adherence to the value investing philosophy and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth. Buffett is also a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Gates Foundation. On April 11, 2012, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of three children and only son of U.S. Representative Howard Buffett, a fierce critic of the interventionist New Deal domestic and foreign policy, and his wife Leila (née Stahl). Buffett began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School in Omaha. In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, and after moving with his family to Washington, D.C., Warren finished elementary school, attended Alice Deal Junior High School, and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1947, where his senior yearbook picture reads: "likes math; a future stock broker."

wn.com/Warren_Buffett
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings (pronounced /welən dʒɛnɪŋz/; June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing guitar at eight and began performing at twelve on KVOW radio. He formed a band, The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI and KLLL. In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings' first recording session, of "Jolie Blon" and "When Sin Stops (Love Begins)". Holly hired him to play bass. During the Winter Dance Party Tour, in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a plane to arrive to the next venue. Jennings gave up his seat in the plane to J. P. Richardson, who was suffering from a cold. The flight that carried Holly, Richardson and Ritchie Valens crashed, on the day later known as The Day the Music Died. Following the accident, Jennings worked as a D.J in Coolidge, Arizona and Phoenix. He formed a rockabilly club band, The Waylors. He recorded for independent label Trend Records, A&M Records before succeeding with RCA Victor after achieving creative control of his records.

wn.com/Waylon_Jennings
World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.

wn.com/World_War_I
Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris (August 24, 1915 – June 14, 1969), born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis Presley among others.^{[citation needed]} He was the subject of a 1994 biography by Tony Collins.
Harris' mother, Mallie Hood Anderson, was fifteen and unmarried at the time of his birth. Harris' paternity is uncertain. Harris' wife, Olive E. Goodlow, and daughter Patricia Vest, have said that Harris' father was a Native American, named Blue Jay. Harris had no father figure in the house until 1920, when his mother married Luther Harris, fifteen years her senior.
In 1931 at age 16, Harris dropped out of high school in North Omaha. The following year his first child, daughter Micky, was born to Naomi Henderson. Ten months later, Harris' second child, son Wesley, was born to Laura Devereaux. Both children were raised by their mothers. Wesley became a singer in the Five Echoes and The Sultans. Later he became a singer and guitarist in Preston Love's band.

wn.com/Wynonie_Harris

Bullrun 2010 stops in Omaha, NE - Ice T & Coco spotting

Bullrun stops in Omaha, ne to hang out at the nomad lounge. Ice T stopped by late in the n...

published: 15 Jul 2010

author: 1320video

Worlds Tallest Mohawk - Omaha NE

Eric Hahn set the Guinness World Record for Tallest Mohawk in Omaha Nebraska on 11/14/2008...

published: 15 Nov 2008

author: worldsofwayne

Lady Gaga Interview on Channel 94.1 Omaha, Nebraska

Lady Gaga Interview on Channel 94.1 Omaha, Nebraska...

published: 27 Jul 2011

author: DaveNJcoe

Walking Tour of Downtown Omaha Nebraska - Part 1

Walking Tour of Downtown Omaha Nebraska - Part 1...

published: 03 Jul 2008

author: freechildren

Strength Training For Wrestlers-Omaha Nebraska

www.trainedtufftv.com - Strength training for wrestling including deads,dips,pull ups and ...

published: 22 Mar 2011

author: jchizek10

Ultimate Baseball Academy- Omaha, Nebraska

UBA Instructor Joe Servais gives tips for catcher throwing to second base....

published: 30 Dec 2009

author: Joe Mixan

OzTV - Omaha, NE Jan 16, 2011

OzTV checks in from Ozzy's show in Omaha, NE on Jan 16, 2011...

published: 18 Jan 2011

author: OzzfestVideo

Dr. Robert Young's lecture in Omaha Nebraska- 6 of 7

The failure of modern medicine is explained in this 7 part series. This is part 6 of 7 of ...

published: 02 Jan 2008

author: Peter Lorince

#3 Close Up OMINOUS CLOUDS Omaha NE Storm 6-11-08

Close up of ominous clouds overhead when storm changed directions and started moving east ...

published: 12 Jun 2008

author: PetsAreFamily07

TERROR-Intro/Out of My Face (Omaha, NE) June 2010

TERROR plays Omaha, NE...

published: 20 Jun 2010

author: thebenecke

Dr. Robert Young's lecture in Omaha Nebraska- 7 of 7

The failure of modern medicine is explained in this 7 part series. This is part 7 of 7 of ...

published: 03 Jan 2008

author: Peter Lorince

Taylor Swift Speak Now Fan Video : Omaha, NE

Burke High School teacher Deb Ward gets a well-deserved break with her daughter Kristina a...

published: 14 Feb 2011

author: taylorswift

Bowling For Soup - (Ready or Not) Omaha Nebraska

Song - (Ready or Not) Omaha Nebraska Band - Bowling For Soup Album - Bowling For Soup Goes...

published: 03 Jan 2009

author: BowlingForSoupTunes

TERROR-Stick Tight (Live in Omaha, NE)

TERROR plays Omaha, NE....

published: 02 Jul 2010

author: thebenecke

Timelapse Coal Power Plant

This is a compilation of timelapse videos I shot during December of 2009 and January of 20...

published: 15 Jan 2010

author: Jeff Grewe

Erik Elstran - Tulsalsa

Erik Elstran explores the depths of Tulsa, Oklahoma with small sides of Albuquerque, New M...

published: 10 Apr 2012

author: Osiris BMX

omaha, nebraska!

published: 12 Dec 2009

author: MATT PEREZ MORA

Okies hit Omaha Nebraska!

The Oklahoma group at Omaha Nebraska's First Longboarding Event! October 23rd, 2010. www...

published: 02 Nov 2010

author: spatz

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photo: Public Domain

File - McDonald's Restaurant with prominent kids' playland, Panorama City, CA

I Saw Marx and Marxism at McDonalds Today

WorldNews.com

23 Feb 2013

Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. "No one who works full-time should have to live in poverty." -President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, 2013. As of late, I have grown very fond and reflective of the workers at McDonalds. Since I do not have the internet in my apartment, I usually go there every Sunday where I drink coffee and read the latest online news ... the exploitation of one class by another....(size: 3.7Kb)

photo: AP / SANA

In this photo provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian security agents carry a body following a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013.

Russia claims US showing double standards on Syria

Khaleej Times

22 Feb 2013

MOSCOW ' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States on Friday of having double standards on Syria, saying it had blocked a UN Security Council statement condemning a car bomb attack in Damascus. Washington denied it had blocked the statement and said it had only asked for balance ... “We believe these are double standards,” Lavrov said after talks with China’s foreign minister ... ....(size: 3.0Kb)

photo: UN / Sylvain Liechti

File - Children in Bunyampuli, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s North Kivu province, seek refuge near a camp of the UN mission in the country, MONUSCO, after heavy fighting between Government FARDC forces and the Mai-Mai Cheka militia group, 22 May, 2012.

African leaders to sign DR Congo peace deal

Al Jazeera

24 Feb 2013

Presidents from Africa's Great Lakes regional nations are set to sign a new peace deal aimed at bringing stability to the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, who will witness the signing on Sunday at the African Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has invited 11 countries to the meeting ... But after almost two decades of war, expectations are low ... ....(size: 7.7Kb)

photo: AP / Photo

Villagers view the bodies of suspected attackers from the Pokomo tribe, following tribal clashes in Kipao village in the Tana River Delta region of southeastern Kenya Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.

Neighbors Kill Neighbors in Kenya as Election Tensions Stir Age-Old Grievances

The New York Times

22 Feb 2013

MALINDI, Kenya — In a room by the stairs, Shukrani Malingi, a Pokomo farmer, writhed on a metal cot, the skin on his back burned off. Down the hall, at a safe distance, Rahema Hageyo, an Orma girl, stared blankly out of a window, a long scar above her thimble-like neck. She was nearly decapitated by a machete chop — and she is only 9 months old. Connect With Us on Twitter ... Twitter List. Reporters and Editors ...   ... Op-Ed ... N.Y ... ....(size: 6.3Kb)

photo: AP

Olympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius , in court Friday Feb. 22, 2013 in Pretoria, South Africa, for his bail hearing charged with the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius ’knows jail almost guaranteed’

Canberra Times

22 Feb 2013

Oscar Pistorius appears at the Magistrate Court in Pretoria on day four of his bail hearing. Photo. AFP. The lead lawyer prosecuting Oscar Pistorius on murder charges has told a Pretoria bail hearing the sprinter knows a long spell in jail is ‘‘almost guaranteed’’ and is a flight risk ... ‘‘He must realise that a long term of imprisonment is almost guaranteed ... AFP/AAP . ....(size: 3.0Kb)

timeline:
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Train cars bring some interesting urban art through Fremont (Photos)

The Examiner

25 Feb 2013

“Art is a way to express yourself and through that you can escape a bad situation.” Russell Simmons. After a lengthy dry spell some very interesting urban art/graffiti passed through Fremont, Nebraska this past week ... Location. Dunbar Road, Fremont, Nebraska ... http.//www.nycitysnaps.com/ ... Laurie Lorsch, Omaha Neighborhoods Examiner. Born in Millington, Tennessee in 1964 Laurie has lived in the Omaha, Nebraska area for the past forty years ... ....(size: 6.5Kb)

Reusse: St. Cloud State poised to leave WCHA a champ

Star Tribune

25 Feb 2013

ST. CLOUD. Charlie Basch was hired as a football assistant at St. Cloud State for the fall of 1968. The administration also threw in the tasks of coaching hockey and using his biology degree to teach classes. Basch had a similar workload at Concordia College in Moorhead ... Cloud ... to the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference, with North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College, Nebraska-Omaha, Minnesota Duluth, Western Michigan and Miami (Ohio) ... ....(size: 5.9Kb)

Thornhill, Knebel pitch Horns past Nebraska for sweep

Austin American Statesman

25 Feb 2013

Refocusing on his “cage-fighter mentality” allowed Texas pitcher Nathan Thornhill to stay aggressive in his approach against Nebraska, and the result was a two-hit, combined shutout with reliever Corey Knebel and a 2-0 Longhorns victory Sunday at sun-splashed and breezy UFCU Disch-Falk Field ... No Nebraska player reached second base, and Thornhill retired the side in order in four innings....(size: 2.6Kb)

NFL Combine: Scouting the Running Backs (San Diego Chargers)

noodls

25 Feb 2013

(Source. San Diego Chargers) NFL Combine. Scouting the Running Backs. Posted 40 minutes ago. Chargers.comOfficial Website of the San Diego Chargers. An in-depth analysis of the running backs who worked out at the NFL Scouting Combine. Ricky Henne's Take ... Ryan Schuler's Take ... TOP FIVE PERFORMANCES. 40-Yard Dash. 1. Onterio McCalebb, Auburn - 4.34. 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ... Rex Burkhead, Nebraska - 39.0 ... Rex Burkhead, Nebraska - 125.0 ... Rex Burkhead, Nebraska - 4.09....(size: 3.3Kb)

Getz, Giavotella again in battle for second-base job (MLB - Major League Baseball)

noodls

25 Feb 2013

(Source. MLB - Major League Baseball). SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Second base, once again, is up for grabs in the Royals' camp ... Aha! ... As it turned out, Giavotella was sent to Triple-A Omaha and Getz wound up sharing the job with backup infielder Yuniesky Betancourt ... 17 ... With the possibility that the loser of this duel will find himself playing at Triple-A Omaha -- both players have options left -- the competition is intense albeit friendly....(size: 6.3Kb)

SuperbTicketsOnline.com Reports High Demand for Justin Bieber Tickets for July 28 Event at Joe Louis Arena

Yahoo Daily News

25 Feb 2013

SuperbTicketsOnline.com has been experiencing a high demand for Justin Bieber tickets to the July 28 concert taking place in Detroit, Michigan, at the Joe Louis Arena ... He is currently touring in Europe and will bring his shows to North America on June 22 ... U.S. destinations include Las Vegas, Denver, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Dallas, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Boston, Newark, Tampa, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)

Sideline Chatter: Shaq recalls three gifts from Jerry Buss

Sacramento Bee

25 Feb 2013

Third time's a charm-unless you're talking Jerry Buss. "He gave me everything I wanted," retired center Shaquille O'Neal told the audience at the Laker owner's funeral service last week. "I wanted one extension; he gave it to me. "I wanted a second extension; he gave it to me. "I wanted a third extension - he traded me." ... "In Nix's defense," noted Brad Dickson of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, "Zeller's belt is roughly goal-post height."....(size: 2.7Kb)

White House Releases New State-by-State Reports on the Impacts of the Sequester

The Wichita Eagle

25 Feb 2013

These reports are EMBARGOED until tonight at 8.00PM ET. The link to each state report can be found below.. 1. Alabama. 2. Alaska. 3. Arizona. 4. Arkansas. 5. California. 6. Colorado. 7. Connecticut. 8. Delaware. 9. District of Columbia. 10. Florida. 11 ... Nebraska ... ### ....(size: 1.5Kb)

Ohio State 68, Michigan State 60

Sun Sentinel

25 Feb 2013

SportsDirect Inc. Recap. Ohio State 68, Michigan State 60. No. 18 Ohio State 68, No. 5 Michigan State 60. Aaron Craft scored a career-high 21 points as the host Buckeyes used an inspired second-half effort to send the Spartans to their second straight defeat ... GAME NOTEBOOK. Ohio State set a school record by winning 10 Big Ten games for the eighth straight season ... ... 16 against Nebraska. ....(size: 1.9Kb)

For sale: One Bearsmobile, complete with beer spigot, flat-screen TV

Chicago Sun-Times

25 Feb 2013

If you buy JoAnna Juneau’s vehicle, expect giddy Bears fans to embrace you — and maybe ask for a beer. The 24-foot motor home owned by Juneau, a hairdresser from Itasca, has a beer tap and flat-screen TV attached to its side panels, which are painted in Bears colors and adorned with team logos ... “If I sell it, great ... At one game, Juneau made a first-time tailgater from Nebraska swear allegiance to the Bears with one hand on a football ... ....(size: 2.5Kb)

This Week's Women's Top 25 Fared

my SA

25 Feb 2013

1. Baylor (26-1) beat No. 3 UConn 76-70; beat Texas 67-47. 2. Notre Dame (25-1) beat DePaul 84-56. 3. UConn (25-2) lost to No. 1 Baylor 76-70; beat Seton Hall 90-30. 4. Stanford (26-2) beat Oregon State 90-53; beat Oregon 74-50. 5. Duke (26-1) beat No. 19 Florida State 61-50; beat No ... 6 ... Nebraska (21-6) beat Michigan 57-39; beat Iowa 66-46 ... ....(size: 1.8Kb)

Once bullied, tackle prospect Gilkey eyes NFL draft

Chicago Tribune

25 Feb 2013

INDIANAPOLIS -- For Garrett Gilkey, just being at the 2013 NFL scouting combine is a dream come true and an accomplishment. But he says it's only the beginning of what he expects to be a long ride in the NFL ... He did 28 reps in the bench press at the combine Saturday. The fact he has made it this far is a testimony to perseverance and guts ... I was pear-shaped ... I was the one player from the state of Nebraska to be invited to the Senior Bowl....(size: 4.6Kb)

Jake Diekman hopes to impress Phillies in bullpen

The Charlotte Observer

25 Feb 2013

LAKELAND, Fla. Jake Diekman is right in the middle of the competition. Three spots are open in the Phillies' bullpen, and the lefthander with the funky sidearm delivery wants one of them, but he respects the talent level of his friendly adversaries. "There are 13 pitchers who have crazy big talent," Diekman said ... Up ... Down ... Up ... Down ... The Phillies drafted him in the 30th round in 2007, and he signed despite having a scholarship to Nebraska ... ....(size: 4.0Kb)

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"Omaha" redirects here. For other uses, see Omaha (disambiguation).

Omaha

— City —

An aerial view of Downtown Omaha from the east

Flag of Omaha
Flag

Official seal of Omaha
Seal

Nickname(s): Gateway to the West^[1]

Motto: Fortiter in Re (Latin)
"Courageously in every enterprise"

Location in Nebraska and Douglas County.

Omaha

Location in the United States

Coordinates: 41°15′N 96°0′W / 41.25°N 96°WCoordinates: 41°15′N 96°0′W / 41.25°N 96°W

Founded

1854

Incorporated

1857

Government

• Mayor

Jim Suttle (D)

• City Clerk

Buster Brown

• City Council

Members list

Area

• City

118.9 sq mi (307.9 km²)

• Land

115.7 sq mi (299.7 km²)

• Water

3.2 sq mi (8.2 km²)

Elevation

1,090 ft (332 m)

Population (2010)^[2]

• City

408,958 (42nd)

• Density

3,370.7/sq mi (1,301.4/km²)

• Metro

877,110

Time zone

CST (UTC-6)

• Summer (DST)

CDT (UTC-5)

ZIP codes

68022, 68101–68164

Area code(s)

402, 531

FIPS code

31-37000^[3]

GNIS feature ID

0835483^[4]

Website

www.cityofomaha.org

Omaha /ˈoʊməhɑː/ is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County.^[5] It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles (30 km) north of the mouth of the Platte River. Omaha is the anchor of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, which includes Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha.

According to the 2010 Census, Omaha's population was 408,958, making it the nation's 42nd-largest city. Including its suburbs, Omaha formed the 60th-largest metropolitan area in the United States in 2010, with an estimated population of 877,110 residing in eight counties. There are more than 1.2 million residents within a 50-mile (80-km) radius of the city's center, forming the Greater Omaha area.

Omaha's pioneer period began in 1854 when the city was founded by speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa. The city was founded along the Missouri River, and a crossing called Lone Tree Ferry earned the city its nickname, the "Gateway to the West." It introduced this new West to the world when in 1898 it played host to the World's Fair, dubbed the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. During the 19th century, Omaha's central location in the United States spurred the city to become an important national transportation hub. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the transportation and jobbing sectors were important in the city, along with its railroads and breweries. In the 20th century, the Omaha Stockyards, once the world's largest, and its meatpacking plants, gained international prominence.

Today, Omaha is the home to the headquarters of five Fortune 500 companies: packaged-food giant ConAgra Foods; the U.S.'s largest railroad operator, Union Pacific Corporation; insurance and financial firm Mutual of Omaha; one of the world's largest construction companies, Kiewit Corporation; and mega-conglomorate Berkshire Hathaway.^[6] Berkshire Hathaway is headed by local investor Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in the world, according to a decade's worth of Forbes Magazine rankings, some of which have ranked him as high as No. 1.^[7] Omaha is also the home to four Fortune 1000 headquarters: TD Ameritrade, West Corporation, Valmont Industries, and Werner Enterprises. First National Bank of Omaha is the largest privately held bank in the United States. Headquarters for Leo A Daly, HDR, Inc. and DLR Group, three of the US's largest 10 architecture/engineering firms,^[8]^[9] are based in Omaha. The Gallup Organization, of Gallup Poll fame, also is based in Omaha, with its riverfront Gallup University. Enron began in Omaha as Northern Natural Gas in 1930 before taking over a smaller Houston company in 1985 to form Internorth, which was moved permanently to Houston in 1987 by the notorious Kenneth Lay.

The modern economy of Omaha is diverse and built on skilled knowledge jobs. In 2009, Forbes identified Omaha as the nation's number one "Best Bang-For-The Buck City" and number one on "America's Fastest-Recovering Cities" list. Tourism in Omaha benefits the city's economy greatly, with the annual College World Series providing important revenue and the city's Henry Doorly Zoo serving as the top attraction in Nebraska. Omaha hosted the Olympic swim trials in 2008, and is scheduled to do so again in 2012.

Notable modern Omaha inventions include the TV dinner, developed by Omaha's then-Carl Swanson Co.;^[10] Raisin Bran, developed by Omaha's Skinner Macaroni Co.; cake mix, developed by Duncan Hines, then a division of Omaha's Nebraska Consolidated Mills, the forerunner to today's ConAgra Foods; the Reuben sandwich, conceived by a chef at the then-Blackstone Hotel on 33rd and Farnam Streets;^[11] center-pivot irrigation by Omaha's now-Valmont Corporation;^[12] the bobby pin and the "pink hair curler," at Omaha's Tip Top; the ski lift, in 1936, by Omaha's Union Pacific Corp;^[13] the "Top 40" radio format, pioneered by Todd Storz, scion of Omaha's Storz Brewing Co., and head of Storz Broadcasting, which was the first in the U.S. to use the "Top 40" format at Omaha's KOWH Radio;^[14] Rudyard Kipling's "From Sea to Sea" featured a character who claimed dice were invented in Omaha.^[15]

A historic preservation movement in Omaha has led to a number of historic structures and districts being designated Omaha Landmarks or listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Much of the push toward preservation came after Omaha gained the notorious designation of having, in 1989, demolished the largest-ever National Register historic district in the United States, a record that still stands as of 2012. The Jobbers Canyon Historic District, along the Missouri River front, was felled for a new headquarters campus for ConAgra Foods.^[16]^[17]^[18]

Since its founding, ethnic groups in the city have clustered in enclaves in north, south and downtown Omaha. In its early days, the sometimes lawless nature of a new frontier city included crime, such as illicit gambling and riots. Today, the diverse culture of Omaha includes a variety of performance venues, museums, and musical heritage, including the historically significant jazz scene in North Omaha and the modern and influential "Omaha Sound". Sports have been important in Omaha for more than a century, and the city currently plays host to three minor-league professional sports teams. It is perhaps more known as the home of the College World Series, to which it has played host since 1950. The Kings, an NBA franchise, called Omaha and Kansas City home from 1972-1978.^[19] The Kansas City-Omaha Kings split their time between the two cities, playing at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium and the Omaha Civic Auditorium, before decamping solely to Kansas City until 1985, when the team moved to its current home of Sacramento.

History [link]

Main article: History of Omaha, Nebraska

Logan Fontenelle, chief of the Omaha Tribe that ceded land to the U.S. government which became the city of Omaha

Various Native American tribes had lived in the land that became Omaha, including since the 17th century, the Omaha and Ponca, Dhegian-Siouan-language people who had originated in the lower Ohio River valley and migrated west by the early 17th century; Pawnee, Otoe, Missouri, and Ioway. The word Omaha (actually UmoNhoN or UmaNhaN) means "Dwellers on the bluff".^[20]

In 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by the riverbanks where the city of Omaha would be built. Between July 30 and August 3, 1804, members of the expedition, including Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, met with Oto and Missouria tribal leaders at the Council Bluff at a point about 20 miles (30 km) north of present-day Omaha.^[21] Immediately south of that area, Americans built several fur trading outposts in succeeding years, including Fort Lisa in 1812;^[22] Fort Atkinson in 1819;^[23] Cabanné's Trading Post, built in 1822, and Fontenelle's Post in 1823, in what became Bellevue.^[24] There was fierce competition among fur traders until John Jacob Astor created the monopoly of the American Fur Company. The Mormons built a town called Cutler's Park in the area in 1846.^[25] While it was temporary, the settlement provided the basis for further development in the future.^[26]

Through 26 separate treaties with the United States federal government, Native American tribes in Nebraska gradually ceded the lands currently comprising the state. The treaty and cession involving the Omaha area occurred in 1854 when the Omaha Tribe ceded most of east-central Nebraska.^[27] Logan Fontenelle, an interpreter for the Omaha and signatory to the 1854 treaty, played an essential role in those proceedings.

Pioneer Omaha [link]

Before it was legal to claim land in Indian Country, William D. Brown was operating the Lone Tree Ferry to bring settlers from Council Bluffs, Iowa to the area that became Omaha. Brown is generally credited as having the first vision for a city where Omaha now sits.^[28] The passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854 was presaged by the staking out of claims around the area to become Omaha by residents from neighboring Council Bluffs. On July 4, 1854, the city was informally established at a picnic on Capital Hill, current site of Omaha Central High School.^[29] Soon after, the Omaha Claim Club was formed to provide vigilante justice for claim jumpers and others who infringed on the land of many of the city's founding fathers.^[30] Some of this land, which now wraps around Downtown Omaha, was later used to entice Nebraska Territorial legislators to an area called Scriptown.^[31] The Territorial capitol was located in Omaha, but when Nebraska became a state in 1867, the capital was relocated to Lincoln, 53 miles (85 km) south-west of Omaha.^[32] The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled against numerous landowners whose violent actions were condemned in Baker v. Morton.^[33]

Many of Omaha's founding figures stayed at the Douglas House or the Cozzens House Hotel.^[34] Dodge Street was important early in the city's early commercial history; North 24th Street and South 24th Street developed independently as business districts, as well. Early pioneers were buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery and Cedar Hill Cemetery.^[35] Cedar Hill closed in the 1860s and its graves were moved to Prospect Hill, where pioneers were later joined by soldiers from Fort Omaha, African Americans and early European immigrants.^[36] There are several other historical cemeteries in Omaha, historical Jewish synagogues and historical Christian churches dating from the pioneer era, as well.

19th century [link]

The Hotel Fontenelle, formerly located in downtown Omaha

The economy of Omaha boomed and busted through its early years. Omaha was a stopping point for settlers and prospectors heading west, either overland or via the Missouri River. The steamboat Bertrand sank north of Omaha on its way to the goldfields in 1865. Its massive collection of artifacts is on display at the nearby Desoto National Wildlife Refuge. The jobbing and wholesaling district brought new jobs, followed by the railroads and the stockyards.^[37] Groundbreaking for the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1863, provided an essential developmental boom for the city.^[38] The Union Pacific Railroad was authorized by the U.S. Congress to begin building westward railways in 1862;^[39]^[40] in January 1866 it commenced construction out of Omaha.^[41]

Equally as important, the Union Stockyards were founded in 1883.^[42] Within twenty years of the founding of the Union Stockyards in South Omaha, four of the five major meatpacking companies in the United States were located in Omaha. By the 1950s, half the city's workforce was employed in meatpacking and processing. Meatpacking, jobbing and railroads were responsible for most of the growth in the city from the late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century.^[43]

Immigrants soon created ethnic enclaves throughout the city, including Irish in Sheelytown in South Omaha; Germans in the Near North Side, joined by Eastern European Jews and black migrants from the South; Little Italy and Little Bohemia in South Omaha.^[44] Beginning in the late 19th century, Omaha's upper class lived in posh enclaves throughout the city, including the south and north Gold Coast neighborhoods, Bemis Park, Kountze Place, Field Club and throughout Midtown Omaha. They traveled the city's sprawling park system on boulevards designed by renowned landscape architect Horace Cleveland.^[45] The Omaha Horse Railway first carried passengers throughout the city, as did the later Omaha Cable Tramway Company and several similar companies. In 1888, the Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway and Bridge Company built the Douglas Street Bridge, the first pedestrian and wagon bridge between Omaha and Council Bluffs.^[46] Gambling, drinking and prostitution were widespread in the 19th century, first rampant in the city's Burnt District and later in the Sporting District.^[47] Controlled by Omaha's political boss Tom Dennison by 1890, criminal elements enjoyed support from Omaha's "perpetual" mayor, "Cowboy Jim" Dahlman, nicknamed for his eight terms as mayor.^[48]^[49] Calamities such as the Great Flood of 1881 did not slow down the city's violence.^[50] In 1882, the Camp Dump Strike pitted state militia against unionized strikers, drawing national attention to Omaha's labor troubles. The Governor of Nebraska had to call in U.S. Army troops from nearby Fort Omaha to protect strikebreakers for the Burlington Railroad, bringing along Gatling guns and a cannon for defense. When the event ended, there was one man dead and several wounded.^[51] In 1891, a mob hanged Joe Coe, an African-American porter after he was accused of raping a white girl.^[52] There were several other riots and civil unrest events in Omaha during this period, as well.

In 1898, Omaha's leaders, under the guidance of Gurdon Wattles, held the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, touted as a celebration of agricultural and industrial growth throughout the Midwest.^[53] The Indian Congress, which drew more than 500 American Indians from across the country, was held simultaneously. More than 2 million visitors attended these events, located at Kountze Park and the Omaha Driving Park in the Kountze Place neighborhood.^[54]

20th century [link]

The Enola Gay was built at Offutt Air Force Base, located south of Omaha.

With dramatically increasing population in the 20th century, there was major civil unrest in Omaha, resulting from competition and fierce labor struggles.^[55] In 1900, Omaha was the center of a national uproar over the kidnapping of Edward Cudahy, Jr., the son of a local meatpacking magnate.^[56] The city's labor and management clashed in bitter strikes, racial tension escalated as blacks were hired as strikebreakers, and ethnic strife broke out.^[57] A major riot by ethnic whites in South Omaha destroyed the city's Greek Town in 1909, completely driving out the Greek population.^[58] The civil rights movement in Omaha has roots that extend back to 1912, when the first chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People west of the Mississippi River was founded in the city.^[59] The Omaha Easter Sunday Tornado of 1913 destroyed much of the city's African American community, in addition to much of Midtown Omaha.^[60] Six years later in 1919 the city was caught up in the Red Summer riots when thousands of ethnic whites marched from South Omaha to the courthouse to lynch a black worker, Willy Brown, a suspect in an alleged rape of a white woman. The mob burned the Douglas County Courthouse to get the prisoner, causing more than $1,000,000 damage. They hung and shot Will Brown, then burned his body.^[61] Troops were called in from Fort Omaha to quell the riot, prevent more crowds gathering in South Omaha, and to protect the black community in North Omaha.^[62]

The culture of North Omaha thrived throughout the 1920s through 1950s, with several creative figures, including Tillie Olsen, Wallace Thurman, Lloyd Hunter, and Anna Mae Winburn emerging from the vibrant Near North Side.^[63] Musicians created their own world in Omaha, and also joined national bands and groups that toured and appeared in the city.^[64]

After the tumultuous Great Depression of the 1930s, Omaha rebounded with the development of Offutt Air Force Base just south of the city. The Glenn L. Martin Company operated a factory there in the 1940s that produced 521 B-29 Superfortresses, including the Enola Gay and Bockscar used in the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II.^[65] The construction of Interstates 80, 480 and 680, along with the North Omaha Freeway, spurred development. There was also controversy, particularly in North Omaha, where several neighborhoods were bisected by new routes.^[66] Creighton University hosted the DePorres Club, an early civil rights group whose sit-in strategies for integration of public facilities predated the national movement, starting in 1947.^[67] Following the development of the Glenn L. Martin Company bomber manufacturing plant in Bellevue at the beginning of World War II, the relocation of the Strategic Air Command to the Omaha suburb in 1948 provided a major economic boost to the area.^[68]

From the 1950s through the 1960s, more than 40 insurance companies were headquartered in Omaha, including Woodmen of the World and Mutual of Omaha. By the late 1960s, the city rivaled, but never surpassed, the United States insurance centers of Hartford, Connecticut, New York City and Boston, Massachusetts.^[69] After surpassing Chicago in meat processing by the late 1950s, Omaha suffered the loss of 10,000 jobs as both the railroad and meatpacking industries restructured. The city struggled for decades to shift its economy as workers suffered. Poverty became more entrenched among families who remained in North Omaha. In the 1960s, three major race riots along North 24th Street destroyed the Near North Side's economic base, with recovery slow for decades.^[70] In 1969, Woodmen Tower was completed and became Omaha's tallest building and first major skyscraper at 478 feet (146 m), a sign of renewal.

Kiewit Tower, the location of Berkshire Hathaway's corporate offices

Since the 1970s, Omaha has continued expanding and growing, mostly to available land to the west. West Omaha has become home to the majority of the city's population. North and South Omaha's populations continue to be centers of new immigrants, with economic and racial diversity.^[71] In 1975 a major tornado, along with a major blizzard, caused more than $100 million in damages in 1975 dollars.^[72] Downtown Omaha has since been rejuvenated in numerous ways, starting with the development of Gene Leahy Mall^[73] and W. Dale Clark Library^[74] in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, Omaha's fruit warehouses were converted into a shopping area called the Old Market. The demolition of Jobber's Canyon in 1989 led to the creation of the ConAgra Foods campus.^[75] Several nearby buildings, including the Nash Block, have been converted into condominiums. The stockyards were taken down; the only surviving building is the Livestock Exchange Building, which was converted to multi-use and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[76]

In the 1980s and 1990s, Omaha also saw major company headquarters leave the city, including Enron, founded in the city in 1930 and taken to Houston in 1987 by the now-notorious Kenneth Lay. First Data Corporation, a large credit-card processor, also was founded in Omaha in 1969; as of 2009, its headquarters are in Atlanta. Bozell, once one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States, according to Advertising Age, was founded in 1921 as Bozell and Jacobs and is famous for campaigns including Pork: The Other White Meat and Got Milk? The firm left for New York in 1997 when it was acquired by True North. Inacom, founded in Omaha in 1991, was a technology company that customized computer systems for large businesses, and was on the Fortune 500 list from 1997 until 2000, when it filed for bankruptcy. Northwestern Bell, the Bell System affiliate for Northwestern states, had its headquarters in Omaha from its founding in 1896 until it moved to Denver in 1991 as US West. Level 3 Communications, a large Tier 1 network provider, was founded in Omaha in 1985 as Kiewit Diversified Group, a division of Kiewit Corporation, a Fortune 500 construction and mining company still headquartered in Omaha; Level 3 moved to Denver in 1998. World Com was founded by a merger with Omaha's MFS Communications, started as Metropolitan Fiber Systems in 1993. MFS, backed by Kiewit Corporation CEO Walter Scott and Warren Buffett, purchased UUNET, one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, for $2 billion in 1996. The now-infamous Bernie Ebbers purchased the much larger MFS for $14.3 billion in 1997 under his World Com. He moved headquarters of the merged company from Omaha to Mississippi.^[77]

21st century [link]

Downtown Omaha at night

Around the turn of the 21st century, several new downtown skyscrapers and cultural institutions were built.^[78] One First National Center was completed in 2002, surpassing the Woodmen Tower as the tallest building in Omaha as well as in the state at 638 feet (194 m). The creation of the city's new North Downtown included the construction of the CenturyLink Center and the Slowdown/Film Streams development at North 14th and Webster Streets.^[79] Construction of the new TD Ameritrade Park began in 2009 and was completed in 2011, also in the North Downtown area, near the CenturyLink Center.

New construction has occurred throughout the city since the turn of the century. Important retail and office developments have occurred in West Omaha such as the Village Pointe shopping center and several business parks including First National Business Park and parks for Bank of the West and C&A Industries, Inc and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and several others.^[80] Downtown and Midtown Omaha have both seen the development of a significant number of condominiums in recent years.^[81]^[82] In Midtown Omaha significant mixed-use projects are underway. The site of the former Ak-Sar-Ben arena has been redeveloped into a mixed use development Aksarben Village. In January 2009 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska announced plans to build a new 10 story, $98 million headquarters, in the Aksarben Village, completed in Spring 2011.^[83] The other major mixed-use development is Midtown Crossing at Turner Park. Developed by Mutual of Omaha, the development includes several condominium towers and retail businesses built around Omaha's Turner Park.^[84]^[85]

The Holland Performing Arts Center opened in 2005 near the Gene Leahy Mall and the Union Pacific Center opened in 2004.

There have also been several developments along the Missouri River waterfront in downtown. The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge was opened to foot and bicycle traffic on September 28, 2008.^[86] Started in 2003,^[87] RiverFront Place Condos first phase was completed in 2006 and is fully occupied and construction of the second tower began in 2009. The development along Omaha's riverfront is attributed with prompting the City of Council Bluffs to move their own riverfront development time line forward.^[88]

In summer 2008 the United States Olympic Team swimming trials were held in Omaha.^[89]^[90] The event was a highlight in the city's sports community,^[91] as well as a showcase for redevelopment in the downtown area.

Geography [link]

See also: Geography of Omaha, Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area.

Omaha is located at 41°15′N 96°0′W / 41.25°N 96°W / 41.25; -96. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 118.9 square miles (307.9 km²). 115.7 square miles (299.7 km²) of it is land and 3.2 square miles (8.2 km²) of it is water. The total area is 2.67% water. Situated in the Midwestern United States on the bank of the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska, much of Omaha is built in the Missouri River Valley. Other significant bodies of water in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area include Lake Manawa, Papillion Creek, Carter Lake, Platte River and the Glenn Cunningham Lake. The city's land has been altered considerably with substantial land grading throughout Downtown Omaha and scattered across the city.^[92] East Omaha sits on a flood plain west of the Missouri River. The area is the location of Carter Lake, an oxbow lake. The lake was once the site of East Omaha Island and Florence Lake, which dried up in the 1920s.

The Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area consists of eight counties; five in Nebraska and three in Iowa.^[93] now includes Harrison, Pottawattamie, and Mills Counties in Iowa and Washington, Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, and Saunders Counties in Nebraska. This area was formerly referred to only as the Omaha Metropolitan Statistical Area and consisted of only five counties: Pottawattamie in Iowa, and Washington, Douglas, Cass, and Sarpy in Nebraska.^[94] The Omaha-Council Bluffs combined statistical area comprises the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan statistical area and the Fremont Micropolitan statistical area; the CSA has a population of 858,720 (2005 Census Bureau estimate). Omaha ranks as the 42nd-largest city in the United States, and is the core city of its 60th-largest metropolitan area.^[95] There are currently no consolidated city-counties in the area; the City of Omaha studied the possibility extensively through 2003 and concluded, "The City of Omaha and Douglas County should merge into a municipal county, work to commence immediately, and that functional consolidations begin immediately in as many departments as possible, including but not limited to parks, fleet management, facilities management, local planning, purchasing and personnel."^[96]

Geographically, Omaha is considered as being located in the "Heartland" of the United States. Important environmental impacts on the natural habitat in the area include the spread of invasive plant species, restoring prairies and bur oak savanna habitats, and managing the whitetail deer population.^[97]

Omaha is home to several hospitals, located mostly along Dodge St (US6). Being the county seat, it is also the location of the county courthouse.

Neighborhoods [link]

Main article: Neighborhoods of Omaha, Nebraska

Downtown-lime, Midtown-blue-gray, North-red, South-pink, West-lavender

A typical suburban street in West Omaha

Omaha is generally divided into five geographic areas: Downtown, Midtown, North Omaha, South Omaha and West Omaha. West Omaha includes the Miracle Hills, Girls and Boys Town, Regency, and Gateway areas.^[98] There is also a small community in East Omaha. The city has a wide range of historical and new neighborhoods and suburbs that reflect its socioeconomic diversity.^[99] Early neighborhood development happened in ethnic enclaves,^[100] including Little Italy, Little Bohemia, Little Mexico and Greek Town.^[101] According to U.S. Census data, five European ethnic enclaves existed in Omaha in 1880, expanding to nine in 1900.^[102]

At the turn of the 20th century. the City of Omaha annexed several surrounding communities, including Florence, Dundee and Benson. At the same time, the city annexed all of South Omaha, including the Dahlman and Burlington Road neighborhoods. From its first annexation in 1857 (of East Omaha) to its recent and controversial annexation of Elkhorn, Omaha has continually had an eye towards growth.^[103]

Starting in the 1950s, development of highways and new housing led to movement of middle class to suburbs in West Omaha. Some of the movement was designated as white flight from racial unrest in the 1960s.^[104] Newer and poorer migrants lived in older housing close to downtown; those residents who were more established moved west into newer housing. Some suburbs are gated communities or have become edge cities.^[105] Recently, Omahans have made strides to revitalize the downtown and Midtown areas with the redevelopment of the Old Market, Turner Park, Gifford Park, and the designation of the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District.

Landmark preservation [link]

Main article: Landmarks in Omaha, Nebraska

Main article: List of Registered Historic Places in Douglas County, Nebraska

The Joslyn Castle is home to a nonprofit environmental organization.

Omaha is home to dozens of nationally, regionally and locally significant landmarks.^[106] The city has more than a dozen historic districts, including Fort Omaha Historic District, Gold Coast Historic District, Omaha Quartermaster Depot Historic District, Field Club Historic District, Bemis Park Historic District, and the South Omaha Main Street Historic District. Omaha is notorious for its 1989 demolition of 24 buildings in the Jobbers Canyon Historic District, which represents to date the largest loss of buildings on the National Register.^[107] The only original building surviving of that complex is the Nash Block.

Omaha has almost one hundred individual properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Bank of Florence, Holy Family Church, the Christian Specht Building and the Joslyn Castle. There are also three properties designated as National Historic Landmarks.^[108]

Locally designated landmarks, including residential, commercial, religious, educational, agricultural and socially significant locations across the city, honor Omaha's cultural legacy and important history. The City of Omaha Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission is the government body that works with the mayor of Omaha and the Omaha City Council to protect historic places. Important history organizations in the community include the Douglas County Historical Society.^[109]

Climate [link]

The Saint Cecilia Cathedral against an Omaha summer sunset.

Omaha, due to its latitude of 41.26˚N and location far from moderating bodies of water or mountain ranges, displays a humid continental climate (Koppen Dfa), with hot summers and cold winters. July averages 76.7 °F (24.8 °C), with moderate, but sometimes high humidity and relatively frequent thunderstorms, usually rather violent and capable of spawning severe weather or tornadoes; the January mean is 21.7 °F (−5.7 °C). The lowest temperature recorded in the city was −32 °F (−36 °C) on January 5, 1884,^[110] and the highest 114 °F (46 °C) on July 25, 1936.^[111] Average yearly precipitation is 30.2 inches (767 mm), falling mostly in the warmer months. What precipitation does fall in winter usually takes the form of snow, with average yearly snowfall being around 26.8 inches (68 cm).^[112]^[113]

Climate data for Omaha (Eppley Airfield), 1981–2010 normals
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	69 (21)	78 (26)	91 (33)	96 (36)	103 (39)	107 (42)	114 (46)	111 (44)	104 (40)	96 (36)	83 (28)	72 (22)	114 (46)
Average high °F (°C)	33.1 (0.6)	37.8 (3.2)	50.6 (10.3)	63.4 (17.4)	73.5 (23.1)	82.9 (28.3)	87.1 (30.6)	84.9 (29.4)	77.3 (25.2)	64.5 (18.1)	48.7 (9.3)	35.0 (1.7)	61.57 (16.43)
Average low °F (°C)	13.5 (−10.3)	18.1 (−7.7)	28.1 (−2.2)	39.7 (4.3)	50.9 (10.5)	61.0 (16.1)	66.2 (19.0)	64.0 (17.8)	54.0 (12.2)	41.6 (5.3)	28.8 (−1.8)	16.8 (−8.4)	40.23 (4.57)
Record low °F (°C)	−32 (−36)	−26 (−32)	−16 (−27)	5 (−15)	21 (−6)	39 (4)	44 (7)	43 (6)	28 (−2)	8 (−13)	−14 (−26)	−25 (−32)	−32 (−36)
Precipitation inches (mm)	0.73 (18.5)	0.85 (21.6)	1.98 (50.3)	2.95 (74.9)	4.77 (121.2)	4.18 (106.2)	3.83 (97.3)	3.82 (97)	2.70 (68.6)	2.17 (55.1)	1.64 (41.7)	1.04 (26.4)	30.65 (778.5)
Snowfall inches (cm)	6.2 (15.7)	6.3 (16)	4.3 (10.9)	1.0 (2.5)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0.4 (1)	2.4 (6.1)	6.0 (15.2)	26.5 (67.3)
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in)	6.0	6.4	8.2	10.2	12.3	11.0	10.3	8.3	8.0	7.1	6.6	6.6	101
Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.1 in)	4.7	4.8	2.7	0.8	0	0	0	0	0	0.2	2.1	4.6	19.9
Mean monthly sunshine hours	167.4	158.2	207.7	231.0	275.9	315.0	331.7	297.6	246.0	217.0	147.0	133.3	2,727.8
Source no. 1: The Weather Channel (records) ^[114]
Source no. 2: NOAA ^[115] , HKO ^[116]

Demographics [link]

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1860	1,883	—
1870	16,083	754.1%
1880	30,518	89.8%
1890	140,452	360.2%
1900	102,555	−27.0%
1910	124,096	21.0%
1920	191,061	54.0%
1930	214,006	12.0%
1940	223,844	4.6%
1950	251,117	12.2%
1960	301,598	20.1%
1970	346,929	15.0%
1980	313,939	−9.5%
1990	335,795	7.0%
2000	390,007	16.1%
2010	408,958	4.9%
source:^[117]^[118]

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, the racial composition of Omaha was as follows:

White: 76.7% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 71.1%)
Black or African American: 12.8%
Native American: 0.4%
Asian: 2.1%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%
Some other race: 5.1%
Two or more races: 2.8%

Hispanic or Latino: 11.4%

Source:^[119]

As of the census^[3] of 2000, there are 390,007 people, 156,738 households, and 94,983 families residing within city limits. The population density is 3,370.7 people per square mile (1,301.5/km²). There are 165,731 housing units at an average density of 1,432.4 per square mile (553.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 78.4% White, 13.3% African American, 0.7% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.9% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. 7.5% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.^[120]

There are 156,738 households out of which 30.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.8% are married couples living together, 13.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 39.4% are non-families. 31.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.42 and the average family size is 3.10. In the city the average age of the population is diverse with 25.6% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there are 95.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 92.2 males.^[121]

The median income for a household in the city is $40,006, and the median income for a family is $50,821. Males have a median income of $34,301 versus $26,652 for females. The per capita income for the city is $21,756. 11.3% of the population and 7.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 15.6% of those under the age of 18 and 7.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.^[122]

People [link]

Main article: Ethnic groups in Omaha, Nebraska

View of 24th and Lake Streets in North Omaha, site of many notable events in Omaha's African American community

Native Americans were the first residents in the Omaha area. The city of Omaha was established by European Americans from neighboring Council Bluffs who arrived from the Northeast United States a few years earlier. While much of the early population was of Yankee stock, over the next 100 years numerous ethnic groups moved to the city. In 1910, the Census Bureau reported Omaha's population as 96.4% White and 3.6% Black.^[123] Irish immigrants in Omaha originally moved to an area in present-day North Omaha called "Gophertown", as they lived in dirt dugouts.^[124] That population was followed by Polish immigrants in the Sheelytown neighborhood, and many immigrants were recruited for jobs in South Omaha's stockyards and meatpacking industry.^[125] The German community in Omaha was largely responsible for founding its once-thriving beer industry,^[126] including the Metz, Krug, Falstaff and the Storz breweries.

In the early 20th century, Jewish immigrants set up numerous businesses along the North 24th Street commercial area. It suffered with the loss of industrial jobs in the 1960s and later, and the shifting of population west of the city. The commercial area is now the center of the African American community, concentrated in North Omaha.^[127] The African-American community has maintained its social and religious base, while it is currently experiencing an economic revitalization.

Omaha's first Italian enclave grew south of downtown, with many Italian immigrants coming to the city to work in the Union Pacific shops.^[128] Scandinavians first came to Omaha as Mormon settlers in the Florence neighborhood.^[129]^[130] Czechs had a strong political and cultural voice in Omaha,^[131] and were involved in a variety of trades and businesses, including banks, wholesale houses, and funeral homes. The Notre Dame Academy and Convent and Czechoslovak Museum are legacies of their residence.^[132] Today the legacy of the city's early European immigrant populations is evident in many social and cultural institutions in Downtown and South Omaha.

Mexicans originally immigrated to Omaha to work in the rail yards. Today they compose the majority of South Omaha's Hispanic population and many have taken jobs in meat processing.^[133] Other significant early ethnic populations in Omaha included Danes, Poles, and Swedes.

A growing number of African immigrants have made their homes in Omaha in the last twenty years. There are approximately 8,500 Sudanese living in Omaha, comprising the largest population of Sudanese refugees in the United States. Most have immigrated since 1995 because of warfare in their nation. Ten different tribes are represented, including the Nuer, Dinka, Equatorians, Maubans and Nubians. Most Sudanese people in Omaha speak the Nuer language.^[134] Other Africans have immigrated to Omaha as well, with one-third from Nigeria, and significant populations from Kenya, Togo, Cameroon and Ghana.^[135]^[136]^[137]

Race relations [link]

Main article: Racial Tension in Omaha, Nebraska

Timeline of racial tension
Part of a series on Ethnicity in Omaha
African Americans
Czechs
Danes
Germans
Greeks
Irish
Italians
Jews
Mexicans
Poles
Swedes

Racial tension
Civil rights movement

With the expansion of railroad and industrial jobs in meatpacking, Omaha attracted many new immigrants and migrants. As the major city in Nebraska, it has historically been more racially and ethnically diverse than the rest of the state.^[138] At times rapid population change, overcrowded housing and job competition have aroused racial and ethnic tensions. Around the turn of the 20th century, violence towards new immigrants in Omaha often erupted out of suspicions and fears.^[139]

The Greek Town Riot in 1909 flared after increased Greek immigration, Greeks' working as strikebreakers, and the killing of an Irish policeman provoked violence among earlier immigrants such as ethnic Irish.^[140] That mob violence forced the Greek immigrant population to flee from the city.^[141]^[142] By 1910, 53.7% of Omaha’s residents and 64.2% of South Omaha’s residents were foreign born or had at least one parent born outside of America.^[143] Six years after the Greek Town Riot, in 1915, a Mexican immigrant named Juan Gonzalez was killed by a mob near Scribner, a town in the Greater Omaha metropolitan area. The event occurred after an Omaha Police Department officer was investigating a criminal operation selling goods stolen from the nearby railroad yards. Racial profiling targeted Gonzalez as the culprit. After escaping the city, he was trapped along the Elkhorn River, where the mob, including several policemen from Omaha, shot him more than twenty times. Afterward it was discovered that Gonzalez was unarmed, and that he had a reliable alibi for the time of the murder. Nobody was ever indicted for his lynching.^[144] In the fall of 1919, following Red Summer, postwar social and economic tensions, the earlier hiring of blacks as strikebreakers, and job uncertainty contributed to a mob from South Omaha lynching Willy Brown and the ensuing Omaha Race Riot. Trying to defend Brown, the city's mayor, Edward Parsons Smith, was lynched also, surviving only after a quick rescue.^[145]

Similar to other industrial cities in the U.S., Omaha suffered severe job losses in the 1950s, more than 10,000 in total, as both the railroad and meatpacking industries restructured. Stockyards and packing plants were located closer to ranches, and union achievements were lost as wages declined in surviving jobs.^[146] Many workers left the area if they could get to other jobs. Poverty deepened in areas of the city whose residents had depended on those jobs, specifically North and South Omaha. At the same time, with reduced revenues, the city had less financial ability to respond to longstanding problems. Despair after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 1968 contributed to riots in North Omaha, including one at the Logan Fontenelle Housing Project.^[147] For some, the Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska evolved towards black nationalism, as the Black Panther Party was involved in tensions in the late 1960s. Organizations such as the Black Association for Nationalism Through Unity became popular among the city's African-American youth. This tension culminated in the cause célèbre trial of the Rice/Poindexter Case, in which an Omaha Police Department officer was killed by a bomb while answering an emergency call. After 5 years of obscurity, the black population was finally able to vote.

Whites in Omaha have followed the white flight pattern, suburbanizing to West Omaha over time.^[148] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, gang violence and incidents between the Omaha Police Department and members of the African-American community aggravated relations between groups in North and South Omaha. More recent Hispanic immigrants, concentrated in South Omaha, have struggled to earn living wages in meatpacking, adapt to a new society, and deal with discrimination.^[149]

Economy [link]

Main article: Economy of Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha's Old Market in Downtown Omaha is one of the city's premier destinations.

According to USA Today, Omaha ranks eighth among the nation's 50 largest cities in both per-capita billionaires and Fortune 500 companies.^[150] Major employers in the area include Alegent Health System, Omaha Public Schools, First Data Corporation, Methodist Health System, Mutual of Omaha, ConAgra Foods, Nebraska Medical Center, Offutt Air Force Base, and the West Corporation.^[151] With diversification in several industries, including banking, insurance, telecommunications, architecture/construction, and transportation, Omaha's economy has grown dramatically since the early 1990s. In 2001 Newsweek identified Omaha as one of the Top 10 high-tech havens in the nation.^[152] Six national fiber optic networks converge in Omaha.^[153]

Omaha's most prominent businessman is Warren Buffett, nicknamed the "Oracle of Omaha", who is regularly ranked one of the richest people in the world. Five Omaha-based companies: Berkshire Hathaway, ConAgra Foods, Union Pacific Railroad, Mutual of Omaha, and Kiewit Corporation, are among the Fortune 500.^[154]

Omaha is the headquarters of several other major corporations, including the Gallup Organization, TD Ameritrade, infoGROUP, Werner Enterprises, First National Bank and First Comp Insurance. Many large technology firms have major operations or operational headquarters in Omaha, including Bank of the West, First Data, PayPal and LinkedIn. The city is also home to three of the 30 largest architecture firms in the United States, including HDR, Inc., DLR Group, Inc., and Leo A Daly.^[155] Despite this progress, as of October 2007, the city of Omaha, the 42nd largest in the country, has the fifth highest percentage of low-income African Americans in the country.^[156]

A handbill for Buffalo Bill's Wild West

Tourist attractions in Omaha include history, sports, outdoors and cultural experiences. Its principal tourist attractions are the Henry Doorly Zoo and the College World Series.^[157] The Old Market in Downtown Omaha is another major attraction and is important to the city's retail economy. The city has been a tourist destination for many years. Famous early visitors included British author Rudyard Kipling and General George Crook. In 1883 Omaha hosted the first official performance of the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for eight thousand attendees.^[158] In 1898 the city hosted more than 1,000,000 visitors from across the United States at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, a world's fair that lasted for more than half the year.^[159]

Research on leisure and hospitality situates Omaha in the same tier for tourists as the neighboring cities of Topeka, Kansas, Kansas City, Missouri, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Denver, Colorado.^[160] A recent study found that investment of $1 million in cultural tourism generated approximately $83,000 in state and local taxes, and provided support for hundreds of jobs for the metropolitan area, which in turn led to additional tax revenue for government.^[157]^[161]

Culture [link]

Main article: Culture in Omaha

Main article: Culture in North Omaha, Nebraska

Joslyn Art Museum's tiled Fountain Court

The city's historical and cultural attractions have been lauded by numerous national newspapers, including the Boston Globe^[162] and The New York Times.^[163] Omaha is home to the Omaha Community Playhouse, the largest community theater in the United States.^[164]^[165] The Omaha Symphony Orchestra and its modern Holland Performing Arts Center,^[166] the Opera Omaha at the Orpheum theater, the Blue Barn Theatre, and The Rose Theater form the backbone of Omaha's performing arts community. Opened in 1931, the Joslyn Art Museum has significant art collections.^[167] Since its inception in 1976, Omaha Children's Museum has been a place where children can challenge themselves, discover how the world works and learn through play. The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, one of the nation's premier urban artist colonies, was founded in Omaha in 1981,^[168] and the Durham Museum is accredited with the Smithsonian Institution for traveling exhibits.^[169] The city is also home to the largest singly funded mural in the nation, "Fertile Ground", by Meg Saligman.^[170] The annual Omaha Blues, Jazz, & Gospel Festival celebrates local music along with the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame.

In 1955 Omaha's Union Stockyards overtook Chicago's stockyards as the United States' meat packing center. This legacy is reflected in the cuisine of Omaha, with renowned steakhouses such as Gorat's and the recently closed Mister C's, as well as the retail chain Omaha Steaks.

Henry Doorly Zoo [link]

Entrance to the Henry Doorly Zoo

The Henry Doorly Zoo is widely considered one of the premier zoos in the world.^[171]^[172]^[173] The zoo is home to the world's largest nocturnal exhibit and indoor swamp;^[174] the world's largest indoor rainforest, the world's largest indoor desert,^[175] and the largest geodesic dome in the world (13 stories tall).^[176]^[177] The Zoo is Nebraska’s number one paid attendance attraction and has welcomed more than 25 million visitors over the past 40 years.^[178]

Old Market [link]

The Old Market is a major historic district in Downtown Omaha listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Today, its warehouses and other buildings house shops, restaurants, bars, and art galleries.^[179] Downtown is also the location of the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District, which has several art galleries and restaurants as well. The Omaha Botanical Gardens features 100 acres (40 ha) with a variety of landscaping, and the new Kenefick Park recognizes Union Pacific Railroad's long history in Omaha.^[180] North Omaha has several historical cultural attractions including the Dreamland Historical Project, Love’s Jazz and Art Center, and the John Beasley Theater.^[181] The annual River City Roundup is celebrated at Fort Omaha, and the neighborhood of Florence celebrates its history during "Florence Days". Native Omaha Days is a biennial event celebrating Near North Side heritage.^[182]

Religious institutions reflect the city's heritage.^[183] The city's Christian community has several historical churches dating from the founding of the city. There are also all sizes of congregations, including small, medium and megachurches. Omaha hosts the only Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in Nebraska, along with a significant Jewish community. There are 152 parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha, and several Orthodox Christian congregations throughout the city.^[184]

Music [link]

Main article: Music of Omaha

CenturyLink Center Omaha, one of Omaha's performance venues

Omaha's rich history in rhythm and blues, and jazz gave rise to a number of influential bands, including Anna Mae Winburn's Cotton Club Boys and Lloyd Hunter's Seranaders. Rock and roll pioneer Wynonie Harris; jazz great Preston Love; drummer Buddy Miles; and Luigi Waites are among the city's homegrown talent. Doug Ingle from the late 1960s band Iron Butterfly was born in Omaha as was indie-folk singer/songwriter Elliott Smith, though both were raised elsewhere.

Contemporary music groups either located in or originally from Omaha include Mannheim Steamroller, Bright Eyes, The Faint, Cursive, Azure Ray, Tilly and the Wall and 311. During the late 1990s, Omaha became nationally known as the birthplace of Saddle Creek Records, and the subsequent "Omaha Sound" was born from their bands' collective style.^[185]^[186]

Omaha also has a fledgling hip hop scene. Long-time bastion Houston Alexander, a one-time graffiti artist and professional Mixed Martial Arts competitor, is currently a local hip-hop radio show host.^[187]^[188] Cerone Thompson, known as "Scrybe," has had a number one single on college radio stations across the United States. He has also had several number one hits on the local hip hop station respectively titled, "Lose Control" and "Do What U Do". .^[189] More recently, in 2009 Eric Scheid, also known as "Titus," released a single called "What Do You Believe" featuring Bizzy Bone from the nationally-known hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. The single was produced by Omaha producer J Keez. The record was released by Smashmode Publishing and Timeless Keys Music Publishing which are two Omaha-based music publishing companies. South Omaha's OTR Familia, consisting of MOC and Xpreshin aka XP, have worked with Fat Joes Terror Squad on several songs and have participated in summer concerts with Pitbull, Nicky Jam, and Aventura.^[189]

A long heritage of ethnic and cultural bands have come from Omaha. The Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame celebrates the city's long history of African-American music and the Strathdon Caledonia Pipe Band carries on a Scottish legacy. Internationally renowned composer Antonín Dvořák wrote his Ninth ("New World") Symphony in 1893 based on his impressions of the region after visiting Omaha's robust Czech community.^[190] In the period surrounding World War I Valentin J. Peter encouraged Germans in Omaha to celebrate their rich musical heritage, too. Frederick Metz, Gottlieb Storz and Frederick Krug were influential brewers whose beer gardens kept many German bands active.

Media and popular culture [link]

Main article: Media in Omaha, Nebraska

The historic Omaha Star building along North 24th Street, listed on the NRHP

The major daily newspaper in Nebraska is the Omaha World-Herald, which is the largest employee-owned newspaper in the United States.^[191] Weeklies in the city include the Midlands Business Journal (weekly business publication), American Classifieds (Formerly Thrifty Nickel), a weekly classified newspaper, The Reader (newspaper), and Omaha Magazine, as well as The Omaha Star. Founded in 1938 in North Omaha, the Star is Nebraska's only African-American newspaper.^[192] The city is the focus of the Omaha designated market area, and is the 76th largest in the United States.^[193] Omaha's four television news stations were found not to represent the city's racial composition in a 2007 study.^[194] Cox Communications provides cable television services throughout the metropolitan area.^[195]

In 1939, the world premiere of the film Union Pacific was held in Omaha, Nebraska and the accompanying three-day celebration drew 250,000 people. A special train from Hollywood carried director Cecil B. DeMille and stars Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea.^[196] Omaha's Boys Town was made famous by the Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney movie Boys Town. Omaha has been featured in recent years by a handful of relatively big budget motion pictures. The city's most extensive exposure can be accredited to Omaha native Alexander Payne, the Oscar-nominated director who shot parts of About Schmidt, Citizen Ruth and Election in the city and suburbs of Papillion and LaVista.

Built in 1962, Omaha's Cinerama was called Indian Hills Theater. Its demolition in 2001 by the Nebraska Methodist Health System was unpopular, with objections from local historical and cultural groups and luminaries from around the world.^[197] The Dundee Theatre is the lone surviving single-screen movie theater in Omaha and still shows films.^[198] A recent development to the Omaha film scene was the addition of Film Streams's Ruth Sokolof Theater in North Downtown. The two-screen theater is part of the Slowdown facility. It features new American independents, foreign films, documentaries, classics, themed series, and director retrospectives. There are many new theaters opening in Omaha. In addition to the five Douglas Theatres venues in Omaha, two more are opening, including Midtown Crossing Theatres, located on 32nd and Farnam Streets by the Mutual of Omaha Building. Westroads Mall has opened a new multiplex movie theater with 14 screens, operated by Rave Motion Pictures.^[199]

Songs about Omaha include "Omaha", by the indie rock band Tapes 'n Tapes;, a song by Moby Grape from their 1967 album Moby Grape, "Omaha" by Counting Crows, "Omaha Celebration" by Pat Metheny, "Omaha" sung by Waylon Jennings and "(Ready Or Not) Omaha Nebraska" by Bowling For Soup.

The 1935 winner of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing was named Omaha, and after traveling the world the horse eventually retired to a farm south of the city. The horse made promotional appearances at Ak-Sar-Ben during the 1950s and following his death in 1959 was buried at the racetrack's Circle of Champions.

Sports and recreation [link]

Main entrance to the Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium

Main articles: Sports in Omaha, Nebraska, Parks in Omaha, and Trails in Omaha

Sports have a long history in Omaha. The Omaha Sports Commission is a quasi-governmental nonprofit organization that coordinates much of the professional and amateur athletic activity in the city, including the 2008 US Olympic Swimming Team Trials and the building of a new stadium in North Downtown.^[200]^[201]^[202] The University of Nebraska and the Commission co-hosted the 2008 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One Women's Volleyball Championship in December of that year.^[203] Another quasi-governmental board, the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority, was created by city voters in 2000,^[204] and is responsible for maintaining the CenturyLink Center Omaha.^[205] In June 2009, MECA announced that the US Olympic Swim Trials will return to Omaha, to run from June 25 through July 2, 2012. The Swim Trials will overlap with the College World Series, also to be held downtown, for 1–2 days.^[206]

Omaha's Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium was home to the Omaha Storm Chasers (most recently known as the Omaha Royals) minor-league baseball team (the AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals). Since 1950, it has hosted the annual NCAA College World Series, or CWS, men's baseball tournament in mid-June.^[207]

After Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium closed, their tenants moved to new venues. On April 16, 2011 the Omaha Storm Chasers played their first game at the newly built Werner Park in the city of Papillion, just south of Omaha.^[208] The CWS moved to the new downtown stadium TD Ameritrade Park in 2011.^[209]^[210] Omaha is also home to the Omaha Diamond Spirit, a collegiate summer baseball team that plays in the MINK league.

In July 2010 Omaha hosted the inaugural TD Ameritrade College Home Run Derby at Rosenblatt Stadium. East Tennessee State University First Baseman Paul Hoilman hit 12 home runs in the final round to beat out Fresno State’s Jordan Ribera and Georgia Tech’s Matt Skole for the title.^[211]

The World-Herald will partner with the TD Ameritrade College Home Run Derby Contest on July 2, 2011 for its 27th annual fireworks display. The event will be held at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.^[212]

On April 15, 2010, it was announced that Omaha would be home to a new expansion team in the United Football League to begin play in 2010. The team played its inaugural season at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium before moving to TD Ameritrade Park for 2011 and beyond.^[213]

Named in tribute to Omaha's meatpacking past, the Omaha Beef indoor football team plays at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.

The Creighton University Bluejays compete in a number of NCAA Division I sports. Baseball is played at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, soccer is played at Morrison Stadium, and basketball is played at the 18,000 seat CenturyLink Center. The Jays annually rank in the top 15 in attendance each year, averaging more than 16,000 people per game.

Ice hockey is a popular spectator sport in Omaha. The two Omaha-area teams are the Omaha Lancers, a United States Hockey League team that played at Aksarben until 2004, moved to neighboring city of Council Bluffs at the Mid-America Center, and moved back to Omaha in 2009 to play at the Civic Auditorium^[214] and the University of Nebraska at Omaha Mavericks, an NCAA Division I team that plays at the CenturyLink Center. Omaha has a thriving running community and many miles of paved running and biking trails throughout the city and surrounding communities. The Omaha Marathon involves a half-marathon and a 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) race that take place annually in September.^[215]

Omaha is the birthplace of numerous important historical and modern sports figures, including 1960 Summer Olympics gold medalist and NBA star Bob Boozer; Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson; 1989 American League Rookie of the Year Gregg Olson; NFL running back Ahman Green; Heisman Trophy winners Johnny Rodgers and Eric Crouch; Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers; and champion tennis player Andy Roddick.^[216]

Docks at Dodge Park

The City of Omaha administers a parks and recreation department that oversees six regional parks, including Dodge Park and Gene Leahy Mall, and 13 community parks, including Benson Park, Miller Park and Hanscom Park.^[217] Part of Omaha's riverfront area is now the Heartland of America Park, including a marina, Miller's Landing, and the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, a footbridge crossing into Council Bluffs.^[218]

The city's historic boulevards were originally designed by Horace Cleveland in 1889 to work with the parks to create a seamless flow of trees, grass and flowers throughout the city. Florence Boulevard and Fontenelle Boulevard are among the remnants of this system.^[219] Omaha boasts more than 80 miles (129 km) of trails for pedestrians, bicyclists and hikers.^[220] They include the American Discovery Trail, which traverses the entire United States, and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail passes through Omaha as it travels 3,700 miles (5,950 km) westward from Illinois to Oregon. Trails throughout the area are included in comprehensive plans for the city of Omaha, the Omaha metropolitan area, Douglas County, and long-distance coordinated plans between the municipalities of southeast Nebraska.^[221]

Professional sports in Omaha
Club	Sport	League	Venue	Championships
Omaha Storm Chasers	Baseball	Pacific Coast League	Rosenblatt Stadium (2010), Werner Park (2011+)	1969, 1970, 1978, 1990, 2011
Omaha Nighthawks	American football	United Football League	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium (2010) TD Ameritrade Park
Omaha Beef	Indoor football	Indoor Football League	Omaha Civic Auditorium
Omaha Lancers	Ice hockey	United States Hockey League	Omaha Civic Auditorium
Omaha Rollergirls	Roller derby	Omaha Rollergirls	Mid America Center
Omaha Vipers	Indoor Soccer	Major Indoor Soccer League	Omaha Civic Auditorium

Education [link]

Main article: Education in Omaha, Nebraska

Education in Omaha is provided by many private and public institutions. Omaha Public Schools is the largest public school district in Nebraska, with more than 47,750 students in more than 75 schools.^[222] After a contentious period of uncertainty, in 2007 the Nebraska Legislature approved a plan to create a learning community for Omaha-area school districts with a central administrative board.^[223] The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha maintains numerous private Catholic schools with 21,500 students in 32 elementary schools and nine high schools.^[224] St. Cecilia Grade School at 3869 Webster St. in Midtown Omaha and St. Stephen the Martyr School at 168th and Q street in western Omaha earned national distinction when they received the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School award.

There are eleven colleges and universities among Omaha's higher education institutions, including the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The University of Nebraska Medical Center is located in midtown Omaha and is home to the Eppley Cancer Center, one of 66 designated Cancer Centers by the National Cancer Institute in the United States. The University of Nebraska College of Medicine, also located on the UNMC campus, is ranked 7th in the country by US News and World Report for primary care medical education.^[225] Omaha's Creighton University is ranked the top non-doctoral regional university in the Midwestern United States by U.S. News and World Report.^[226] Creighton maintains a 132-acre (0.5 km²) campus just outside of Downtown Omaha in the new North Downtown district, and the Jesuit-run institution has an enrollment of around 6,700 in its undergraduate, graduate, medical, and law schools. There are more than 10 other colleges and universities in Omaha in the Omaha metro area.

Government and politics [link]

Main article: Government of Omaha

The City Building in Downtown Omaha

Omaha has a strong mayor form of government, along with a city council that is elected from seven districts across the city. The current mayor is Jim Suttle, who was elected in May 2009. The longest serving mayor in Omaha's history was "Cowboy" Jim Dahlman, who served 20 years over eight terms. He was regarded as the "wettest mayor in America" because of the flourishing number of bars in Omaha during his tenure.^[227] Dahlman was a close associate of political boss Tom Dennison.^[228] During Dahlman's tenure, the city switched from its original strong-mayor form of government to a city commission government.^[229] In 1956, the city switched back.^[230]

The elected city clerk is Buster Brown. The City of Omaha administers twelve departments, including finance, police, human rights, libraries and planning.^[231] The Omaha City Council is the legislative branch and is made up seven members elected from districts across the city. The council enacts local ordinances and approves the city budget. Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance approved annually. The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions. Nebraska’s constitution grants the option of home rule to cities with more than 5,000 residents, meaning they may operate under their own charters. Omaha is one of only three cities in Nebraska to use this option, out of 17 eligible.^[232] The City of Omaha is currently considering consolidating with Douglas County government.^[233]

Although registered Republicans outnumbered Democrats in the 2nd congressional district, which includes Omaha, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opened three campaign offices in the city with 15 staff members to cover the state in fall 2008.^[234] Mike Fahey, the former Democratic mayor of Omaha, said he would do whatever it took to deliver the district's electoral vote to Obama; and the Obama campaign considered the district "in play".^[235] Former Nebraska U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey and current Senator Ben Nelson campaigned in the city for Obama,^[236] and in November 2008 Obama won the district's electoral vote. This was an exceptional win, because with Nebraska's split electoral vote system Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in Nebraska since 1964.^[237]

Crime [link]

Main article: Crime in Omaha, Nebraska

Further information: Gambling in Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha's rate of violent crimes per 100,000 residents has been lower than the average rates of three dozen United States cities of similar size. Unlike in Omaha, violent crime overall for those cities has trended upward since 2003. Rates for property crime have decreased for both Omaha and its peer cities during the same time period.^[238] In 2006, Omaha was ranked for homicides as 46th out of the 72 cities in the United States of more than 250,000 in population.^[239]

As a major industrial city into the mid-20th century, Omaha shared in social tensions of larger cities that accompanied rapid growth and many new immigrants and migrants. By the 1950s, Omaha was a center for illegal gambling,^[240] while experiencing dramatic job losses and unemployment because of dramatic restructuring of the railroads and the meatpacking industry, as well as other sectors. Persistent poverty resulting from racial discrimination and job losses generated different crimes in the late 20th century, with drug trade and drug abuse becoming associated with violent crime rates, which climbed after 1986 as Los Angeles gangs made affiliates in the city.^[241] Gambling in Omaha has been significant throughout the city's history. From its founding in the 1850s through the 1930s, the city was known as a "wide-open" town, meaning that gambling of all sorts was accepted either openly or in closed quarters. By the mid-20th century, Omaha reportedly had more illicit gambling per capita than any other city in the nation. From the 1930s through the 1970s the city's gambling was controlled by an Italian criminal element.^[242] Today, gambling in Omaha is limited to keno, lotteries, and parimutuel betting, leaving Omahans to drive across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where casinos are legal and there are numerous businesses operating currently. Recently a controversial proposal by the Ponca tribe of Nebraska was approved by the National Indian Gaming Commission. It will allow the tribe to build a casino in Carter Lake, Iowa, which sits geographically on the west side of the Missouri River, adjacent to Omaha, where casinos are illegal.^[243]^[244]^[245]

Infrastructure [link]

File:Wiki photos 110a.jpg

First National Bank Tower in Downtown Omaha is the tallest building in the state.

Further information: List of tallest buildings in Omaha, Nebraska

In 2008 Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine ranked Omaha the No. 3 best city in the United States to "live, work and play".^[246] Omaha's growth has required the constant development of new urban infrastructure that influence, allow and encourage the constant expansion of the city.

Retail natural gas and water public utilities in Omaha are provided by the Metropolitan Utilities District.^[247] Nebraska is the only public power state in the nation. All electric utilities are non-profit and customer-owned. Electricity in the city is provided by the Omaha Public Power District.^[248] Public housing is governed by the Omaha Housing Authority, and public transportation is provided by Metro Area Transit. Qwest and Cox provide local telephone services. The City of Omaha maintains two modern sewage treatment plants.^[249]

Portions of the Enron corporation began as Northern Natural Gas Company in Omaha. Northern currently provides three natural gas lines to Omaha. Enron formerly owned UtiliCorp United, Inc., which became Aquila, Inc.. Peoples Natural Gas, a division of Aquila, Inc., currently serves several surrounding communities around the Omaha metropolitan area, including Plattsmouth.^[250]

There are several hospitals in Omaha. Research hospitals include the Boys Town National Research Hospital, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Creighton University Medical Center. The Boys Town facility is well known for world-class researchers in hearing-related research and high quality treatment. The University of Nebraska Medical Center hosts the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases, a world-renowned cancer treatment facility named in honor of Omahan Eugene Eppley.^[251]^[252]

Transportation [link]

Main article: Transportation in Omaha

Further information: Railroads in Omaha and Trails in Omaha

Omaha's central role in the history of transportation across America earned it the nickname "Gate City of the West."^[1] Despite President Lincoln's decree that Council Bluffs, Iowa, be the starting point for the Union Pacific Railroad, construction began from Omaha on the eastern portion of the first transcontinental railroad.^[253] By the middle of the 20th century, Omaha was served by almost every major railroad. Today, the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District celebrates this connection, along with the listing of the Burlington Train Station and the Union Station on the National Register of Historic Places. First housed in the former Herndon House, the Union Pacific Railroad's corporate headquarters have been in Omaha since the company began.^[254] Their new headquarters, the Union Pacific Center, was opened in Downtown Omaha in 2004. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service through Omaha. There is also Greyhound lines in Omaha.

Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge toll booth in 1938

Omaha's position as a transportation center was finalized with the 1872 opening of the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge linking the transcontinental railroad to the railroads terminating in Council Bluffs.^[255] In 1888, the first road bridge, the Douglas Street Bridge, opened. In the 1890s, the Illinois Central drawbridge opened as the largest bridge of its type in the world. Omaha's Missouri River road bridges are now entering their second generation, including the Works Progress Administration-financed South Omaha Bridge, now called Veteran's Memorial Bridge, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2006, Omaha and Council Bluffs announced joint plans to build the Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge, which opened in 2008.^[256]

Today, the primary mode of transportation in Omaha is by automobile, with I-80, I-480, I-680, I-29, and U.S. Route 75 (JFK Freeway and North Freeway) providing freeway service across the metropolitan area.^[257] The expressway along West Dodge Road (U.S. Route 6 and Nebraska Link 28B) and U.S. Route 275 has been upgraded to freeway standards from I-680 to Fremont. City owned Metro Transit formerly as MAT Metro Area Transit provides public bus service to hundreds of locations throughout the Metro.

A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked Omaha 21st most walkable of fifty largest U.S. cities.^[258] There is an extensive trail system throughout the city for walkers, runners, bicyclists, and other pedestrian modes of transportation.

Omaha's Eppley Airfield, located in East Omaha

Omaha is laid out on a grid plan, with 12 blocks to the mile with a North to South house numbering system.^[259] Omaha is the location of a historic boulevard system designed by H.W.S. Cleveland who sought to combine the beauty of parks with the pleasure of driving cars.^[260] The historic Florence and Fontenelle Boulevards, as well as the modern Sorenson Parkway, are important elements in this system.^[261]

Eppley Airfield, Omaha's airport, serves the region with over 4.2 million passengers in 2006.^[262] United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, US Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and ExpressJet Airlines, serve the airport with direct and connecting service. Eppley is situated in East Omaha, with many users driving through Carter Lake, Iowa and getting a view of Carter Lake before getting there. General aviation airports serving the area are the Millard Municipal Airport, North Omaha Airport and the Council Bluffs Airport. Offutt Air Force Base continues to serve as a military airbase; it is located at the southern edge of Bellevue, which in turn lies immediately south of Omaha.

Notable people [link]

Main article: List of people from Omaha, Nebraska

Fred and Adele Astaire circa 1906 in Omaha

Omaha is the historic and modern birthplace and home of notable politicians, actors, musicians, business leaders, sportsmen and cultural leaders. Numerous actors, including Gabrielle Union,^[263] Montgomery Clift,^[264] Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire,^[265] Dorothy McGuire,^[266] Marlon Brando^[267] and Nick Nolte,^[268] were born in Omaha. Academy Award winner Henry Fonda also grew up in Omaha. Marlon Brando's mother encouraged Henry Fonda to pursue acting at the Omaha Community Playhouse.^[269] His son Peter Fonda also briefly lived in Omaha.^[270] Mrs. Brando helped found the playhouse. His family's home still stands on South 33rd Street, a few blocks from the site of the first home of Gerald Ford.

Jazz Age magazine illustrator, Broadway scenic designer, and comic strip artist Russell Patterson was born in Omaha.^[271] Tennis player Andy Roddick, former ATP ranking leader, was born in Omaha.^[272] Omaha's rich musical history produced legends such as Wynonie Harris, Preston Love, Buddy Miles, Sara Olson, Calvin Keys, Eugene McDaniels and others.^[273] Members of 311^[274] and Bright Eyes^[275] are part of the modern music scene. Chip Davis and Mannheim Steamroller began in and still headquarter out of Omaha.^[276]

Warren Buffett, in 2008 the richest person in the world, was born in and lives in Omaha where he made his fortune in business.^[277] Two native sons who achieved prominence nationally were born in Omaha, with their families moving away shortly thereafter.

The Gerald Ford birthplace site memorializes the 38th President.

African American activist and son of a Baptist minister, Malcolm X, first known as Malcolm Little, was also born in Omaha. Joining dozens of other important Omaha Landmarks, the Malcolm X House Site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Steve Borden (Sting) was born in Omaha while Ted DiBiase billed as born in Omaha.

Gale Sayers, a football player for the Chicago Bears was raised in Omaha graduating from an Omaha high school.

Alexander Payne, American film director and screenwriter was born and raised in Omaha.

Ed Ruscha, a noted 20th and 21st Century American painter.

Dick Cavett, talk show host who preceded Johnny Carson, another Nebraskan who got his start in Omaha.

Elliott Smith, now-deceased musician in the "indie-rock" genre, was born in Omaha.

Sister cities [link]

Omaha has six sister cities:^[278]

References [link]

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Articles Relating to Omaha and Douglas County

v t e City of Omaha

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See also: Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area

Metropolitan area of Omaha-Council Bluffs

Primary Cities

Nebraska	Omaha

Iowa	Council Bluffs

Cities over 10,000
(per 2010 Census)

Nebraska	Bellevue La Vista Papillion

Cities of 5,000 to 10,000
(per 2010 Census)

Nebraska	Blair Gretna Plattsmouth Ralston

Iowa	Glenwood

Cities of 1,000 to 5,000
(per 2010 Census)

Nebraska	Arlington Ashland Eagle Louisville Springfield Valley Wahoo Weeping Water Yutan

Iowa	Avoca Carter Lake Dunlap Logan Malvern Missouri Valley Oakland Woodbine

Census-designated places

Nebraska	Chalco Offutt AFB

Cities and villages
of fewer than 1,000
(per 2010 Census)

Nebraska	Alvo Avoca Bennington Boys Town Cedar Bluffs Cedar Creek Ceresco Colon Elmwood Fort Calhoun Greenwood Herman Ithaca Kennard Leshara Malmo Manley Mead Memphis Morse Bluff Murdock Murray Nehawka Prague South Bend Union Valparaiso Washington Waterloo Weston

Iowa	Carson Crescent Emerson Hancock Hastings Henderson Little Sioux Macedonia Magnolia McClelland Minden Mineola Modale Mondamin Neola Pacific Junction Persia Pisgah Shelby Silver City Treynor Underwood Walnut

Counties

Nebraska	Cass Douglas Sarpy Saunders Washington

Iowa	Harrison Mills Pottawattamie

v t e Municipalities and communities of Douglas County, Nebraska, United States

County seat: Omaha

Cities	Bennington Omaha Ralston Valley

Villages	Boys Town Waterloo

v t e State of Nebraska

Lincoln (capital)

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Regions	Dissected Till Plains Lincoln metropolitan area Nebraska Outback Omaha metropolitan area Panhandle Pine Ridge Rainwater Basin Sandhills Siouxland Wildcat Hills

Largest cities	Alliance Beatrice Bellevue Columbus Fremont Gering Grand Island Hastings Kearney La Vista Lexington Lincoln McCook Norfolk North Platte Omaha Papillion Scottsbluff South Sioux City York

Counties	Adams Antelope Arthur Banner Blaine Boone Box Butte Boyd Brown Buffalo Burt Butler Cass Cedar Chase Cherry Cheyenne Clay Colfax Cuming Custer Dakota Dawes Dawson Deuel Dixon Dodge Douglas Dundy Fillmore Franklin Frontier Furnas Gage Garden Garfield Gosper Grant Greeley Hall Hamilton Harlan Hayes Hitchcock Holt Hooker Howard Jefferson Johnson Kearney Keith Keya Paha Kimball Knox Lancaster Lincoln Logan Loup Madison McPherson Merrick Morrill Nance Nemaha Nuckolls Otoe Pawnee Perkins Phelps Pierce Platte Polk Red Willow Richardson Rock Saline Sarpy Saunders Scotts Bluff Seward Sheridan Sherman Sioux Stanton Thayer Thomas Thurston Valley Washington Wayne Webster Wheeler York

50 most populous cities of the United States

(2010 United States Census Bureau)

v t e Ethnic groups in Omaha, Nebraska

Groups	African Americans · American Indians · Asians · Canadians · Czechs · Danes · Germans · Greeks · Irish · Italians · Jews · Latinos · Mexicans · Poles · Slovaks · Sudanese · Swedes · Ukrainians

Ethnic enclaves	Greek Town · Little Bohemia · Little Italy · Near North Side · Sheelytown · South 24th Street

Institutions	Czechoslovak Museum · El Museo Latino · Great Plains Black History Museum · Little Ukrainian Catholic Church · Lithuanian Bakery · Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame · Omaha Jewish Community Center · St. John's Greek Orthodox Church

Events	Timeline of racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska · Timeline of riots and civil unrest in Omaha, Nebraska · Omaha Race Riot of 1919 · Greek Town Riot ·

Related	Racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska · Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska · DePorres Club · A Time for Burning · History of slavery in Nebraska · Public school controversy · Meyer v. Nebraska · Omaha Star · Omaha Star building · Rice/Poindexter Case

v t e Omaha Transportation templates

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v t e Omaha Landmark templates

Apartments Culture Schools Historic Districts Houses Churches

v t e Neighborhoods of Omaha

Downtown	Old Market NoDo

Midtown	Country Club Dundee-Happy Hollow Elmwood Park Field Club Hanscom Park Leavenworth Morton Meadows West Farnam

North	Bemis Park Benson Conestoga Place East Omaha Florence Gifford Park Gold Coast Kountze Place Miller Park Minne Lusa Near North Side Orchard Hill Prospect Hill Raven Oaks Saratoga Walnut Hill

South	Burlington Road Dahlman Deer Park Dog Hollow Gibson Little Bohemia Little Italy Old Gold Coast South Omaha Sheelytown S. 24th Street Spring Lake

West	Bent Creek Bridlewood Elkhorn First National Business Park Green Meadows Hillsborough Huntington Park Irvington Keystone Maple Village Millard Mockingbird Heights Old Millard Regency Roanoke Westwood

Former neighborhoods	Bottoms Burnt District Carville Casey's Row Chinatown Cutler's Park Greek Town Gophertown Scriptown Sporting District Squatter's Row Train Town

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha,_Nebraska

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

This article is about the U.S. state. For other uses, see Nebraska (disambiguation).

State of Nebraska


Flag	Seal

Nickname(s): Cornhusker State

Motto(s): Equality Before the Law

Official language(s)

English

Demonym

Nebraskan

Capital

Lincoln

Largest city

Omaha

Largest metro area

Omaha-Council Bluffs

Area

Ranked 16th in the U.S.

- Total

77,354 sq mi
(200,520 km²)

- Width

210 miles (340 km)

- Length

430 miles (690 km)

- % water

0.7

- Latitude

40° N to 43° N

- Longitude

95° 19' W to 104° 03' W

Population

Ranked 38th in the U.S.

- Total

1,842,641 (2011 est)^[1]

- Density

24.0/sq mi (9.25/km²)
Ranked 43rd in the U.S.

- Median household income

$44,623 (20th)

Elevation

- Highest point

Panorama Point^[2]^[3]
5,427 ft (1654 m)

- Mean

2,600 ft (790 m)

- Lowest point

Missouri River at Kansas border^[2]^[3]
840 ft (256 m)

Before statehood

Nebraska Territory

Admission to Union

March 1, 1867 (37th)

Governor

Dave Heineman (R)

Lieutenant Governor

Rick Sheehy (R)

Legislature

Nebraska Legislature

- Upper house

None (unicameral)

- Lower house

None (unicameral)

U.S. Senators

Ben Nelson (D)
Mike Johanns (R)

U.S. House delegation

Jeff Fortenberry (R)
Lee Terry (R)
Adrian M. Smith (R) (list)

Time zones

- most of state

Central: UTC -6/-5

- panhandle

Mountain: UTC -7/-6

Abbreviations

NE US-NE

Website

www.nebraska.gov

Nebraska (ⁱ/nəˈbræskə/) is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. Its state capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River.

The state is crossed by many historic trails, but it was the California Gold Rush that first brought large numbers here, and it became a state in 1867. Certain landmarks still compete for the notional distinction 'Where the West Begins'.

There are wide variations between winter and summer temperatures, and violent thunderstorms and tornadoes are common. The state is characterized by treeless prairie, ideal for cattle-grazing, and it is a major producer of beef, as well as pork, maize and soybeans. Nebraska is overwhelmingly rural, as the 8th least-densely populated state of the United States.

Ethnically, the largest group are German-Americans, and the state has the biggest Czech-American population per head. During the Great Migration, many African Americans came to Omaha, and they continue to campaign for improved conditions. More recently, Native American activism has increased, with a drive for self-determination in a climate of co-operation with state officials on regional issues. It is traditionally a Republican-voting state.

Nebraska is identified with notables as varied as Fred Astaire, Malcolm X, Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, Montgomery Clift, Henry Fonda, Buffalo Bill Cody, Warren Buffett, L. Ron Hubbard, Willa Cather, Marlon Brando and Alexander Payne. Kool-Aid was first formulated in Nebraska in 1927.

Etymology [link]

Nebraska gets its name from the archaic Otoe words Ñí Brásge, pronounced [ɲĩbɾasꜜkɛ] (contemporary Otoe Ñí Bráhge), or the Omaha Ní Btháska, pronounced [nĩbɫᶞasꜜka], meaning "flat water", after the Platte River that flows through the state.^[4]

History [link]

Main article: History of Nebraska

Nebraska in 1718, Guillaume de L'Isle map, with the approximate area of the future state highlighted

Varying cultures of indigenous peoples lived in the region along the rivers for thousands of years before European exploration. Historical Native American tribes living in Nebraska have included the Omaha, Missouria, Ponca, Pawnee, Otoe, and various branches of the Lakota (Sioux).

Long before the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806, French-Canadian explorers (including the Mallet brothers in 1739) traversed the territory of Nebraska on their way to trade in Santa Fe, then claimed by Spain.^[5]

In 1819, the United States established Fort Atkinson as the first US Army post west of the Missouri River, just east of present-day Fort Calhoun. The army abandoned the fort in 1827 as migration moved further west.

European-American settlement did not begin in any numbers until after 1848 and the California Gold Rush. On May 30, 1854, the US Congress created the Kansas and the Nebraska territories, divided by the Parallel 40° North, under the Kansas-Nebraska Act.^[6] The Nebraska Territory included parts of the current states of Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.^[7] The territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha.

In the 1860s, after the US government forced many of the Native American tribes to cede their lands and settle on reservations, it opened large tracts of land to agricultural development by Europeans and Americans. Under the Homestead Act, thousands of new settlers migrated into Nebraska to claim free land granted by the federal government. Because so few trees grew on the prairies, many of the first farming settlers built their homes of sod, as had the Native Americans such as the Omaha. The first wave of settlement gave the territory a sufficient population to apply for statehood.^[8]

Homesteaders in central Nebraska in 1886

Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867, and the capital was moved from Omaha to the center at Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln after the recently assassinated President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

During the 1870s to the 1880s, Nebraska experienced a large growth in population. Several factors contributed to attracting new residents. The first was that the vast prairie land was perfect for cattle grazing. This helped settlers to learn the unfamiliar geography of the area. The second factor was the invention of several farming technologies. Agricultural inventions such as barbed wire, wind mills, and the steel plow, combined with good weather, enabled settlers to make use of Nebraska as prime farming land. By the 1880s, Nebraska's population had soared to more than 450,000 people.^[9]

The Arbor Day holiday was founded in Nebraska. The National Arbor Day Foundation is still headquartered in Nebraska City, with some offices in Lincoln.

In the late nineteenth century, many African Americans migrated from the South to Nebraska as part of the Great Migration, primarily to Omaha which offered working class jobs in meatpacking, the railroads and other industries. Omaha has a long history of civil rights activism. Blacks encountered discrimination from other Americans in Omaha and especially from recent European immigrants, ethnic whites who were competing for the same jobs. In 1912 African Americans founded the Omaha chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to work for improved conditions in the city and state. Activism has continued.

Since the 1960s, Native American activism in the state has increased, both through open protest, activities to build alliances with state and local governments, and in the slower, more extensive work of building tribal institutions and infrastructure. Native Americans in federally recognized tribes have pressed for self-determination, sovereignty and recognition. They have created community schools to preserve their cultures, as well as tribal colleges and universities. Tribal politicians have also collaborated with state and county officials on regional issues.

Geography [link]

Further information: List of counties in Nebraska, List of Nebraska rivers, and Geography of Omaha

The state is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwest; and Wyoming to the west. The state has 93 counties; it occupies the central portion of the Frontier Strip. Nebraska is split into two time zones. The Central Time zone comprises the eastern half of the state, while the western half observes Mountain Time. Three rivers cross the state from west to east. The Platte River, formed by the confluence of the North Platte and the South Platte, runs through the central portion of the state, the Niobrara River flows through the northern part, and the Republican River runs across the southern part.

File:Scotts bluff national monument.jpg

Scotts Bluff National Monument

Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The easternmost portion of the state was scoured by Ice Age glaciers; the Dissected Till Plains were left behind after the glaciers retreated. The Dissected Till Plains is a region of gently rolling hills; Omaha and Lincoln are in this region.

The Great Plains occupy the majority of western Nebraska. The Great Plains region consists of several smaller, diverse land regions, including the Sandhills, the Pine Ridge, the Rainwater Basin, the High Plains and the Wildcat Hills. Panorama Point, at 5,424 feet (1,653 m), is the highest point in Nebraska; despite its name and elevation, it is a relatively low rise near the Colorado and Wyoming borders.

Nebraska state welcome sign on Interstate 76 at the Colorado border

A past Nebraska tourism slogan was "Where the West Begins"; locations given for the beginning of the "West" include the Missouri River, the intersection of 13th and O Streets in Lincoln (where it is marked by a red brick star), the 100th meridian, and Chimney Rock. Nebraska is a triply landlocked state, as it does not border the ocean, nor do any of the states it borders, nor any that they border.^[10]

Federal land management [link]

Areas under the management of the National Park Service include:

Areas under the management of the National Forest Service include:

Climate [link]

Clouds over a country road in Cass County, Nebraska

Two major climatic zones are represented in Nebraska: the eastern half of the state has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa), and the western half, a semi-arid climate (Koppen BSk). The entire state experiences wide seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation. Average temperatures are fairly uniform across Nebraska, with hot summers and generally cold winters, while average annual precipitation decreases east to west from about 31.5 inches (800 mm) in the southeast corner of the state to about 13.8 inches (350 mm) in the Panhandle. Humidity also decreases significantly from east to west. Snowfall across the state is fairly even, with most of Nebraska receiving between 25 and 35 inches (65 to 90 cm) of snow annually.^[11] Nebraska's highest recorded temperature is 118 °F (48 °C) at Minden on July 24, 1936 and the lowest recorded temperature is −47 °F (−44 °C) at Camp Clarke on February 12, 1899.

Map of Nebraska

Nebraska is in Tornado Alley; thunderstorms are common in the spring and summer months, and violent thunderstorms and tornadoes happen primarily during the spring and summer, though they can also occur in the autumn. The chinook winds from the Rocky Mountains provide a temporary moderating effect on temperatures in western Nebraska during the winter months.^[12]^[13]

Demographics [link]

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1860	28,841	—
1870	122,993	326.5%
1880	452,402	267.8%
1890	1,062,656	134.9%
1900	1,066,300	0.3%
1910	1,192,214	11.8%
1920	1,296,372	8.7%
1930	1,377,963	6.3%
1940	1,315,834	−4.5%
1950	1,325,510	0.7%
1960	1,411,330	6.5%
1970	1,483,493	5.1%
1980	1,569,825	5.8%
1990	1,578,385	0.5%
2000	1,711,263	8.4%
2010	1,826,341	6.7%
Source: 1910–2010^[14]

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Nebraska was 1,842,641 on July 1, 2011, a 0.89% increase since the 2010 United States Census.^[1] The center of population of Nebraska is in Polk County, in the city of Shelby.^[15]

According to the 2010 Census, 86.1% of the population was White (82.1% non-Hispanic white), 4.5% was Black or African American, 1.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 2.2% from two or more races. 9.2% of the total population was of Hispanic or Latino origin (they may be of any race).^[16]

As of 2004, the population of Nebraska included about 84,000 foreign-born residents (4.8% of the population).

Demographics of Nebraska (csv)
By race	White	Black	AIAN*	Asian	NHPI*
2000 (total population)	93.53%	4.48%	1.32%	1.58%	0.11%
2000 (Hispanic only)	5.24%	0.13%	0.17%	0.04%	0.02%
2005 (total population)	93.06%	4.82%	1.31%	1.85%	0.11%
2005 (Hispanic only)	6.74%	0.20%	0.18%	0.05%	0.03%
Growth 2000–05 (total population)	2.25%	10.52%	1.72%	20.76%	5.53%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only)	0.48%	9.02%	0.56%	20.73%	4.75%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only)	32.17%	61.17%	9.63%	22.13%	8.10%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

The five largest ancestry groups in Nebraska are German (38.6%), Irish (12.4%), English (9.6%), Czech (5.5%), and Swedish (4.9%).

Nebraska has the largest Czech-American and non-Mormon Danish-American population (as a percentage of the total population) in the nation. German Americans are the largest ancestry group in most of the state, particularly in the eastern counties. Thurston County (made up entirely of the Omaha and Winnebago reservations) has an American Indian majority, and Butler County is one of only two counties in the nation with a Czech-American plurality.

Rural flight [link]

Population density of Nebraska

Eighty-nine percent of the cities in Nebraska have fewer than 3,000 people. Nebraska shares this characteristic with five other Midwestern states: Kansas, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, and Iowa. Hundreds of towns have a population of fewer than 1,000. Regional population declines have forced many rural schools to consolidate.

Fifty-three of Nebraska's 93 counties reported declining populations between 1990 and 2000, ranging from a 0.06% loss (Frontier County) to a 17.04% loss (Hitchcock County).

More urbanized areas of the state have experienced substantial growth. In 2000, the city of Omaha had a population of 390,007; in 2005, the city's estimated population was 414,521 (427,872 including the recently annexed city of Elkhorn), a 6.3% increase over five years. The 2010 census showed that Omaha has a population of 408,958. The city of Lincoln had a 2000 population of 225,581 and a 2010 population of 258,379, a 14.5% increase.

Religion [link]

The religious affiliations of the people of Nebraska are:

Christian – 90%
- Catholic – 28%
- Lutheran – 16%
- Methodist – 11%
- Baptist – 9%
- Presbyterian – 4%
  - Other Protestant – 21%
- Other Christian – 1%
Non-religious – 9%
Other religions – 1%

The largest single denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Catholic Church (372,791), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (128,570), the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (117,419) and the United Methodist Church (117,277).^[17]

Taxation [link]

Nebraska has a progressive income tax. The portion of income from $0 to $2,400 is taxed at 2.56%; from $2,400 to $17,500, at 3.57%; from $17,500 to $27,000, at 5.12%; and income over $27,000, at 6.84%. The standard deduction for a single taxpayer is $5,700; the personal exemption is $118.^[18]

Nebraska has a state sales tax of 5.5%. In addition to the state tax, some Nebraska cities assess a city sales and use tax, up to a maximum of 1.5%. One county in Nebraska, Dakota County, levies a sales tax.^[19] All real property within the state of Nebraska is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. Since 1992, only depreciable personal property is subject to tax and all other personal property is exempt from tax. Inheritance tax is collected at the county level.

Economy [link]

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates of Nebraska's gross state product in 2010 was $89.8 billion.^[20] Per capita personal income in 2004 was $31,339, 25th in the nation. Nebraska has a large agriculture sector, and is an important producer of beef, pork, corn (maize), soybeans, and sorghum. ^[21] Other important economic sectors include freight transport (by rail and truck), manufacturing, telecommunications, information technology, and insurance.

As of January 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 4.6%.^[22]

Industry [link]

Kool-Aid was created in 1927 by Edwin Perkins in the city of Hastings, which celebrates the event the second weekend of every August with Kool-Aid Days. Kool-Aid is the official soft drink of Nebraska.^[23] CliffsNotes were developed by Clifton Hillegass of Rising City. He adapted his pamphlets from the Canadian publications, Coles Notes.

Omaha is home to Berkshire Hathaway, whose CEO Warren Buffett was ranked in March 2009 by Forbes magazine as the second richest person in the world. The city is also home to ConAgra, Mutual of Omaha, InfoUSA, TD Ameritrade, West Corporation, Valmont Industries, Woodmen of the World, Kiewit Corporation, and the Union Pacific Railroad. UNIFI Companies, Sandhills Publishing Company, and Duncan Aviation are based in Lincoln; The Buckle is based in Kearney. Sidney is the national headquarters for Cabela's, a specialty retailer of outdoor goods.

The world's largest train yard, Union Pacific's Bailey Yard, is in North Platte. The Vise-Grip was invented by William Petersen in 1924, and was manufactured in De Witt until the plant was closed and moved to China in late 2008.^[24]

Lincoln's Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing is the only Kawasaki plant in the world to produce the Jet-Ski, ATV, and Mule lines of product. The facility employs more than 1200 people.

The Spade Ranch, in the Sand Hills, is one of Nebraska's oldest and largest beef cattle operations.

Transportation [link]

Railroads [link]

Further information: List of Nebraska railroads

Nebraska has a rich railroad history. The Union Pacific Railroad, headquartered in Omaha, was incorporated on July 1, 1862, in the wake of the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. Bailey Yard, in North Platte, is the largest railroad classification yard in the world. The route of the original transcontinental railroad runs through the state.

Other major railroads with operations in the state are: Amtrak; Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway; Canadian Pacific Railway; and Iowa Interstate Railroad.

Roads and highways [link]

Further information: List of Nebraska numbered highways

Interstate Highways through the State of Nebraska

The U.S. Routes in Nebraska

Law and government [link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Nebraska Constitution

Nebraska's government operates under the framework of the Nebraska Constitution, adopted in 1875,^[25] and is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.

Executive branch [link]

Further information: Governor of Nebraska

The head of the executive branch is the Governor Dave Heineman. Other elected officials in the executive branch are the Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy (elected on the same ticket as the Governor), Attorney General Jon Bruning, Secretary of State John A. Gale, State Treasurer Don Stenberg, and State Auditor Mike Foley. All elected officials in the executive branch serve four-year terms.

Legislative branch [link]

Further information: Nebraska Legislature and Nebraska State Capitol

Nebraska is the only state in the United States with a unicameral legislature. Although this house is officially known simply as the "Legislature", and more commonly called the "Unicameral", its members call themselves "senators". Nebraska's Legislature is also the only state legislature in the United States that is nonpartisan. The senators are elected with no party affiliation next to their names on the ballot, and the speaker and committee chairs are chosen at large, so that members of any party can be chosen for these positions. The Nebraska Legislature can also override a governor's veto with a three-fifths majority, in contrast to the two-thirds majority required in some other states.

The Nebraska Legislature meets in the third Nebraska State Capitol building, built between 1922 and 1932. It was designed by Bertram G. Goodhue. Built from Indiana limestone, the Capitol's base is a cross within a square. A 400-foot domed tower rises from this base. The Golden Sower, a 19-foot bronze statue representing agriculture, crowns the Capitol. The state Capitol is considered an architectural achievement and has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects.

Nebraska state insignia

Motto	Equality Before the Law
Slogan	Nebraska, possibilities...endless
Bird	Western meadowlark
Animal	White-tailed deer
Fish	Channel catfish
Insect	European honey bee
Flower	Goldenrod
Tree	Cottonwood
Song	"Beautiful Nebraska"
Quarter	Released April 7, 2006

Grass	Little bluestem
Beverage	Milk
Dance	Square dance
Fossil	Mammoth
Gemstone	Blue agate
Rock	Prairie agate
Soil	Holdrege series

For years, US Senator George Norris and other Nebraskans encouraged the idea of a unicameral legislature, and demanded the issue be decided in a referendum. Norris argued:

“

The constitutions of our various states are built upon the idea that there is but one class. If this be true, there is no sense or reason in having the same thing done twice, especially if it is to be done by two bodies of men elected in the same way and having the same jurisdiction.

”

Unicameral supporters also argued that a bicameral legislature had a significant undemocratic feature in the committees that reconciled Assembly and Senate legislation. Votes in these committees were secretive, and would sometimes add provisions to bills that neither house had approved. Nebraska's unicameral legislature today has rules that bills can contain only one subject, and must be given at least five days of consideration.

In 1934, due in part to the budgetary pressure of the Great Depression, Nebraska citizens ran a state initiative to vote on a unicameral legislature, which was approved. In effect, the Assembly (the house) was abolished; as noted, today's Nebraska state legislators are commonly referred to as "Senators".

Judicial branch [link]

Further information: Nebraska Supreme Court

The judicial system in Nebraska is unified, with the Nebraska Supreme Court having administrative authority over all Nebraska courts. Nebraska uses the Missouri Plan for the selection of judges at all levels. The lowest courts in Nebraska are the county courts, above that are twelve district courts (containing one or more counties). The Court of Appeals hears appeals from the district courts, juvenile courts, and workers' compensation courts. The Nebraska Supreme Court is the final court of appeal.

In 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that the state's only method of execution, electrocution, was in conflict with the state's constitution. For the next year, Nebraska had no active death-penalty law. (Prior to that ruling, Nebraska was the only place in the world that used electrocution as the sole method of execution.) In May 2009, the legislature passed and the governor signed a bill that changed the method of execution in Nebraska to lethal injection, enabling capital punishment.^[26] Executions in Nebraska have been infrequent; none have been carried out in the 21st century. During the last few decades, residents have considered a moratorium on, or complete abolition of, capital punishment.

Federal government representation [link]

The Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska

Further information: United States congressional delegations from Nebraska

Nebraska's U.S. senators are Mike Johanns (R), the junior senator, and Ben Nelson (D), the senior senator.

Nebraska has three representatives in the House of Representatives: Jeff Fortenberry (R) of the 1st district; Lee Terry (R) of the 2nd district; and Adrian M. Smith (R) of the 3rd district.

Nebraska is one of two states (with Maine) that allow for a split in the state's allocation of electoral votes in presidential elections. Under a 1991 law, two of Nebraska's five votes are awarded to the winner of the statewide popular vote, while the other three go to the highest vote-getter in each of the state's three congressional districts.

Politics [link]

Further information: United States presidential election, 2004, in Nebraska, Nebraska gubernatorial election, 2006, Nebraska United States Senate election, 2006 and Political party strength in Nebraska

For most of its history, Nebraska has been a solidly Republican state. Republicans have carried the state in all but one presidential election since 1940: the 1964 landslide election of Lyndon B. Johnson. In the 2004 presidential election, George W. Bush won the state's five electoral votes by a margin of 33 percentage points (making Nebraska's the fourth-strongest Republican vote among states) with 65.9% of the overall vote; only Thurston County, which is majority-Native American, voted for his Democratic challenger John Kerry. In 2008, the state split its electoral votes for the first time: Republican John McCain won the popular vote in Nebraska as a whole and two of its three congressional districts; the second district, which includes the city of Omaha, went for Democrat Barack Obama.

Despite the current Republican domination of Nebraska politics, the state has a long tradition of electing centrist members of both parties to state and federal office; examples include George Norris (who served few years in the Senate as an independent), J. James Exon, and Bob Kerrey. Voters have tilted to the right in recent years with the election of conservative Mike Johanns to the US Senate and the re-election of Ben Nelson, who is currently considered the most conservative Democrat in the US Senate.

Former President Gerald Ford, a Republican and Michigan resident, was born in Nebraska. Illinois native William Jennings Bryan represented Nebraska in Congress and unsuccessfully ran for President as a Democrat from Nebraska three times.

Important cities and towns [link]

As of the 2010 Census, there are 530 cities and villages in the state of Nebraska. There are five classifications of cities and villages in Nebraska, which is based upon population. All population figures are 2010 Census Bureau estimates.

Largest cities [link]

File:Downtown Omaha Skyline 2010.jpg

Downtown Omaha

Downtown Lincoln

Metropolitan Class City (300,000 or more)

Omaha – 408,958

Primary Class City (100,000 - 299,999)

Lincoln – 258,379

First Class City (5,000 - 99,999)

Bellevue – 50,137
Grand Island – 48,520
Kearney – 30,787
Fremont – 26,397
Hastings – 24,907
North Platte – 24,733
Norfolk – 24,210
Columbus – 22,111
Papillion – 18,894
La Vista – 15,758
Scottsbluff – 15,039
South Sioux City – 13,353
Beatrice – 12,459
Lexington – 10,230
Gering – 8,500
Alliance – 8,491
Blair – 7,990
York – 7,766
McCook - 7,698
Nebraska City - 7,289
Seward - 6,964
Crete - 6,960
Sidney - 6,757
Plattsmouth - 6,502
Schuyler - 6,211
Ralston - 5,943
Chadron - 5,851
Wayne - 5,660
Holdrege - 5,495

Second Class Cities (800 - 4,999) and Villages (100 - 800) make up the rest of the communities in Nebraska. There are 116 second class cities and 382 villages in the state.

Urban areas [link]

Metropolitan areas	Micropolitan areas
Omaha-Council Bluffs – 728,963 (Nebraska portion); 849,517 (total for Nebraska and Iowa) Lincoln – 298,012 Sioux City, Iowa – 26,940 (Nebraska portion); 144,360 (total for Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota)	Grand Island – 71,596 Kearney – 52,274 Norfolk – 48,000 Hastings – 39,529 Scottsbluff – 37,512	North Platte – 36,890 Fremont – 35,640 Columbus – 32,515 Lexington – 26,920 Beatrice – 22,653

Other areas

Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney comprise the "Tri-Cities" area, with a combined population of 163,399.
The northeast corner of Nebraska is part of the Siouxland region.

Education [link]

Colleges and universities [link]

University of Nebraska system

Nebraska State College System

Community Colleges

Private colleges/universities

Further information: Colleges and universities of Omaha, Nebraska

Culture [link]

Arbor Day was founded by J. Sterling Morton; the National Arbor Day Foundation has its headquarters near his home in Nebraska City.
The swing in the Hebron, Nebraska city park at 5th and Jefferson streets is claimed to be the world's largest porch swing, long enough to fit 18 adults or 26 children.
Nebraska Huskers football influences many of Nebraska's residents. During home football games, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, with a capacity of 85,500, becomes larger than Nebraska's third-largest city.^[27]
Job's Daughters was founded in Omaha in 1920 by Ethel T. Wead Mick. There are now bethels in Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Philippines.

Sports [link]

Further information: Sports in Nebraska

Football game at the University of Nebraska on September 6, 2008

Professional sports
- Lincoln Saltdogs – American Association (independent minor league baseball)
- Nebraska Danger – Indoor Football League
- Omaha Beef – Indoor Football League
- Omaha Storm Chasers – Pacific Coast League (AAA minor league baseball; affiliate of the Kansas City Royals)
- Omaha Nighthawks – United Football League
- Omaha Vipers – Major Indoor Soccer League
NCAA Division I college sports
- Creighton Bluejays
- Nebraska Cornhuskers
- University of Nebraska at Omaha (currently ice hockey only; all other sports moving to Division I in fall 2012)
NCAA Division II college sports^[28]
- University of Nebraska at Kearney Antelopes (Lopers)
- University of Nebraska at Omaha Mavericks
- Wayne State College Wildcats
- Chadron State College Eagles
Junior-level sports: United States Hockey League

References [link]

^ ^a ^b "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011" (CSV). 2011 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. December 2011. http://www.census.gov/popest/data/state/totals/2011/tables/NST-EST2011-01.csv. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Elevations and Distances in the United States". United States Geological Survey. 2001. http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.
^ Koontz, John. "Etymology". Siouan Languages. http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz/faq/etymology.htm. Retrieved November 28, 2006.
^ "Nebraska", Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910
^ Interactive Media Group - Nebraska Educational Telecommunications. "1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act signed". Nebraskastudies.unl.edu. http://nebraskastudies.unl.edu/0500/frameset_reset.html?http://nebraskastudies.unl.edu/0500/stories/0502_0100.html. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
^ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper Utah: Everton Publishers, 2002).
^ Marsha Hoffman and Dwight A. Radford, “Nebraska,” Redbook: American State, County, and Town Sources, 3rd ed. (Provo: Ancestry, 2004), 408.
^ Redbook
^ Note that Nebraska's designation as a "triply landlocked" state does not consider the fact that Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois have ports on the shores of the Great Lakes that have access to the seas.
^ http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/products/atlas.html
^ "Nebraska Climate Office | Applied Climate Science | SNR | UNL". Nebraskaclimateoffice.unl.edu. July 23, 2009. http://www.nebraskaclimateoffice.unl.edu/weather.summary.Dec99. Retrieved April 17, 2010.
^ "Climate – Twin Cities Development Association, Inc. – Nebraska: Scottsbluff, Gering, TerryTown, Mitchell, Bayard". Tcdne.org. http://www.tcdne.org/climate.htm. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
^ Resident Population Data. "Resident Population Data - 2010 Census". 2010.census.gov. http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
^ "Population and Population Centers by State: 2000". United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
^ http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/31000.html
^ "State Membership Report". The Association of Religion Data Archives. Retrieved July 29, 2008.
^ "State Individual Income Tax Rates, 2000–2010". The Tax Foundation. March 25, 2010. http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/228.html. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
^ "Frequently Asked Questions about Nebraska Sales and Use Tax". Nebraska Department of Revenue. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
^ "GDP by State". Greyhill Advisors. http://greyhill.com/gdp-by-state. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
^ "Nebraska State Agriculture Overview – 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Agriculture. http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Ag_Overview/AgOverview_NE.pdf. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
^ Bls.gov; Local Area Unemployment Statistics
^ "History: Kool-Aid: Hastings Museum". Hastings Museum<!. http://www.hastingsmuseum.org/koolaid/kahistory.htm. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
^ Jirovsky, Kristin. "Owner of Nail Jack Tools wants to share former Vise-Grip plant", Lincoln Journal-Star. Jan 8, 2009.
^ "Nebraska as a State". Andreas's History of the State of Nebraska.. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
^ Volentine, Jason (May 28, 2009). "Nebraska Changes Execution Method to Lethal Injection". KOLN. http://www.kolnkgin.com/political/headlines/46424547.html. Retrieved May 30, 2009.
^ "Nebraska Lost, Nebraska Found". Sports Illustrated. April 21, 2008. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1128181/index.htm. Retrieved May 1, 2008.
^ "NCAA Division II Home Page". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Archived from the original on August 22, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070822001230/http://www.siue.edu/ATHLETIC/d2/alpha.html. Retrieved August 30, 2007.

Bibliography [link]

Surveys [link]

Chokecherry Places, Essays from the High Plains, Merrill Gilfillan, Johnson Press, Boulder, Colorado, trade paperback, ISBN 1-55566-227-7.
Olson James C. and Ronald C. Naugle, History of Nebraska 2nd ed (1997)
Andreas, Alfred T., History of the State of Nebraska (1882) (a highly detailed history)
Creigh, Dorothy Weyers. Nebraska: A Bicentennial History (1977)
Faulkner, Virginia, ed. Roundup: A Nebraska Reader (1957)
Hickey, Donald R. Nebraska Moments: Glimpses of Nebraska's Past (1992).
Miewald, Robert D., Nebraska Government & Politics (1984)
Luebke Frederick C. Nebraska: An Illustrated History (1995)
Morton, J. Sterling, ed. Illustrated History of Nebraska: A History of Nebraska from the Earliest Explorations of the Trans-Mississippi Region. 3 vols. (1905–13)
Wishart, David J. ed. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, University of Nebraska Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8032-4787-7. complete text online; 900 pages of scholarly articles
Nebraska: A Guide to the Cornhusker State, WPA Guide, 1939; scanned online edition

Scholarly special studies [link]

Barnhart, John D. "Rainfall and the Populist Party in Nebraska." American Political Science Review 19 (1925): 527–40. in JSTOR
Beezley, William H. "Homesteading in Nebraska, 1862–1872", Nebraska History 53 (spring 1972): 59–75
Bentley, Arthur F. "The Condition of the Western Farmer as Illustrated by the Economic History of a Nebraska Township." Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science 11 (1893): 285–370
Cherny, Robert W. Populism, Progressivism, and the Transformation of Nebraska Politics, 1885–1915 (1981)
Bogue Allen G. Money at Interest: The Farm Mortgage on the Middle Border (1955)
Brunner, Edmund de S. Immigrant Farmers and Their Children (1929)
Chudacoff, Howard P. Mobile Americans: Residential and Social Mobility in Omaha, 1880–1920 (1972)
- Chudacoff, Howard P. "A New Look at Ethnic Neighborhoods: Residential Dispersion and the Concept of Visibility in a Medium-sized City." Journal of American History 60 (1973): 76–93. about Omaha; in JSTOR
Coletta, Paolo E. William Jennings Bryan. 3 vols. (1964–69)
Dick, Everett. The Sod-House Frontier: 1854–1890 (1937)
Farragher, John Mack. Women and Men on the Overland Trail (1979)
Fuller, Wayne E. The Old Country School: The Story of Rural Education in the Midwest (1982)
Grant, Michael Johnston. "Down and Out on the Family Farm" (2002)
Harper, Ivy. Walzing Matilda: Life and Times of Nebraska Senator Robert Kerrey (1992)
Holter, Don W. Flames on the Plains: A History of United Methodism in Nebraska (1983)
Jeffrey, Julie Roy. Frontier Women: The Trans-Mississippi West, 1840–1880 (1979)
Klein, Maury. Union Pacific: The Birth of a Railroad, 1862–1893 (1986)
Klein, Maury. Union Pacific: The Rebirth, 1894–1969 (1989)
Larsen, Lawrence H. The Gate City: A History of Omaha (1982)
Lowitt, Richard. George W. Norris 3 vols. (1971)
Luebke, Frederick C. Immigrants and Politics: The Germans of Nebraska, 1880–1900 (1969)
Luebke, Frederick C. "The German-American Alliance in Nebraska, 1910–1917." Nebraska History 49 (1969): 165–85
Olson, James C. J. Sterling Morton (1942)
Overton, Richard C. Burlington West: A Colonization History of the Burlington Railroad (1941)
Parsons Stanley B. "Who Were the Nebraska Populists?" Nebraska History 44 (1963): 83–99
Pierce, Neal. The Great Plains States (1973)
Pederson, James F., and Kenneth D. Wald. Shall the People Rule? A History of the Democratic Party in Nebraska Politics (1972)
Riley, Glenda. The Female Frontier. A Comparative View of Women on the Prairie and the Plains (1978)
Wenger, Robert W. "The Anti-Saloon League in Nebraska Politics, 1898–1910." Nebraska History 52 (1971): 267–92

External links [link]

Find more about Nebraska on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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Nebraska State Databases – Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Nebraska state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.
Geographic data related to Nebraska at OpenStreetMap

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska

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This article is about the American rapper. For the German train, see ICE T.

Ice-T
Ice-T near the Meat Packing District in Manhattan on set of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in March 2011
Background information
Birth name	Tracy Marrow
Also known as	Ice T
Born	(1958-02-16) February 16, 1958 (age 54) Newark, New Jersey
Origin	Crenshaw, Los Angeles, California
Genres	Hip hop, heavy metal, punk rock, crossover thrash
Occupations	Musician, actor, CEO, record producer, screenwriter, author
Instruments	Vocals, sampler, turntables
Years active	1982–present (rapping) 1984–present (acting)
Labels	Sire/Warner Bros. Records Rhyme Syndicate/Priority/EMI Records Virgin/EMI Records Atomic Pop Records
Associated acts	Afrika Islam, Body Count, Beastie Boys, Low Profile, Quincy Jones, Eazy-E, 2Pac, Donald D, Six Feet Under (band)
Website	www.icet.com
Notable instruments
Roland TR-808, E-mu SP-1200

Tracy Marrow (born February 16, 1958), better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician and actor. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles when he was in the 7th grade. After graduating from high school, he served in the United States Army for four years. He began his career as a rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays, the first hip-hop album to carry an explicit content sticker. The next year, he founded the record label Rhyme Syndicate Records (named after his collective of fellow hip-hop artists called the Rhyme Syndicate) and released another album, Power.

He co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count, which he introduced in his 1991 album O.G.: Original Gangster. Body Count released its self-titled debut album in 1992. Ice-T encountered controversy over his track "Cop Killer", which was perceived to glamorize killing police officers. Ice-T asked to be released from his contract with Warner Bros. Records, and his next solo album, Home Invasion, was released later in the fall of 1993 through Priority Records. Body Count's next album was released in 1994, and Ice-T released two more albums in the late 1990s. Since 2000, he has portrayed NYPD Detective Odafin Tutuola on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Early life [link]

Ice-T was born Tracy Marrow, son of Solomon and Alice Marrow,^[1]^[2] in Newark, New Jersey. As a child, his family moved to upscale Summit, New Jersey.^[1] Solomon was an African American, and Alice was Creole.^[1] For decades, Solomon worked as a conveyor belt mechanic at the Rapistan Conveyor Company. The first time race played a major part in Tracy's life was at the age of 7, when he became aware of the racism leveled by his white friends toward dark-skinned children, and that he escaped similar treatment because they thought that Marrow was white because of his lighter skin.^[1] Relating this incident to his mother, she told him "Honey, people are stupid"; her advice and this incident taught Marrow to control the way the negativity of others affected him.^[1]

His mother died of a heart attack when Tracy was in third grade. Solomon raised Tracy while he was a single father for four years, with help from a housekeeper.^[1] Tracy's first experience with an illegal activity occurred after a bicycle that Solomon bought him for Christmas was stolen. After Tracy told his father, Solomon shrugged, "Well, then, you ain't got no bike."^[1] Tracy stole parts from bicycles and assembled "three or four weird-looking, brightly painted bikes" from the parts; his father either did not notice, or never acknowledged this.^[1] When Tracy was 12 years old, Solomon died of a heart attack.^[1]^[3] For many years, AllMusic.com has stated that his parents "died in an auto accident",^[4] but Ice-T has stated that it was actually he who had been in a brutal auto accident and that was decades later.^[1]

Following his father's death, Tracy lived with a nearby aunt briefly, and was sent to live with his other aunt and her husband in View Park-Windsor Hills, a middle-class black neighborhood by South Los Angeles.^[5] While his cousin Earl was preparing to leave for college, Tracy shared a room with him. Earl was a fan of rock music and listened to only the local rock stations; sharing a room with him spurred Tracy's interest in heavy metal music.^[6]

Gang affiliation, criminal life and time in the Army [link]

Tracy attended Palms Junior High, which was predominately made up of white students, and included black students bused in from South Central.^[5] After graduating, he attended Crenshaw High School, which was almost entirely made up of black students.^[5]^[7] Marrow stood out from most of his friends because he did not drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, or use drugs.^[8] During high school, gangs began to intensify in the Los Angeles school system. Students who belonged to the Bloods and Crips gangs attended Crenshaw, and fought in the school's halls.^[5] Tracy aligned with the Crips,^[5] and began reading the novels of Iceberg Slim, which he memorized and recited to his friends, who enjoyed hearing the excerpts and told him, "Yo, kick some more of that by Ice, T,"^[8] and the handle stuck. Marrow and other Crips wrote and performed "Crip Rhymes", long before the advent of hip hop and recorded rapping.^[9]

At the age of 17, Tracy received the Social Security death-benefit money for the death of his father to rent an apartment for $90 a month.^[8] Marrow sold cannabis and stole car stereos for money, but was not making enough money to support his girlfriend and daughter, leading him to join the United States Army for the financial benefits; he served for four years in the 25th Infantry Division.^[8]^[10] Marrow was in a group that were jailed for the theft of an infantry rug.^[8] While awaiting trial, he received a $2,500 bonus check, and decided to escape from the jail and desert his Army duties, returning a month later after the rug had been returned.^[8] He received an Article 15 non-judicial punishment, and completed Advanced Infantry Training.^[8]

Marrow became interested in hip hop music while serving in the Army. During this period, he heard Sugar Hill Gang's newly-released single "Rapper's Delight", which inspired him to perform his own raps over the instrumentals of this and other early hip-hop records, but the music did not fit his lyrics or form of delivery, leading Marrow to try to develop his skills as a rapper.^[9]

As a squad leader at Schofield Barracks, Marrow met a real-life pimp named Mac in Hawaii, where prostitution was not heavily prosecuted, due to the high level of visits from soldiers during their weekends, as well as tourists, in order to keep the level of violence low.^[8] Mac admired that Marrow could quote Iceberg Slim, and taught Marrow how to pimp.^[8] Marrow was also able to purchase stereo equipment cheaply in Hawaii, including two Technics turntables, a mixer, and large speakers, and began to learn turntablism and rapping.^[9]

Towards the end of his time in the Army, Marrow learned from his commanding officer that he could receive an honorable discharge and leave the Army early because he was a single father, and left four months ahead of schedule.^[8]^[10]

Music career [link]

Early career [link]

After leaving the Army, Marrow wanted to stay away from gang life and violence, and decided to make use of the stereo equipment he had purchased in Hawaii, and make a name for himself as a disc jockey.^[9] As a tribute to Iceberg Slim, Marrow adopted the stage name Ice-T.^[9] While performing as a DJ at parties, he received more attention as a rapper, and decided to pursue a career as a rapper.^[9] After breaking up with his girlfriend Caitlin Boyd, he returned to a life of crime, and robbed jewelry stores with his high school friends, pretending to be customers in order to plan the thefts, and later smashing the display glass with baby sledgehammers, events Marrow later described in his raps.^[9]^[11]

One of Marrow's friends, Sean E. Sean, was arrested for possession of not only cannabis, which Sean sold, but also material stolen by Marrow. Sean took the blame, and served two years in prison. Marrow stated that he owed a gratitude to Sean, because his prison time allowed Marrow to pursue a career as a rapper.^[12] Concurrently, Marrow wound up in a car accident and was hospitalized as a John Doe because he did not carry any form of identification due to his criminal activities.^[13] After being discharged from the hospital, he decided to abandon the criminal lifestyle and pursue a professional career rapping.^[13] Two weeks after being released from the hospital, he won an open mic competition judged by Kurtis Blow.^[14]

Professional career [link]

Ice-T with Body Count performing in 2006.

In 1982, Marrow met producer William Strong from Saturn Records, who recorded his first single, "Cold Wind Madness", also known as "The Coldest Rap", which became an underground success, becoming popular even though radio stations did not play it due to the song's hardcore lyrics.^[12] Marrow appeared as a featured rapper on "Reckless", a single by DJ Chris "The Glove" Taylor, and recorded the songs "You Don't Quit" and "Dog'n the Wax" with Unknown DJ, who provided a sound for the songs.^[14]

Marrow received further inspiration as an artist from Schoolly D's gangsta rap single "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?", which Marrow heard in a club. Marrow enjoyed the single's sound and delivery, as well as its vague references to gang life, although the real life gang, Park Side Killers, was not named in the song.^[14]

Marrow decided to adopt Schoolly D's style, and wrote the lyrics to his first gangsta rap song, "6 in the Mornin'", in his Hollywood apartment, and created a minimal beat with a Roland TR-808. Marrow compared the sound of the song, which was recorded as a B-Side on the single "Dog'n The Wax", to that of the Beastie Boys.^[14] The single was released in 1986, and Marrow learned that "6 in the Mornin'" was more popular in clubs than its A-side, leading Marrow to rap about Los Angeles gang life, which Marrow described more explicitly than any previous rapper. He intentionally did not represent any particular gang, and wore a mixture of red and blue clothing and shoes to avoid antagonizing gang-affiliated listeners, who debated his true affiliation.^[14]

Ice-T finally landed a deal with a major label Sire Records. When label founder and president Seymour Stein heard his demo, he said, "He sounds like Bob Dylan."^[15] Shortly after, he released his debut album Rhyme Pays in 1987 supported by DJ Evil E, DJ Aladdin and producer Afrika Islam, who helped create the mainly party-oriented sound. The record wound up being certified gold by the RIAA. That same year, he recorded the title theme song for Dennis Hopper's Colors, a film about inner-city gang life in Los Angeles. His next album Power was released in 1988, under his own label Rhyme Syndicate, and it was a more assured and impressive record, earning him strong reviews and his second gold record. Released in 1989, The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say established his popularity by matching excellent abrasive music with narrative and commentative lyrics.^[16]

Ice-T performing in August 2006

In 1991, he released his album O.G. Original Gangster, which is regarded as one of the albums that defined gangsta rap. On OG, he introduced his heavy metal band Body Count in a track of the same name. Ice-T toured with Body Count on the first annual Lollapalooza concert tour in 1991, gaining him appeal among middle-class teenagers and fans of alternative music genres. The self-titled debut album by Body Count followed.^[16] For his appearance on the heavily collaborative track "Back on the Block", a composition by jazz musician Quincy Jones that "attempt[ed] to bring together black musical styles from jazz to soul to funk to rap", Ice-T won a Grammy Award for the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, an award shared by others who worked on the track including Jones and fellow jazz musician Ray Charles.^[17]

Controversy later surrounded Body Count over its song "Cop Killer", a song intended as a narrative from the view of a criminal getting revenge on racist police officers guilty of brutality, from the National Rifle Association and various police advocacy groups.^[16] Consequently, Time Warner Music refused to release Ice-T's upcoming album Home Invasion because of the controversy surrounding "Cop Killer". When Ice split amicably with Sire/Warner Bros. Records after a dispute over the artwork of the album Home Invasion, he reactivated Rhyme Syndicate and formed a deal with Priority Records for distribution. Priority released Home Invasion in the spring of 1993.^[18] The album peaked at #9 on Billboard magazine's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at #14 on the Billboard 200,^[19] spawning several singles including "Gotta Lotta Love", "I Ain't New To This" and "99 Problems" – which would later inspire Jay Z to record a version with new lyrics in 2003. Ice-T had also collaborated with certain other heavy metal bands during this time period. For the film Judgment Night, he did a duet with Slayer on the track "Disorder".^[20] In 1995, Ice-T made a guest performance on Forbidden by Black Sabbath.^[2] Another album of his, VI - Return of the Real came out in 1996, followed by The Seventh Deadly Sin in 1999.^[21]

His first rap album since 1999, Gangsta Rap, was released on October 31, 2006. The album's cover, which "shows [Ice-T] lying on his back in bed with his ravishing wife's ample posterior in full view and one of her legs coyly draped over his private parts," was considered to be too suggestive for most retailers, many of which were reluctant to stock the album.^[22] Some reviews of the album were unenthusiastic, as many had hoped for a return to the political raps of Ice-T's most successful albums.

Ice-T appears in the film Gift. One of the last scenes includes Ice-T and Body Count playing with Jane's Addiction in a version of the Sly and the Family Stone song "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey."

Besides fronting his own band and rap projects, Ice-T has also collaborated with other hard rock and metal bands, such as Icepick, Motörhead, Slayer, Pro-Pain, and Six Feet Under. He has also covered songs by hardcore punk bands such as The Exploited, Jello Biafra, and Black Flag. Ice-T made an appearance at Insane Clown Posse's Gathering of the Juggalos (2008 edition).^[23] Ice-T was also a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.^[24] His 2012 film Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap features a who's who of underground and mainstream rappers.^[25]

Ice T announced via Twitter that he is in the process of collecting beats for his next LP which as of November 2011 is expected sometime during 2012.^[26]

Other ventures [link]

Acting career [link]

Ice-T's first film appearances were in the motion pictures, Breakin' (1984), and its sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1985). These films were released before Ice-T released his first LP, although he appears on the soundtrack to Breakin'. He has since stated he considers the films and his own performance in them to be "wack".^[27]

In 1991 he embarked on a serious acting career, portraying police detective Scotty Appleton in Mario Van Peebles' feature film New Jack City, gang leader Odessa (alongside Denzel Washington and John Lithgow) in Ricochet (1991), gang leader King James in Trespass (1992), followed by a notable lead role performance in Surviving the Game (1994), in addition to many supporting roles, such as J-Bone in Johnny Mnemonic (1995), and the marsupial mutant T-Saint in Tank Girl (1995). Marrow was also interviewed in the Brent Owens documentary Pimps Up, Ho's Down,^[28] in which he claims to have had an extensive pimping background before getting into rap. He is quoted as saying "once you max something out, it ain't no fun no more. I couldn't really get no farther." He goes on to explain his pimping experience gave him the ability to get into new businesses. "I can't act, I really can't act, I ain't no rapper, it's all game. I'm just working these niggas." Later he raps at the Players Ball.

In 1993 Marrow along with other rappers and the three Yo! MTV Raps hosts Ed Lover, Doctor Dre and Fab 5 Freddy starred in the comedy Who's the Man?, directed by Ted Demme. In this movie, Marrow is a drug dealer who gets really frustrated when someone calls him by his real name, "Chauncey," rather than his street name, "Nighttrain."

Ice-T with Christopher Meloni on the set of ‘’Law & Order: SVU’’ on October to, 2008 in Broome St, SoHo, New York.

In 1995 Marrow had a recurring role as vengeful drug dealer Danny Cort on the television series New York Undercover, co-created by Dick Wolf. His work on the series earned him the 1996 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 1997 Marrow co-created the short-lived series Players, produced by Wolf. This was followed by a role as pimp Seymour "Kingston" Stockton in Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998). These collaborations led Wolf to add Marrow to the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Since 2000 he has portrayed Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, a former undercover narcotics officer transferred to the Special Victims Unit. In 2002 the NAACP awarded Marrow with a second Image Award, again for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, for his work on Law & Order: SVU.

In 1997 Marrow had a pay-per-view special titled Ice-T's Extreme Babes which appeared on Action PPV, formerly owned by BET networks.^[29]

In 1999 Marrow starred in the HBO movie Stealth Fighter as a United States Naval Aviator who fakes his own death, steals a F-117 stealth fighter, and threatens to destroy United States military bases. He also acted in the movie Sonic Impact, released the same year.

Ice-T made an appearance on the comedy television series Chappelle's Show as himself presenting the award for "Player Hater of the Year" at the "Player-Haters Ball", a parody of his own appearance at the Players Ball. He was dubbed the "Original Player Hater."

Beyond Tough, a 2002 documentary series, aired on Discovery Channel about the world's most dangerous and intense professions, such as alligator wrestlers and Indy 500 pit crews, was hosted by Marrow.^[30]

Ice-T at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival for the premiere of Burning Down the House

In 2007 Marrow appeared as a celebrity guest star on the MTV sketch comedy show Short Circuitz. Also in late 2007 Marrow appeared in the short-music film Hands of Hatred, which can be found online.

Ice-T was interviewed for the Cannibal Corpse retrospective documentary Centuries of Torment, as well as appearing in Chris Rock's 2009 documentary Good Hair, in which he reminisced about going to school in hair curlers.^[31]

Voice acting [link]

Ice-T voiced Madd Dogg in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as well as Agent Cain in Sanity: Aiken's Artifact. He also appears as himself in Def Jam: Fight for NY and UFC: Tapout fighting video games.

He also voiced the character Griffin in the video game Gears of War 3.^[32]

He was the voice of Jackie A in Tommy and the Cool Mule.^[33]

Reality television [link]

On October 20, 2006, Ice-T's Rap School aired and was a reality television show on VH1. It was a spin-off of the British reality show Gene Simmons' Rock School, which also aired on VH1. In Rap School, rapper/actor Ice-T teaches eight teens from York Preparatory School in New York called the "York Prep Crew" ("Y.P. Crew" for short). Each week, Ice-T gives them assignments and they compete for an imitation gold chain with a microphone on it. On the season finale on November 17, 2006, the group performed as an opening act for Public Enemy.

On June 12, 2011, E! reality show Ice Loves Coco debuted. The show is mostly about his relationship with his wife of ten years, Nicole "Coco" Austin.^[34]^[35]

Style and influence [link]

Marrow cites writer Iceberg Slim and rapper Schoolly D as influences, with Iceberg Slim's novels guiding his skills as a lyricist.^[9]^[14] Marrow's favorite heavy rock acts are Edgar Winter, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.^[6] Marrow's hip hop albums helped shape the gangsta rap style, with music journalist tracing works of artists such as Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Eminem and N.W.A to "6 in the Mornin'".^[14]

His love of rock music led Marrow use electric guitar in the instrumentation of his hip hop albums in order to provide his songs with edge and power, and to make his raps harder; he used the fusion of rock and hip hop of Rick Rubin-produced acts like Beastie Boys, Run-DMC and LL Cool J, which featured rock samples in their songs.^[6] His work with Body Count, whose 1992 debut album Marrow described as a "rock album with a rap mentality",^[36] is described as paving the way for the success of rap rock fusions by bands like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit;^[6]^[36] however, Marrow states that the band's style does not fuse the two genres, and is solely a rock band.^[6] He is also a fan of the British singer Phil Collins; Collins claimed he was "incredibly flattered" when he learned this.^[37]

Personal life [link]

Relationships and family [link]

Ice-T and wife Coco attend the Billboard-Children Uniting Nations After-Party

In 1976, Marrow's girlfriend Adrienne gave birth to their daughter, LeTesha, and they attended high school while raising the child. She gave her father two grandchildren.^[8] Later in 1984, while filming Breakin', Marrow met Darlene Ortiz, who had been at the club in which the film was being shot, and the two began a relationship; Ortiz was featured on the covers of Rhyme Pays and Power.^[14] Marrow and Ortiz had a son, Ice Tracy Marrow, in 1992.^[14] On December 31, 2001, Marrow married swimsuit model Nicole "Coco Marie" Austin.^[2]^[35] In celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary, the couple renewed their wedding vows on June 4, 2011.^[34]

Activism [link]

CIA involvement [link]

He has condemned the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency in drug trafficking (in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal, as documented in the Kerry Committee report and elsewhere)^[38] on tracks such as "This One's for Me" and "Message to the Soldier", in sections of his book.

Politics [link]

On June 5, 2008, Ice-T jokingly stated that he would be voting for John McCain in the 2008 American elections. Ice-T also speculated that his past affiliation with Body Count could hurt Barack Obama's chances if he endorsed him, so he'd choose instead to ruin John McCain's campaign by saying he supported him.^[39]^[40]

Feuds [link]

LL Cool J [link]

Ice-T had a non-publicized feud with LL Cool J in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Apparently, this was instigated by LL's claim to be "the baddest rapper in the history of rap itself"^[41] Ice-T recorded two disses against LL on his 1988 album Power. On the album was the track, "I'm Your Pusher", in which a rap music addict declines to buy an LL Cool J record. The album also contains the posse rap track, "The Syndicate", which took aim at LL's lyrical ability, claiming that rapping about oneself so frequently was a "first grade topic".^[42] The song also mocked the song's hook "I'm Bad", which identified it as an LL diss specifically.

On LL's response, "To da Break of Dawn" in 1990, he dissed Kool Moe Dee (Whose feud with LL was far more publicized) as well as MC Hammer. He then devoted the third verse of the song to dissing Ice-T, mocking his rap ability ("take your rhymes around the corner to rap rehab"), his background ("before you rapped, you was a downtown car thief"), and his style ("a brother with a perm deserves to get burned"). Ice-T appeared to have ignored the insults and he had also defended LL Cool J after his arrest in the song "Freedom of Speech".^[43]

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em [link]

In June 2008, on DJ Cisco's Urban Legend mixtape, Ice-T criticized DeAndre Cortez "Soulja Boy Tell 'Em" Way for "killing hip hop" and his song "Crank That" for being "garbage" compared to the works of other hip-hop artists such as Rakim, Das EFX, Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube. One of the comments in the exchange was when Ice-T told Way to "eat a dick".^[44] The two then traded numerous videos back and forth over the Internet. These videos included a cartoon and video of Ice-T dancing on Way's behalf and an apology, but reiteration of his feelings that Way's music "sucks", on Ice-T's behalf.^[45] Rapper Kanye West defended Way by arguing that the younger artist created a new, original work for hip hop, thus keeping the authentic meaning of the music.^[46]

Discography [link]

Main article: Ice-T discography

Studio albums

1987: Rhyme Pays
1988: Power
1989: The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say
1991: O.G. Original Gangster
1993: Home Invasion
1996: VI - Return of the Real
1999: The Seventh Deadly Sin
2006: Gangsta Rap

Collaboration albums

1988: Rhyme Syndicate Comin' Through (with Rhyme $yndicate)
1992: Body Count (with Body Count)
1994: Born Dead (with Body Count)
1997: Violent Demise: The Last Days (with Body Count)
2000: Pimp to Eat (with Analog Brothers)
2004: Repossession (with SMG)
2006: Murder 4 Hire (with Body Count)
2008: Urban Legends (with Black Ice)

Awards and nominations [link]

Grammy Awards

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
1991	Back on the Block	Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group	Won
1992	"New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme)"	Best Rap Solo Performance	Nominated

MTV Video Music Awards

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
1989	"Colors"	Best Rap Video	Nominated
1989	"Colors"	Best Video from a Film	Nominated
1991	"New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme)"	Best Rap Video	Nominated

Filmography [link]

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1984	Breakin'	Rap Talker
1984	Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo	Radiotron Rapper
1985	Rappin'	Himself
1991	New Jack City	Scotty Appleton	Won: MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
1991	Ricochet	Odessa
1992	Why Colors?
1992	Trespass	King James
1993	CB4	Himself
	Who's the Man?	Nighttrain/Chauncey
	Gift	Himself	Video
1994	Surviving the Game	Jack Mason
1995	Tank Girl	T-Saint
1995	Johnny Mnemonic	J-Bone
1996	Frankenpenis		Direct-to-video
1997	Below Utopia	Jim
	Mean Guns	Vincent Moon
	The Deli	Phil The Meat Man
1998	Crazy Six	Raul
1998	Pimps Up, Ho's Down	Himself	Documentary
1999	Sonic Impact	Agent Taja
	The Wrecking Crew	Menace
	The Heist	C-Note
	Frezno Smooth	DJ Superfly
	Judgment Day	Matthew Reese	Video
	Urban Menace	Narrator
	Stealth Fighter	Owen Turner	Also executive producer
	Final Voyage	Josef
	Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang	Justice Rough, The Judge
	Corrupt	Corrupt
2000	Gangland	Officer Dunn
	Leprechaun in the Hood	Mack Daddy	Video
	Luck of the Draw	Macneilly
	The Alternate	Agent Williams
2001	Kept	Jack Mosler
	Stranded	Jeffries	Johnathan
	Crime Partners 2000	King Fischer
	3000 Miles to Graceland	Hamilton
	Point Doom	Ringman
	Deadly Rhapsody	Wilson
	'R Xmas	The Kidnapper
	Guardian	Max
	Tara	Grady
	Ticker	Terrorist Commander
	Out Kold	Goldie
	Ablaze	Albert Denning
	Air Rage	Matt Marshall	Video
2002	On the Edge	Slim Jim
2004	Lexie	Rasheed	Video
2004	Up In Harlem	Ice T
2005	Tracks	Officer Brian Clark
2006	Copy That	Ice T
2007	Apartment 309	Detective Shearod
2008	A Family Underground	Himself	Direct-to-DVD Documentary
2009	Good Hair	Ice T
2009	Tommy and the Cool Mule	Jackie A (voice)
2010	Santorini Blue	Dr. Lewis
2010	The Other Guys	Narrator	Uncredited
2011	Goat	Tyler
2012	Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap	Himself	Actor, Director, Producer

Television [link]

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1983	Fame	One of the 'Enforcers'	Episode: "Break Dance"
1985	The Merv Griffin Show	Himself	Interview and live performance
1989	Yo! MTV Raps	Himself	3 interviews
1989	The Arsenio Hall Show	Himself	Interview and live performance
1990	Slammin' Rap Video Magazine	Himself	Interview
1991	The Arsenio Hall Show	Himself	Interview and live performance
1992	The Arsenio Hall Show	Himself	Interview and live performance
1995	New York Undercover	Danny Up/Danny Cort	Episode: "CAT" Episode: "Catman Comes Back" Episode: "The Finals" (as Danny Cort)
1996	Swift Justice	Earl Borgese	Episode: "Takin' Back the Street"
1996	MADtv	Host	Season 2 episode 2
1997	Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man	Taanzi	Episode: "Ebony, Baby"
1997	Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Himself	Episode: Needledrop
1997–1998	Players	Isaac 'Ice' Gregory	Main Cast
1997	Yo! MTV Raps	Himself	Interview
1998	Welcome to Paradox	Revell	Episode: "The Winner"
1998	Exiled	Seymour 'Kingston' Stockton	television film
1999	L.A. Heat	Cage	Episode: "Rap Sheet"
	Batman Beyond	Ramrod	Episode: "Splicers"
	V.I.P	The Prophet	Episode: "Val the Hard Way" Episode: "Val Goes To Town"
2000	The Disciples	The Sensei	Television film
2000	PhatClips	Himself	Interview
2000–present	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola	Replaced Monique Jeffries starting with Season 2, Main Cast
2005	Law & Order	Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola	Episode: "Flaw" (second half of cross-over with Law & Order: SVU episode "Design").
2006	Ice-T's Rap School	Himself	Real show
2007	Belzer Vizion	Himself	Interview
2008	The Jace Hall Show	Himself	Episode: "Blizzard's World of Warcraft Feat. Ice T. & Coco"
2009	I Get That a Lot	Himself	TV special
2010	All Star Mr. & Mrs.	Himself with his wife Coco	Final round
2010	The Jace Hall Show	Himself	3 episodes
2011-present	Ice Loves Coco	Himself	Reality Show
2011	30 Rock	Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola	Episode: ¡Qué Sorpresa!
2012	Live! with Kelly	Himself	Interview

Video games [link]

Year	Video game	Role	Notes
2000	Sanity: Aiken's Artifact	Agent Nathaniel Cain	Voice
2002	UFC: Tapout	Himself	Voice
2004	Def Jam Fight for NY	Himself	Voice
2004	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Madd Dogg	Voice
2006	Scarface: The World Is Yours	Pedestrians	Voice
2011	Gears of War 3	Griffin	Voice

References [link]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Cold as Ice". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 5–13. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ ^a ^b ^c "Ice-T Biography". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/ice-t/bio/154286. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
^ Ice-T; Sigmund, Heidi (1994). The Ice Opinion: Who Gives a F*ck?. Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-33629-0.
^ Thomas, Stephen (1958-02-16). "Ice-T". AllMusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ice-t-p89063/biography. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Cold as Ice". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 17–29. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Freedom of Speech". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 127–140. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ Goldstein, Patrick (1988-04-24). "The Hard Cold Rap of Ice-T". Los Angeles Times: p. Calendar 89. http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-24/entertainment/ca-2445_1_rap-wizard.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Cold As Ice". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 30–43. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Nightmare Walking". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 49–56. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ ^a ^b O'Flanagan, Emma (2004-02-23). "Ice-T addresses group, provides inspiration". The Daily Targum (Rutgers University). http://www.dailytargum.com/2.4985/1.1514326-1.1514326. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
^ Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Nightmare Walking". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 57–69. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ ^a ^b Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Nightmare Walking". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 70–77. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ ^a ^b Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Nightmare Walking". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 78–83. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Marrow, Tracy; Century, Douglas (2011). "Nightmare Walking". Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption—from South Central to Hollywood. Random House. pp. 89–112. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/97804345523280|97804345523280]].
^ Coleman, Brian, Check The Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies. New York: Villiard/Random House, 2007. pp. 238.
^ ^a ^b ^c Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2000). "Ice-T: Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p89063. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
^ Pareles, Jon (1991-02-23). "Grammys Turn Into Quincy Jones Show". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2D9173EF932A15751C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
^ Pareles, Jon (1993-03-29). "Ice-T's Latest Gangster-Rap Caper Finds Him Alone and on His Own". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7DD1331F93AA15750C0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
^ "Charts and Awards for Ice-T". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p89063. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
^ Ruhlmann, William. "Judgment Night > Overview". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r189710. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
^ Freydkin, Donna (1999-10-27). "No thaw for rapper Ice T". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9910/27/ice.t/index.html. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
^ "Page Six: STORES HOT OVER ICE-T COVER". New York Post. 2006-10-18. http://www.nypost.com/seven/10182006/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-22. ^{[dead link]}
^ Ice-T as performer (archived page)
^ Independent Music Awards – 7th Annual Judges.
^ Conspiracy Worldwide Radio Ice T interview Dec 2009
^ https://twitter.com/#!/FINALLEVEL/status/137192404351582208
^ The Ice Opinion, page 96, St Martin's Press, New York, 1994
^ Buchanan, Jason (2003). "Ice-T > Biography". Allmovie. http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:34312~T1. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
^ Abstract of Late Night with Conan O'Brien #732 (February 27, 1997)
^ Salazar-Moreno, Quibian (2002-07-16). "Ice-T Hosts New Show 'Beyond Tough'". SOHH. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 2007-08-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20070809012028/http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/3854. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
^ Washington, Jesse (2009-07-09). "'Good Hair' laughs instead of cries". Associated Press. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33208003. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
^ "Gears of War 3 Signs Rapper Ice-T to Cast". Industry Gamers. http://www.industrygamers.com/news/gears-of-war-3-signs-rapper-ice-t-to-cast/. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
^ "Tommy and the Cool Mule (Video 2009)". imdb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1273228/. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
^ ^a ^b "Ice-T and Coco Renew Vows, Snoop Dog Looks On". MTV News. June 4, 2011. http://rapfix.mtv.com/2011/06/04/ice-t-and-coco-renew-vows-snoop-dogg-watches-on/#more-15881. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
^ ^a ^b Allison, Kugel (May 31, 2011). "Ice-T & Coco Austin on Married Life, the Business of Being Ice, & Coco's Bodacious Body". PR.com. http://www.pr.com/article/1177. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
^ ^a ^b Dellamora, Richard (1995). Postmodern Apocalypse: Theory and Cultural Practice at the End. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 251. ISBN 0-8122-1558-3.
^ "'People used to think I was musical evil. Now I'm cool': Phil Collins on his new-found credibility". http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1269213/Phil-Collins-People-used-think-I-musical-evil-Now-Im-cool.html.
^ " But after several exhuastive investigations by many independent organisations under the liberal Clinton administration, no CIA involvement in drug trafficking has ever been found. The anti-CIA drug link disinformation, has been traced to the anti-white Nation of Islam. U.S. Concedes Contras Linked to Drugs, But Denies Leadership Involved," Associated Press (17 April 1986).
^ Ice T – Add McCain to My Body Count
^ Ice T backs up John McCain
^ "I'm Bad" Lyrics
^ "The Syndicate" Lyrics
^ "To Da Break of Dawn" Lyrics
^ Hale, Andreas (2008-06-17). "Ice-T Tells Soulja Boy To Eat A Dick". Hip Hop DX. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.7135/title.ice-t-tells-soulja-boy-to-eat-a-dick.
^ Soulja Boy Tell'em Talks About New Album, Battle With Ice-T MTV. June 25, 2008.
^ Upmalis, Jordan (2008-06-23). "Ice-T vs. Soulja Boy Tell'em Video Blog Beef Heats Up; Kanye Weighs In". MTV News. http://newsroom.mtv.com/2008/06/23/ice-t-vs-soulja-boy-tellem-video-blog-beef-heats-up-kanye-weighs-in.

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ice-T

v t e Ice-T

Studio albums	Rhyme Pays Power The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say O.G. Original Gangster Home Invasion VI - Return of the Real The Seventh Deadly Sin Pimp to Eat Gangsta Rap Urban Legends

Compilation albums	Greatest Hits: The Evidence Gang Culture

Singles	"The Coldest Rap" "6 in the Mornin'" "Colors" "I'm Your Pusher" "High Rollers" "Lethal Weapon" "What Ya Wanna Do" "You Played Yourself" "Dick Tracy" "New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme)" "O.G. Original Gangster" "I Ain't New Ta This" "That's How I'm Livin'" "Gotta Lotta Love" "Born to Raise Hell" "I Must Stand" "Don't Hate the Player" "Always Want to Be a Ho'" "Walking In the Rain" "Chevy '64" "So Fly"

Related articles	Discography Rhyme $yndicate Body Count Analog Brothers Fin Tutuola

v t e Body Count

Ice-T Bendrix Ernie C Vincent Price O.T. Mooseman Beatmaster V D-Roc the Executioner Griz

Studio albums	Body Count Born Dead Violent Demise: The Last Days Murder 4 Hire

Singles	"The Winner Loses" "There Goes the Neighborhood" "Cop Killer" "Hey Joe" "Born Dead"

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Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga performing on The Monster Ball Tour in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Born	(1986-03-28) March 28, 1986 (age 26) New York, New York, U.S.
Genres	Pop, dance, electronic
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, performance artist, record producer, dancer, businesswoman, activist
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Def Jam, Cherrytree, Streamline, Kon Live, Interscope
Website	LadyGaga.com Lady Gaga's signature

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (/ˈstɛfəniː dʒʌrməˈnɑːtə/ STE-fə-nee jurr-mə-NAH-tə; born March 28, 1986), known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and was signed with Streamline Records by the end of 2007. During her employment as a songwriter for the record company, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". After embarking on the The Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with The Fame Monster (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro". The album's success allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her most recent album Born This Way (2011) topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles, including "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory". Besides her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Influenced by David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Queen, Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances and music videos. She has sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time and her singles are some of the best selling worldwide.^[1] Her achievements include five Grammy Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on Billboard magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), ranked fourth in VH1's list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, is regularly placed on lists composed by Forbes magazine and was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine.^[2]^[3] In 2012, Gaga was ranked at number four on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than $25 million.^[4]

Biography [link]

1986–2004: Early life [link]

Manhattan's Upper West Side, where Gaga grew up, has been an inspiration for many of her songs.

Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta on March 28, 1986 in New York City to parents Cynthia (née Bissett) and Joseph Germanotta, an Internet entrepreneur.^[5]^[6] Descending from Italian and more distant French-Canadian roots, Gaga is the elder of two children.^[7]^[8] Her sister, Natali, a fashion student, was born in 1992.^[9]^[10] Despite her seemingly affluent upbringing in the family home in Manhattan's Upper West Side, Gaga has stressed that she did not come from a wealthy background, stating that her parents "both came from lower-class families, so we've worked for everything—my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father."^[11]^[12]

From the age of 11, Gaga – who was raised Roman Catholic – attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side.^[13]^[14]^[15] She described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined" but also "a bit insecure": "I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak."^[16]^[17] Acquaintances dispute that she did not fit in at school. "She had a core group of friends; she was a good student. She liked boys a lot, but singing was No. 1," recalled a former high school classmate.^[18] Gaga began playing the piano at the age of 4, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13, and started to perform at open mike nights by the age of 14.^[19]^[20] Her passion for musical theatre brought her lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.^[21] She also appeared in a very small role as a mischievous classmate in the television drama series The Sopranos in a 2001 episode titled "The Telltale Moozadell" in addition to unsuccessfully auditioning for parts in New York shows.^[11]^[22]

When her time at the Convent of the Sacred Heart came to an end, her mother encouraged her to apply for the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21), a musical theatre training conservatory at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.^[11] After becoming one of twenty students to gain early admission, she eventually lived in an NYU dorm on 11th Street by the age of 17.^[21] CAP21 prepared her for her future career focus in "music, art, sex and celebrity" where, in addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics, including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst.^[20]^[23]^[24] With CAP21, she also tried out for and won auditions, including the part of an unsuspecting diner customer for MTV's Boiling Points, a prank reality television show.^[11]^[25] But Gaga felt more creative than some of her classmates. "Once you learn how to think about art, you can teach yourself," she said.

2005–07: Career beginnings [link]

Gaga (right) performing with Lady Starlight (left) at Lollapalooza 2007

Gaga withdrew from CAP21 at 19, in the second semester of her sophomore year, deciding to focus on her musical career.^[26] Her father agreed to pay her rent for a year, on the condition that she re-enroll at Tisch if unsuccessful. "I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate shit until somebody would listen," she remembers.^[21] Settled in a small apartment on Rivington Street towards the summer of 2005, Gaga recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer Grandmaster Melle Mel, for an audio book accompanying the children's book The Portal in the Park, by Cricket Casey.^[11]^[27] She also began a band called the Stefani Germanotta Band (SGBand) with some friends from NYU – guitarist Calvin Pia, bassist Eli Silverman, drummer Alex Beckham and booking manager Frank Fredericks – in September of that year.^[11]^[21] The band played a mixture of songs: some self-penned alongside classic rock numbers like Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er".^[11] Playing in bars like the Greenwich Village's The Bitter End and the Lower East Side's the Mercury Lounge, the band developed a small fan base and caught the eye of music producer Joe Vulpis.^[11] Soon after arranging time in Vulpis' studio in the months that followed, SGBand were selling their extended plays Words and Red and Blue (both 2005) at gigs around New York while becoming a local fixture of the downtown Lower East Side club scene.^[21]

SGBand reached their career peak at the 2006 Songwriters Hall of Fame New Songwriters Showcase at The Cutting Room in June where Wendy Starland, a musician, appeared as a talent scout for music producer Rob Fusari. Starland informed Fusari – who was searching for a female singer to front a new band – of Gaga's ability and contacted her. With SGBand disbanded, Gaga traveled daily to New Jersey to work on songs she had written and compose new material with the music producer.^[11] While in collaboration, Fusari compared some of her vocal harmonies to those of Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen.^[28] It was Fusari who helped create the moniker Gaga after the Queen song "Radio Ga Ga". Gaga was in the process of trying to come up with a stage name when she received a text message from Fusari that read "Lady Gaga."^[29] He explained, "Every day, when Stef came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing 'Radio Ga Ga'. That was her entrance song" and that the text message was the result of a predictive text glitch that changed "radio" to "lady". She texted back, "That's it," and declared, "Don't ever call me Stefani again."^[29]^[30] The New York Post, however, has reported that this story is incorrect, and that the name resulted from a marketing meeting.^[18]

Gaga performing in a bar, sporting one of her earlier looks (2008)

Although the musical relationship between Fusari and Gaga was unsuccessful at first, the pair soon set up a company titled Team Lovechild in which they recorded and produced electropop tracks and sent them to music industry bosses.^[11] Joshua Sarubin, the head of A&R at Def Jam Recordings, responded positively and vied for the record company to take a chance on her "unusual and provocative" performance. After having his boss Antonio "L.A." Reid in agreement, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006 with the intention of having an album ready in nine months.^[11] However, she was dropped by the label after only three months – an unfortunate period of her life that would later inspire her treatment for the music video for her 2011 single "Marry the Night".^[31]^[32] Devastated, Gaga returned to the solace of the family home for Christmas and the nightlife culture of the Lower East Side.^[11]

She became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs.^[11]^[14] Her father, however, did not understand the reason behind her drug intake and could not look at her for several months.^[14]^[30] "I was onstage in a thong, with a fringe hanging over my ass thinking that had covered it, lighting hairsprays on fire, go-go dancing to Black Sabbath and singing songs about oral sex. The kids would scream and cheer and then we'd all go grab a beer. It represented freedom to me. I went to a Catholic school but it was on the New York underground that I found myself."^[23] It was then when she became romantically involved with a heavy metal drummer in a relationship and break-up she likened to the musical film Grease: "I was his Sandy, and he was my Danny, and I just broke." He later became an inspiration behind some of her later songs.^[33]

During this time, she met performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped mold her on-stage persona.^[34] Starlight explained that, upon their first meeting, Gaga wanted to perform with her to songs she had recorded with Fusari. Like SGBand, the pair soon began performing at many of the downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall. Their live performance art piece was known as "Lady Gaga and the Starlight Revue" and, billed as "The Ultimate Pop Burlesque Rockshow", was a low-fi tribute to 1970s variety acts.^[35]^[36] Soon after, the two were invited to play at the 2007 Lollapalooza music festival in August that year.^[37] The show was critically acclaimed, and their performance received positive reviews.^[20]^[35] Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga had found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into her music.^[38]

While Gaga and Starlight were busy performing, producer Rob Fusari continued to work on the songs he had created with Gaga. Fusari sent these songs to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert.^[39] Herbert was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007.^[40] Gaga later credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding "I really feel like we made pop history, and we're gonna keep going."^[39] Having served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV.^[41] As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls.^[41] At Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio.^[42] Akon then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live, making her his "franchise player."^[31]^[43]

As 2007 came to a close, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, whom they also managed.^[44] The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys", a mash-up inspired by Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T.".^[30]^[44] Gaga continued her collaboration with RedOne in the recording studio for a week on her debut album and also joined the roster of Cherrytree Records, an Interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter Martin Kierszenbaum, after co-writing four songs with Kierszenbaum including the singles "Christmas Tree" and "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)".^[41] Despite her secure record deal, she admitted that there was fear about her being too "racy", "dance-orientated" and "underground" for the mainstream market. Her response: "My name is Lady Gaga, I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next."^[15]

[edit] 2008–10: The Fame and The Fame Monster

Gaga performing at The Fame Ball Tour in 2009

By 2008, Gaga had relocated to Los Angeles in order to work extensively with her record label to complete her debut album and set up her own creative team Haus of Gaga, modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory.^[30]^[45] The Fame was first released on August 19, 2008 to slow radio play. Gaga supported it by performing around Europe and in small gay clubs around the US in addition to being billed as a supporting artist on the North American leg of New Kids on the Block's reunion concert tour.^[46]^[47] A sleeper hit, lead single "Just Dance" had preceded the album's release by four months but only hit the summit of the international charts in January 2009, provoking the instant success of the album, earning her first Grammy Award nomination (for Best Dance Recording) and becoming one of the best-selling singles worldwide.^[46]^[48] Gaga achieved a greater unexpected success when "Poker Face", another sleeper hit, reached number one in most major music markets worldwide in early 2009, selling 9.8 million singles worldwide.^[49]^[50] The follow-up single won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Grammy Awards over nominations for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

The Fame itself was nominated for Album of the Year while winning Best Dance/Electronica Album at the same ceremony.^[51] Contemporary critics lauded the album, describing it as an exploration of her obsession with fame and the intricacies of a rich and famous lifestyle, noting its combination of genres "from Def Leppard drums and hand claps to metal drums on urban tracks", the inspiration drawn from 1980s synthpop and incorporation of dance music with clear hooks.^[31] The Fame went to number one in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK and appeared in the top five in Australia, the US and 15 other countries.^[52]^[53] It also stayed atop the Dance/Electronic Albums chart for 106 non-consecutive weeks and, since its release, has sold over 12 million copies worldwide.^[54] The album's success spawned many 2009 honors including Billboard magazine's Rising Star award and the accumulation of 3 of 9 MTV Video Music Awards nominations, winning Best New Artist with the video for her single "Paparazzi" gaining Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects.^[55]^[56] In addition to being an opening act on the Pussycat Dolls' Doll Domination Tour during the first half of 2009 in Europe and Oceania, she also embarked on her own six-month critically appreciated worldwide concert tour The Fame Ball Tour which ran from March to September 2009.^[57]^[58]

While she traveled the globe, she wrote The Fame Monster, an EP of eight songs released in November 2009. Each song, dealing with the darker side of fame from personal experience, is expressed through a monster metaphor. Making Gaga the first artist in digital history to have three singles (alongside "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") to pass the four million mark in digital sales, its lead single "Bad Romance" topped the charts in eighteen countries and reached the top two in the US, Australia and New Zealand while accruing the Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video.^[59] The second single "Telephone", which features singer Beyoncé, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and became Gaga's fourth UK number one single; its accompanying music video, although controversial, received positive reception from contemporary critics who praised her for "the musicality and showmanship of Michael Jackson and the powerful sexuality and provocative instincts of Madonna."^[60]^[61] Her following single "Alejandro" paired Gaga with fashion photographer Steven Klein for a music video similarly as controversial – critics complimented its ideas and dark nature but the Catholic League attacked Gaga for her alleged use of blasphemy.^[62] Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, they made Gaga the first artist to gain over one billion viral views on video-sharing website YouTube.^[63] At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won 8 of her 13 nominations, including Video of the Year for "Bad Romance" (with "Telephone" also nominated), which made her the first female artist to be nominated twice for the award.^[64]^[65] In addition, The Fame Monster garnered a total of six nominations at the 53rd Grammy Awards – equating to the amount of Grammy nominations her debut received – winning Best Pop Vocal Album and earning her a second-consecutive nomination for Album of the Year.^[66]^[67]

Gaga performing at The Monster Ball Tour in 2010

The success of the album allowed Gaga to start her second worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after the release of The Fame Monster and months after having finished The Fame Ball Tour.^[68] Upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and grossed $227.4 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist.^[69] Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for a HBO television special titled Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden. The special accrued one of its five Emmy Award nominations and has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray.^[70] Gaga also performed songs from the album at international events such as the 2009 Royal Variety Performance where she sang "Speechless", a power ballad, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II; the 52nd Grammy Awards where her opening performance consisted of the song "Poker Face" and a piano duet of "Speechless" in a medley of "Your Song" with Elton John; and the 2010 BRIT Awards where a performance of an acoustic rendition of "Telephone" followed by "Dance in the Dark" dedicated to the late fashion designer and close friend, Alexander McQueen, supplemented her hat-trick win at the awards ceremony.^[71] Other performances may have included her participation in Michael Jackson's This Is It concert series at London's O2 Arena. "I was actually asked to open for Michael on his tour," she stated. "We were going to open for him at the O2 and we were working on making it happen. I believe there was some talk about us, lots of the openers, doing duets with Michael on stage."^[72]

In 2009 she collaborated with consumer electronic company Monster Cable Products to create a pair of in-ear jewel-encrusted headphones titled Heartbeats. "They are designed to be the first ever fashion accessories that double as the absolute best sonically sounding headphones in the world," she commented.^[73] Gaga also partnered with Polaroid in January 2010 as their Creative Director.^[74] Excited about "blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film with the digital era," Gaga unveiled the first trio of new products called Grey Label: a pair of picture-taking sunglasses, a paperback-sized mobile printing unit and an updated version of the traditional Polaroid camera at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.^[75] But her collaboration with past producer Rob Fusari led to her production team, Mermaid Music LLC, being sued in March 2010 when he claimed that he was entitled to a 20% share of the company's earnings. Gaga's lawyer, Charles Ortner, described the agreement with Fusari as "unlawful" and declined to comment, but five months later, the New York Supreme Court dismissed both the lawsuit and a countersuit by Gaga.^[76]^[77] In addition to such strife, Gaga was tested borderline positive for lupus, but claimed not to be affected by the symptoms. The revelations caused considerable dismay among fans, leading to Gaga addressing the matter in an interview with Larry King, saying she hopes to avoid symptoms by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.^[78]^[79]

[edit] 2011–present: Born This Way

Gaga performing on the 2011 Good Morning America Summer Concert Series

Gaga released her second studio album and third major release, Born This Way, on May 23, 2011. Described as a marriage of electronic music with metal, rock 'n' roll, pop and anthemic style melodies with sledge-hammering dance beats and referred to as an album "about what what keeps us up at night and what makes us afraid," Gaga characterized it as "something so much deeper than a wig or lipstick or a fucking meat dress" and, upon hearing it, Akon remarked that she is taking music to the "next level."^[80]^[81] Upon release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised its range of different styles and her vocals.^[82]^[83] Born This Way sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the US, debuted atop the Billboard 200, and topped the charts in more than 20 other countries.^[84] In addition to exceeding 8 million copies in worldwide sales, Born This Way received 3 Grammy Award nominations, including her third consecutive for Album of the Year.^[85]

In the months prior to its unveiling, Gaga released the singles "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory" alongside promotional single "Hair". The eponymous lead single, first sung live at the 53rd Grammy Awards in a performance that saw Gaga emerge from an egg-like vessel, deals with self-acceptance regardless of race or sexual orientation. The single debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 19th number-one debut and the 1,000th number-one single in the history of the charts.^[86] It sold more than 3 million digital copies in the US by October 2011, becoming her eighth consecutive single to exceed sales of 2 million and, with worldwide sales of 8.2 million copies by November 2011, one of her five best-selling singles worldwide.^[87] Critics noted artistic and cultural references and praised the concept of the song's accompanying music video, in which Gaga gives birth to a new race amidst surrealistic images.^[88]^[89] The video for "Judas", in which Gaga portrays Mary Magdalene, and Biblical figures such as Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot are also featured, was criticized for its religious references but received acclaim for its overall delivery and praise from others who claimed that there was nothing offensive about it.^[90] "Judas" also peaked within the top ten in several major musical markets, while "The Edge of Glory", first a commercial success in digital outlets, was later released as a single to critical appreciation, accompanied by a video which was notably stripped down from her usually "extravagant" efforts.^[91]^[92] She released "You and I" and "Marry the Night" as the following singles from Born This Way. Although their "crazy and ambitious" videos were praised for their audacity, both songs failed to match the similar international success that their predecessors achieved.^[93]

Gaga continued her musical endeavors by pairing with veteran artists like Tony Bennett to record a jazz version of "The Lady Is a Tramp".^[94] She also recorded a duet with Cher on a "massive" and "beautiful" track, which Gaga "wrote a long time ago, and I've never put it on one of my own albums for, really, no particular reason."^[95] Gaga also lent her vocals to an original duet with Elton John for the animated feature film Gnomeo & Juliet. The song, "Hello, Hello", was released without Gaga's vocals but the duet version features in the film.^[96]^[97] She also continued her live appearances throughout 2011, performing a one-of-a-kind concert at the Sydney Town Hall on July 13 in promotion of Born This Way and at the celebration of former US president Bill Clinton's 65th birthday, wearing a blond wig as a nod to the famous performance of Marilyn Monroe for John F. Kennedy and changing the lyrics to "You and I" specifically for the performance.^[98] Televised appearances comprised her own Thanksgiving Day television special entitled A Very Gaga Thanksgiving which was critically lauded, attained 5.749 million American viewers, and spawned the release of her fourth extended play A Very Gaga Holiday.^[99] Her second performance on Saturday Night Live saw her singing a selection of Born This Way songs alongside appearing in number of sketches with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg.^[100] In March 2012, Gaga was ranked at number four on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing $25,353,039 dollars, which includes sales from Born This Way and her Monster Ball Tour.^[4]

In early 2012, Gaga stated that songs for a new album were "beginning to flourish" as she worked with producer Fernando Garibay, while the accompanying tour for Born This Way was materializing.^[101]^[102] Gaga's manager, Vincent Herbert, revealed that Gaga will is working on her upcoming album during the tour, stating that the material is "insane, great records."^[103] The Born This Way Ball Tour began on April 27, 2012, at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea.^[104] The tour was met with protests from several religious groups who denounced the tour as satanic and against religious values, resulting in protests mainly from the Islamic Defenders Front, causing a cancellation in the Indonesian city of Jakarta, where Gaga was denied a license to perform. The concert however was still in question as concert promoters were optimistic that the performance will in fact go on. However, due to threats of violence from Muslim hardliners, Gaga decided to cancel the concert although 52,000 tickets have sold out in just a few days.^[105]^[106]^[107] On May 20, 2012, Gaga guest-starred on the 23rd season finale of The Simpsons entitled "Lisa Goes Gaga".^[108]

Artistry [link]

Influences [link]

Gaga's parents, who exposed her to artists like The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin and Elton John had significant influence on her childhood and, presently, still do.^[109] "I am a real family girl. When it comes to love and loyalty, I am very old-fashioned. And I am quite down-to-earth for such an eccentric person," she insists.^[110] "I'm quite traditional in the family sense. I've always been that way."^[109] According to Gaga, Joanne Germanotta – her aunt who died of lupus aged 19 – lives on through her and inspires all of her music and art.^[111] Joanne's date of death is tattooed on Gaga's body and, despite dying 12 years before her birth, Gaga commented, "I really believe I have two hearts. I think I actually carry two souls in my body, and that I'm living out the rest of her life and her goodness – she died a virgin, she died never having experienced all these things that we all get to love and experience in our lives."^[112] Another spiritual influence on Gaga has been the Indian physician, public speaker and writer Deepak Chopra. Labeling him a "true inspiration", she stated that "he's always reminded me to work in a life of service to my fans and to fulfill my vision and my destiny" in addition to thinking about Chopra when it comes to her work as a musician: "I want so much for it to go beyond the music for my fans."^[113]

Musically, Gaga takes influence from numerous musicians from dance-pop singers like Madonna and Michael Jackson to glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen whilst employing the theatrics of artists like Andy Warhol and of her musical theatre roots in performance.^[31]^[114]^[115] The Queen song "Radio Ga Ga" inspired her stage name: "I adored Freddie Mercury and Queen had a hit called 'Radio Gaga'. That's why I love the name [...] Freddie was unique—one of the biggest personalities in the whole of pop music," she commented.^[18]^[114]^[116] Gaga receives regular comparisons to recording artist Madonna who admits that she sees herself reflected in Gaga.^[117] In response to the comparisons, Gaga stated, "I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I've made it my goal to revolutionize pop music. The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago" in addition to commenting that "there is really no one that is a more adoring and loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and professionally."^[114]^[118] Like Madonna, Gaga has continued to reinvent herself and, over the years of her career, has drawn musical inspiration from a diverse mix of artists including Whitney Houston, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie singer Debbie Harry, Scissor Sisters, Prince, Marilyn Manson, Yoko Ono, and Britney Spears.^[119]


Gaga has been influenced by a wide-range of artists as to which she has played homages to, including Madonna (left) and Bruce Springsteen. (Right)

Gaga has mentioned Spears in several interviews, and revealed, "Britney certainly doesn’t need any freakin’ tips from me! Britney Spears is the queen of pop. I was learning from her."^[120] Gaga also paid tribute to Spears during the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards with the MTV Video Vanguard Award, adding that the pop singer "taught us all how to be fearless, and the industry wouldn't be the same without her."^[121]

Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence and has been stylistically compared to English eccentrics Leigh Bowery and Isabella Blow and to American recording artist Cher.^[14]^[26]^[110]^[122] She commented that "as a child, she somehow absorbed Cher's out-there fashion sense and made it her own."^[122] She has considered Donatella Versace her muse and the late British fashion designer and close friend Alexander McQueen as an inspiration, admitting that "I miss Lee every time I get dressed" while channeling him in some of her work.^[14]^[78] Modeled on Andy Warhol's Factory, Gaga has her own creative production team, which she handles personally, called the Haus of Gaga, who create many of her clothes, stage props, and hairdos.^[123] Her adoration of fashion came from her mother, who she stated was "always very well kept and beautiful."^[6] "When I'm writing music, I'm thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It's all about everything altogether—performance art, pop performance art, fashion. For me, it's everything coming together and being a real story that will bring back the super-fan. I want to bring that back. I want the imagery to be so strong that fans will want to eat and taste and lick every part of us."^[26] The Global Language Monitor named "Lady Gaga" as the Top Fashion Buzzword with her trademark "no pants" a close third.^[124] Entertainment Weekly put her outfits on its end of the decade "best-of" list, saying, "Whether it's a dress made of Muppets or strategically placed bubbles, Gaga's outré ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream."^[125] Gaga made her runway debut at Thierry Mugler's Paris fashion show in March 2011 where she wore items from Nicola Formichetti's debut women's wear collection.^[126] In June of the same year, she won the Council of Fashion Designers of America Award for Fashion Icon.^[127] Time Magazine placed Gaga on their "All-Time 100 Fashion Icons List" amongst some of Gaga's inspirations such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, and the The Beatles, stating: "Lady Gaga is just as notorious for her outrageous style as she is for her pop hits. After all, Gaga, born Stefani Germanotta, has sported outfits made from plastic bubbles, Kermit the Frog dolls, and raw meat."^[128] She has since devoted her time as a fashion columnist for V magazine, where she has written about her creative process, her studying of the world of pop culture, and her ability to tune into the evolution of pop-culture meme.^[129]

In August 2011 she sent to her 15 millions followers that she had at that time on Twitter, a quote about creativity from the book "Creativity"^[130] by Osho,^[131] which led journalists, on October 28, of the same year, on her arrival to India for the inauguration of a big Formula One motorsport event,^[132] to ask her about her connection to him, to which Gaga said she was influenced by his work and that for her, "the creativity is the greatest way of rebellion": "Equality", she concluded, "is one of the most important things in my life".^[133]

Musical style [link]

	"Just Dance" (2008) noicon A 30-second sample of Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" featuring the chorus sung by Lady Gaga and Colby O'Donis in the range of B₃ to C♯, backed by a synth marching beat. The song became her first international hit single and sold 7.7 million copies worldwide.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Continually experimenting with new musical ideas and images, Gaga's musical and performance style is the subject of much analysis and scrutiny from critics. She professes that she is "liberating" herself by constantly reinventing her sound and image, insisting that she has been drawn to such a practice since her childhood.^[134] Vocally, Gaga possesses the range of a contralto and exhibits "overwhelming expression, instinctive vocal phrasing, '80s rock reminiscent chest belts and animalistic vocal ticks" while being able to move through 2.4 octaves.^[135]^[136] Refusing to lip sync, Gaga – whose range is frequently compared to those of Madonna and Gwen Stefani – has manipulated her vocal style over the course of her career yet considers Born This Way (2011) "much more vocally up to par with what I've always been capable of."^[137]^[138] In summation of her voice, Entertainment Weekly wrote, "There's an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she uses her voice. Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal ability, recognizing instead that artistry is to be found in nuance rather than lung power."^[139]

A blond woman in a bob-cut, sitting cross-legged on a transparent platform full of bubbles and lit from inside in pink. The woman is wearing a dress made of transparent bubbles of varying sizes. She is holding a microphone in her left hand and appears to be smiling.

Gaga performing in a plastic bubble dress (2009)

Although her early lyrics have been criticized for lacking intellectual stimulation, "[Gaga] does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace."^[140] She admits that her songwriting has been misinterpreted; her friend and blogger Perez Hilton articulated her message in a clearer way: "you write really deep intelligent lyrics with shallow concepts." Gaga opined, "Perez is very intelligent and clearly listened to my record from beginning to end, and he is correct."^[141] "I love songwriting. It's so funny – I will just jam around in my underwear or I could be washing my dishes. I wrote several songs just at the piano," she confesses.^[141] Gaga believes that "all good music can be played at a piano and still sound like a hit."^[142] She has covered a wide variety of topics in her songs: while The Fame (2008) meditates on the lust for stardom, The Fame Monster (2009) expresses fame's dark side through monster metaphors. Born This Way (2011) is sung in English, French, German and Spanish and includes common themes in Gaga's controversial songwriting like love, sex, religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation, sexuality, freedom and individualism.^[143]^[144]

The structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop.^[145] Her debut album The Fame (2008) provoked The Sunday Times to assert "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, [Gaga] evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa 'Hollaback Girl', Kylie Minogue 2001 or Grace Jones right now" and a critic from The Boston Globe to comment that she draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen Stefani... in [her] girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats."^[146]^[147] Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote that "Everything about Gaga came from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded with R&B-ish beats."^[148] The follow-up The Fame Monster (2009), saw Gaga's taste for pastiche, drawing on "Seventies arena glam, perky ABBA disco and sugary throwbacks like Stacey Q" while Born This Way (2011) also draws on the records of her childhood and still has the "electro-sleaze beats and Eurodisco chorus chants" of its predecessor but includes genres as diverse as opera, heavy metal, disco, and rock and roll.^[143] "There isn't a subtle moment on the album, but even at its nuttiest, the music is full of wide-awake emotional details," wrote Rolling Stone, who concluded: "The more excessive Gaga gets, the more honest she sounds."^[144]

Music videos and performances [link]

Gaga, recognized for her unconventionality, during a "blood soaked" performance (2010)

With constant costume changes, backup dancers, and provocative visuals, Gaga's music videos are often described as short films.^[149] "Being provocative is not just about getting people's attention. It's about saying something that really affects people in a real way, in a positive way," she professes.^[149] Exploring bondage and sadomasochism in addition to highlighting prevalent feminist themes, "the three central themes that shape Lady Gaga's music videos are sex, violence, and power."^[150] "Vaudevillian and carnal, Lady Gaga has got the knack of sending rape-like fantasies—in songs and videos that double as catch club hits—to the top of the charts," wrote one critic.^[151] "Whether it is physical violence or sexual exploitation, these videos offer vivid depictions of male power over women's bodies," wrote another.^[150] While she labels herself "a little bit of a feminist" (she rejects man-hating feminism) and asserts that she is "sexually empowering women,"^[151] Gaga strives to empower young women to stand up for what they believe in.^[150] She also attempts to liberate her fans so they can feel "less alone."^[152] "She not only reiterates her assertion of total originality," professed pop critic Ann Powers, "but also finesses it until it's both a philosophical stance about how constructing a persona from pop-cultural sources can be an expression of a person's truth—a la those drag queens Gaga sincerely admires—and a bit of a feminist act."^[153] In summation of her videos, Rolling Stone used the rhetoric: "does anyone look to a Lady Gaga video for restraint?"^[93]

Her performances are described as "highly entertaining and innovative"; the blood-spurting performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as "eye-popping" by MTV.^[154] She continued the "blood soaked" theme during The Monster Ball Tour, in which she wore a revealing leather corset and was "attacked" by a performer dressed in black who gnaws on her throat, causing "blood" to spurt down her chest, after which she lies "dying" in a pool of blood. Her performances of that scene in England triggered protests from family groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi driver had murdered 12 people.^[155] "What happened in Bradford is very fresh in people's minds and given all the violence which happened in Cumbria just hours earlier, it was insensitive," said Lynn Costello of Mothers Against Violence.^[156] Her unconventionality continued at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards: performing in drag as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and delivering a lovesick monologue before a performance of her song "You and I".^[157] Some have defended her flamboyant and provocative behavior. "Well, she's Lady Gaga," Chris Rock said. "She's not 'Lady Behave Yourself.' Do you want great behavior from a person named Gaga? Is this what you were expecting?"^[158] As Gaga's choreographer and creative director, Laurieann Gibson provided material for her shows and videos for four years. However, the pair parted in November 2011; Gaga replacing her with Gibson's assistant Richard Jackson.^[159] Gaga admits to being a perfectionist when it comes to her elaborate shows. "I'm very bossy. I can scream my head off if I see one light fixture out. I'm very detailed – every minute of the show has got to be perfect."^[149]

Public image [link]

Philanthropy [link]

Besides her career in music, Gaga has also contributed to various charities. For natural disasters, Gaga has helped various relief efforts. Although declining an invitation to appear on the single "We Are the World 25" to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she donated the proceeds of her January 24, 2010 concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall to the country's reconstruction relief fund.^[178] All profits from her official online store on that day were also donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total of US$500,000 was collected for the fund.^[179] Hours after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, Gaga tweeted a message and a link to Japan Prayer Bracelets. All revenue from a bracelet she designed in conjunction with the company was donated to relief efforts.^[180] As of March 29, 2011, the bracelets raised $1.5 million.^[181] However, attorney Alyson Oliver filed a lawsuit against Gaga in Detroit in June 2011, noting that the bracelet was subject to a sales tax and an extra $3.99 shipping charge was added to the price. She also believed that not all proceeds from the bracelets would go to the relief efforts, demanding a public accounting of the campaign and refunds for people who had bought the bracelet. Gaga's spokesperson called the lawsuit "meritless" and "misleading".^[182] On June 25, 2011, Gaga performed at MTV Japan's charity show in Makuhari Messe, which benefited the Japanese Red Cross.^[183]

HIV and AIDS [link]

Gaga also contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS, focusing on educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cyndi Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. Titled Viva Glam Gaga and Viva Glam Cyndi for each contributor respectively, all net proceeds of the lipstick line were donated to the cosmetic company's campaign to prevent HIV and AIDS worldwide.^[184] In a press release, Gaga declared, "I don't want Viva Glam to be just a lipstick you buy to help a cause. I want it to be a reminder when you go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your lipstick."^[185] The sales of Gaga-endorsed Viva Glam lipstick and lipgloss have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS.^[3]

Born This Way Foundation [link]

Main article: Born This Way Foundation

As a humanitarian, she has launched her own non-profit organization, the Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on youth empowerment and issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, and career development. "My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation," Gaga said in a statement about the foundation, which takes its name from the 2011 single and album. "Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment." The foundation will work with a number of partners, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.^[186] She also jumped into the debate surrounding SB 1070, Arizona's recently-enacted anti-immigration law, after premiering her Born This Way song "Americano" on the Guadalajara stop of The Monster Ball Tour in Mexico, telling the local press that she could not "stand by many of the unjust immigration laws" in the US.^[187] A devoted advocate for the LGBT community, Gaga is also an outspoken activist for LGBT rights worldwide.^[188] On February 29, 2012, Gaga and Oprah Winfrey visited Harvard University to launch her Born This Way Foundation.

LGBT advocacy [link]

A blond woman wearing a white shirt and black glasses speaking on a lectern carrying a 'National Equality March' poster. Behind her is a white stone balustrade of a building.

Gaga delivers a speech at the 2009 National Equality March

Gaga attributes much of her early success as a mainstream artist to her gay fans and is considered to be a gay icon.^[189] Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, "The turning point for me was the gay community. I've got so many gay fans and they're so loyal to me and they really lifted me up. They'll always stand by me and I'll always stand by them. It's not an easy thing to create a fanbase."^[190] She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label Interscope works, in the liner notes of The Fame, saying, "I love you so much. You were the first heartbeat in this project, and your support and brilliance means the world to me. I will always fight for the gay community hand in hand with this incredible team."^[191] One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the NewNowNext Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo, where she sang her song "Just Dance".^[192] In June of the same year, she performed the song again at the San Francisco Pride event.^[193]

After The Fame was released, she revealed that the song "Poker Face" was about her bisexuality. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying "The fact that I'm into women, they're all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They're like, 'I don't need to have a threesome. I'm happy with just you'."^[33] When she appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2009, she praised DeGeneres for being "an inspiration for women and for the gay community".^[194] She proclaimed that the October 11, 2009 National Equality March rally on the National Mall was "the single most important event of her career." As she exited, she left with an exultant "Bless God and bless the gays,"^[195] similar to her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech for Best New Artist a month earlier.^[196] At the Human Rights Campaign Dinner, held the same weekend as the rally, she performed a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" declaring that "I'm not going to [play] one of my songs tonight because tonight is not about me, it's about you." She changed the original lyrics of the song to reflect the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because of his sexuality.^[197]

Gaga addresses the crowd at SLDN's "Don't ask, don't tell" rally in 2010

Gaga attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four service members of the United States Armed Forces (Mike Almy, David Hall, Katie Miller and Stacy Vasquez), all of whom, under the United States military's "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy, had been prohibited from serving openly because of their sexuality.^[198] In addition, Gaga wore a meat dress to the ceremony which was supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat that were all fabricated from the flesh of a dead animal.^[199] Partly awarded in recognition of the dress, Vogue.com UK named her one of the Best Dressed people of 2010 while Time magazine's named the dress the Fashion Statement of 2010, it received divided opinions – evoking the attention of worldwide media but invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA.^[200]^[201]^[202] She denied any intention of causing disrespect to any person or organization and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT community, adding that "If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones."^[203]

She later released three videos on YouTube urging her fans to contact their Senators in an effort to overturn the policy. In late September 2010 she spoke at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's "4the14K" Rally in Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine. The name of the rally signified the number – an estimated 14,000 – of service members discharged under the DADT policy at the time. During her remarks, she urged members of the U.S. Senate (and in particular, moderate Republican Senators from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins) to vote in favor of legislation that would repeal the DADT policy. Following this event, editors of The Advocate commented that she had become "the real fierce advocate" for gays and lesbians, one that Barack Obama had promised to be.^[204]^[205]

Gaga appeared at Europride, a pan-European international event dedicated to LGBT pride, held in Rome in June 2011. In a nearly twenty-minute speech, she criticized the intolerant state of gay rights in many European countries and described homosexuals as "revolutionaries of love" before performing acoustic renderings of "Born This Way" and "The Edge of Glory" in front of thousands at the Circus Maximus.^[206]^[207] She stated that "Today and every day we fight for freedom. We fight for justice. We beckon for compassion, understanding and above all we want full equality now".^[208] Gaga revealed that she is often questioned why she dedicates herself to "gayspeak" and "how gay" she is, to which, she told the audience: "Why is this question, why is this issue so important? My answer is: I am a child of diversity, I am one with my generation, I feel a moral obligation as a woman, or a man, to exercise my revolutionary potential and make the world a better place." She then joked: "On a gay scale from 1 to 10, I'm a Judy Garland fucking 42."^[209]

Discography [link]

For the full list, see Lady Gaga discography.

The Fame (2008)
The Fame Monster (2009)
Born This Way (2011)

Filmography [link]

Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden (2011)
A Very Gaga Thanksgiving (2011)
"Lisa Goes Gaga" (The Simpsons episode) (2012)
Men in Black 3 (Plays the role of an alien.) (2012)^[210]

Concert tours [link]

The Fame Ball Tour (2009)
Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga (2009–10) (cancelled)
The Monster Ball Tour (2009–11)
The Born This Way Ball Tour (2012–13)

References [link]

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^ Review: Unnecessary ‘Men in Black 3’ just O‘K’ compared to predecessors - a-e - The Lantern - Ohio State University

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lady Gaga

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lady Gaga

Official website
Lady Gaga at Allmusic
Lady Gaga at AllRovi
Lady Gaga discography at Discogs
Lady Gaga on Facebook
Lady Gaga at the Internet Movie Database
Lady Gaga collected news and commentary at The Guardian
Lady Gaga collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Lady Gaga collected news and commentary at The Wall Street Journal
Works by or about Lady Gaga in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Slide show Vanity Fair

v t e Lady Gaga

Discography Awards and nominations

Studio albums	The Fame Born This Way

Compilation albums	The Remix Born This Way: The Remix

EPs	The Cherrytree Sessions Hitmixes The Fame Monster A Very Gaga Holiday

Video albums	Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden

Singles	"Just Dance" "Poker Face" "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" "LoveGame" "Paparazzi" "Bad Romance" "Telephone" "Alejandro" "Dance in the Dark" "Born This Way" "Judas" "The Edge of Glory" "You and I" "Marry the Night"

Collaborations	"Chillin" "Video Phone (Extended Remix)" "3-Way (The Golden Rule)" "The Lady Is a Tramp"

Promotional singles	"Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" "Christmas Tree" "Hair"

Other songs	"Monster" "Speechless" "So Happy I Could Die" "Scheiße" "Heavy Metal Lover" "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion"

Concert tours	The Fame Ball Tour Fame Kills The Monster Ball Tour Born This Way Ball

Media	"The Telltale Moozadell" "Miss Universe 2008" "The Last Days of Disco Stick" Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden A Very Gaga Thanksgiving "Lisa Goes Gaga" Men in Black 3

Books	Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson

Related articles	Born This Way Foundation "Born This Way" (Glee) Cherrytree Records Nicola Formichetti Laurieann Gibson Haus of Gaga Interscope Records Kon Live Distribution Lady Gaga: Queen of Pop Meat dress "Perform This Way" "Theatricality" Lady Gaga on Twitter Controversy of the Born This Way Ball

Book Category Portal WikiProject

Authority control: LCCN: no2008179258 | VIAF: 220974042 | WorldCat

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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Gaga

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

This article is about the musician. For her self-titled debut album, see Taylor Swift (album).

Taylor Swift
Swift performing during the Australian leg of her Speak Now Tour in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Born	(1989-12-13) December 13, 1989 (age 22) Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Country-pop, pop, country, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, banjo, ukulele, piano
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Big Machine
Website	TaylorSwift.com

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of fourteen to pursue a career in country music. She signed to the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's self-titled debut album in 2006 established her as a country music star. "Our Song", her third single, made her the youngest sole writer and singer of a number one song on the country chart. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 50th Grammy Awards.

Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in late 2008. Buoyed by the chart success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless attracted a crossover audience and became the top-selling album of 2009. The record won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Fearless also received Album of the Year plaudits at the American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards and Country Music Association Awards, making it the most awarded album in country music history. In 2010, Swift released her third album, Speak Now, which sold over one million copies in its first week. She then embarked on the 111-date Speak Now World Tour, which was attended by over 1.6 million fans and has become one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. The album's third single, "Mean", won two Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. Swift is currently recording her fourth studio album, due for release in the fall of 2012.

Swift's work has earned her numerous accolades, including six Grammy Awards, ten AMAs, seven CMAs, six ACMs and 13 BMI Awards. She has sold over 22 million albums and 50 million song downloads worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Swift has endorsement deals with Target, CoverGirl, Sony, Elizabeth Arden, Walmart and American Greetings. As a philanthropist, Swift has placed particular emphasis on arts education, children's literacy and natural disaster relief funds. In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared as an actress in the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2009), the romantic comedy Valentine's Day (2010) and the animated film The Lorax (2012).

Early life [link]

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania.^[1] She is the daughter of Scott Swift, a Merrill Lynch financial adviser,^[2]^[3] and Andrea (née Gardner), a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive.^[1]^[4] Swift was named after singer James Taylor; her mother believed a gender-neutral name would help her forge a successful business career.^[5]^[6] She has a younger brother, Austin, who attends Vanderbilt University.^[7] She spent the early years of her life on an eleven-acre Christmas tree farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and was educated at the fee-paying Wyndcroft School.^[8] When Swift was nine years old, the family moved to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania,^[9]^[10] where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.^[11] Swift spent her summers at her parent's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey^[12] and has described it as the place "where most of my childhood memories were formed".^[10]

Swift's first hobby was English horse riding. Her mother Andrea put her in a saddle when Swift was nine months old and she later competed in horse shows.^[13]^[14] Her family owned several Quarter horses and a Shetland pony.^[14] At the age of nine, Swift turned her attention to musical theatre and performed in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions of Grease, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie and The Sound of Music.^[15]^[8] She travelled regularly to Broadway, New York for vocal and acting lessons. However, "after a few years of auditioning in New York and not getting anything”, Swift became interested in country music.^[16] She was inspired by LeAnn Rimes's Blue^[17] and her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, an opera singer.^[8] When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet".^[18] At the age of eleven, after many attempts,^[19] Swift won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes’s “Big Deal”, and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater.^[15] She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, fairs, coffeehouses, karaoke contests, garden clubs and Boy Scout meetings.^[20]^[4] This interest in country music isolated Swift from her middle school peers.^[21]^[22]

After watching a Behind the Music episode about Faith Hill,^[23] Swift recorded a demo of karaoke covers, and travelled with her mother to Nashville, Tennessee for spring break to leave a copy of the demo with record labels along Music Row. She received label rejections and realized that "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different".^[23] Swift began performing the "The Star Spangled Banner" at many sporting events, hoping she would be offered a recording contract. On one occasion, an eleven-year-old Swift high-fived Jay-Z after singing the national anthem at a 76ers game in Philadelphia.^[24] At the age of twelve, Swift was shown by a computer repairman how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You".^[25]^[26] She then recorded a second demo of original songs.^[15] In 2003, Swift and her parents began working with music manager Dan Dymtrow, after he spotted her singing at the US Open.^[27] Swift's second demo then caught the attention of RCA Records, who offered the eight-grader an artist development deal. In 2004, Swift modelled for Abercrombie and Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign and had an original song included in a Maybelline Cosmetics compilation CD.^[28]

When Swift was fourteen, her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch and the family relocated to a lake-shore house in Hendersonville, Tennessee.^[1] Swift has said her parents "presented it as a move to a nice community" rather than as her chance to become a star.^[29] Her mother has said, "We've always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true."^[30] In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School for her freshman and sophomore years.^[31] Later, to accommodate her touring schedule, Swift transferred to the Aaron Academy, a private Christian school which offered homeschooling services, and earned her high school diploma in 2008.^[32]

Music career [link]

[edit] 2004–08: Nashville songwriting sessions and Taylor Swift release

Swift moved to Nashville at the age of fourteen, having secured an artist development deal with RCA Records. Her musical influences included the Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill,^[29] Tom Petty,^[33] Sheryl Crow,^[34] Melissa Etheridge, Pat Benatar,^[35] Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks,^[36] Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.^[37] Swift had writing sessions with experienced songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally and the Warren Brothers,^[38]^[39] but eventually formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose.^[40] Swift saw Rose performing at an RCA songwriter event and suggested that they write together.^[41] They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school.^[42] Rose has said that the sessions were "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks".^[43]^[42] Swift also began recording demos with producer Nathan Chapman.^[41] After performing at a BMI Songwriter's Circle showcase at The Bitter End, New York,^[39] Swift became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.^[44]

Swift performing at the Maverick Saloon & Grill in Santa Maria, California in 2006

Swift left RCA Records when she was fifteeen; the company wanted her to record the work of other songwriters and wait until she was eighteen to release an album, but she felt ready to launch her career with her own material.^[45]^[19] She also parted ways with manager Dan Dymtrow, who later took legal action against Swift and her parents.^[28] At an industry showcase at Nashville's The Bluebird Café in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a Dreamworks Records executive who was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine Records.^[40] Swift was one of the new label's first signings.^[40] As an introduction to the country music business, Borchetta arranged for Swift to intern at the CMA Music Festival; she acted as the artist escort for Darryl Worley.^[46]^[47]

Swift began working on her self-titled debut album shortly after signing her record deal. After experimenting with veteran Nashville producers, Swift persuaded Big Machine to hire her demo producer Nathan Chapman.^[19] It was his first time to record a studio album but Swift felt they had the right "chemistry".^[19] In the end, Chapman produced all but one of the tracks on Taylor Swift.^[19] She has described the album as the "diary" of her early teens^[48] and most songs were written during her freshman year of high school.^[19] As a result, the songs describe coming of age experiences such as insecurity, young love, and teenage angst.^[19] She has said that, although "it sounds like I've had 500 boyfriends", a lot of the songs are observational.^[19] Swift wrote three of the album's songs alone, including two singles, and co-wrote the remaining eight with writers such as Liz Rose, Robert Ellis Orrall and Angelo Petraglia.^[49] Musically, the album has been described as "a mix of trad-country instruments and spry rock guitars".^[50]

Taylor Swift was released in October 2006 and received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[51] PopMatters hoped Swift would be "able to find an accomodation between the country tradition and her very obvious pop sensibilities, because Taylor Swift suggests she has much to offer".^[52] The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones described Swift as a "prodigy". She noted that "Our Song" "stop[ed] me in my tracks" and praised the lyrics: “He’s got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel, the other on my heart".^[53] Country Weekly felt Swift demonstrated "an honesty, intelligence and idealism with which listeners of any age will be able to connect" and noted that "the more thoughtful material suggests a talent poised to last well past high school".^[54] AllMusic stated that, while listening to the album, it was "never in doubt" that "Swift is a talent to be reckoned with".^[55] Rolling Stone described Swift as "bright-eyed but remarkably seasoned", and admired "Our Song"'s "insanely hooky sing-song melody that's as Britney as it is Patsy".^[50]

Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in Sunnyvale, California in 2007

Big Machine Records was still in its infancy upon the release of the lead single "Tim McGraw" in June 2006, and Swift and her mother helped "stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio".^[30] She spent much of 2006 promoting Taylor Swift in a radio tour and later commented, "Radio tours for most artists last six weeks. Mine lasted six months."^[19] Swift painted canvases (inspired by Jackson Pollock) to gift to radio station managers who played her music.^[56] She took part in "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series designed to introduce her to country music fans.^[57]^[58] She also made television appearances on Good Morning America,^[59] The Megan Mullally Show,^[59] America's Got Talent,^[60] and TRL.^[61] Swift, a self-described "kid of the internet",^[62] used MySpace to build a fanbase. She wrote her own blog posts, left comments on her fans' accounts and personally respond to the messages that were sent to her.^[63] This was, at the time, "revolutionary in country music".^[64]^[57] Borchetta has said that his decision to sign a sixteen year old singer-songwriter initially raised eyebrows among his record industry peers^[57] but Swift tapped into a previously unknown market: teenage girls who listen to country music.^[1]^[57]

Following "Tim McGraw", four further singles were released throughout 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No". All were highly successful on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, with "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" both reaching number one. "Our Song" made Swift the youngest sole writer and singer of a number one country song.^[65] "Teardrops on My Guitar" became a minor pop hit; it reached number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100.^[66]^[67] The album sold 39,000 copies during its first week^[68] and, as of March 2011, has sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide.^[69] Swift also released a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, in October 2007 and an EP, Beautiful Eyes, in July 2008.^[70]^[71]

Swift toured extensively in support of Taylor Swift. In addition to festival and theater dates, Swift performed as an opening act for several country artists' concert tours. She opened for Rascal Flatts on several dates in late 2006.^[59]^[72] In 2007, she served as the opening act on twenty dates for George Strait's 2007 United States tour,^[73] several dates on Kenny Chesney's tour^[74] and selected dates on Brad Paisley's Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour.^[75]^[76] Also in 2007, Swift appeared as the opening act on several dates for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's joint Soul2Soul II Tour.^[77] Swift again opened for Flatts for their Still Feels Good Tour in 2008.^[78] In addition to performing her own material, Swift played covers of songs by Beyoncé and Rihanna.^[79] She conducted meet-and-greet sessions with fans before and after her concerts; these lasted for up to four hours.^[80]^[81]

In 2007, Swift and Alan Jackson were jointly named the Nashville Songwriters Association's "Songwriter/Artists of the Year". Swift was the youngest person ever to be honored with the title.^[82] She also won the Country Music Association’s Horizon Award for Best New Artist.^[83] In 2008, she won Top New Female Vocalist at the Academy of Country Music Awards^[84] and Favorite Country Female Artist at the American Music Awards.^[85] She won seven BMI Awards for songs featured on Taylor Swift.^[86] Swift was also nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse.^[87]

[edit] 2008–10: Fearless release, MTV VMA incident and media backlash

Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released in November 2008.^[88] She wrote seven of the album's songs alone, including two singles, and co-wrote the remaining six with songwriters Liz Rose, John Rich, Colbie Caillat and Hillary Lindsey.^[49] While Swift wrote many of the songs on tour, she made a conscious effort not to include "road songs": "As a 16-year-old girl, I could never relate to those songs about playing a different city every night. I want to write about feelings and love and the lack of love".^[89] She has said that the album title "means you’re afraid of a lot of things, but you jump anyway".^[90] She co-produced the album with Nathan Chapman.^[49] Musically, the record is characterized by "loud, lean guitars and rousing choruses", with the occasional "bit of fiddle and banjo tucked into the mix".^[91]

Swift performing at the 2010 Cavendish Beach Music Festival in Canada

Fearless received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[92] The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".^[93] The Village Voice felt she displayed "preternatural wisdom and inclusiveness", "masterfully avoiding the typical diarist's pitfalls of trite banality and pseudo-profound bullshit".^[94] Rolling Stone described her as "a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture" whose "squirmingly intimate and true" songs seemed to be "literally ripped from a suburban girl's diary".^[95] USA Today found it "a pleasure to hear a gifted teenager who sounds like a gifted teenager, rather than a mouthpiece for a bunch of older pros' collective notion of adolescent yearning."^[96] The New Yorker described it as an album "without a bad track", adding that "the album’s finest effort, "Fifteen", will feature in yearbook quotes for years".^[97] Entertainment Weekly noted that the album would appeal mainly to young girls – "she sounds like a real teen, not some manufactured vixen-Lolita" – but predicted it would be "exciting to watch her precocious talent grow".^[98] Music critic Robert Christgau described Swift as "an uncommonly-to-impossibly strong and gifted teenage girl".^[99]

Swift promoted Fearless heavily upon its release. An episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show was dedicated to the album launch^[57] and Swift appeared on many other chat shows.^[100] She communicated with fans using social media platforms such as twitter and personal video blogs.^[57] In October 2008, she appeared at the CMT Giants: Alan Jackson event, performing a cover of Jackson's "Drive (For Daddy Gene)".^[101] In November 2008, Swift took part in a joint, televised concert with rock band Def Leppard in Nashville.^[102]^[103] She performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards in February 2009.^[104] In April 2009, she performed a cover of George Strait's "Run" at a televised ACM event honoring Strait as Artist of the Decade.^[105] Swift hosted and appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live in November 2009.^[106] The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released in September 2008 and became the second best-selling country single of all time, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[67]^[107] Four more singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". "You Belong with Me" was the album's highest-charting single, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.^[108] The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with sales of 592,304 and has since sold over 8.6 million copies worldwide.^[109]^[110] It was the top-selling album of 2009 and brought Swift much crossover success.^[111]

Swift carried out her first headlining tour from April 2009 to June 2010. As part of the 105-date Fearless Tour, Swift played 90 dates in North America, six dates in Europe, eight dates in Australia and one date in Asia.^[112] The stage show included multiple costume changes, dancers and a fairy-tale castle set.^[113] She sang a cover of Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around... Comes Around" nightly, intertwined with her own "You're Not Sorry".^[114] Swift invited John Mayer, Faith Hill and Katy Perry to perform one-off duets with her at various dates during the North American tour.^[115]^[116]^[117] Justin Bieber, Kelly Pickler and Gloriana were the support acts.^[118] The tour was attended by more than 1.1 million fans and has grossed over $63 million.^[119] Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless, a concert film, was aired on television and later released on DVD and Blu-ray.^[120] Also in 2009, Swift performed as a supporting act for Keith Urban.^[121]

File:Kanye-West-grabs-the-mic-2009-vma.jpg

Kanye West taking the microphone from Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009

In September 2009, Swift became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award when "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video.^[122] Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West, who had been involved in a number of other award show incidents.^[123] West declared Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated in the same category, to be "one of the best videos of all time." Many audience members booed West,^[124]^[125] prompting him to flip off the crowd.^[126]^[124] He then handed the microphone back to a speechless Swift.^[124]^[127] Backstage, Swift was seen "hysterically crying".^[124] According to Rolling Stone, when Swift's mother confronted West, he gave "a half-hearted apology in which he added he still thought Beyoncé's video was superior".^[128] West was removed from the event.^[124]^[126]^[129] When Beyoncé later won the award for Video of the Year, she invited Swift onstage to finish her speech.^[124]^[130] In the event's press room, Swift, who in 2008 had expressed a desire to sing a hook on a Kanye West rap song,^[131] was asked if she had "any hard feelings" towards West: "I don’t know him, and I’ve never met him, so... I don’t want to start anything because I had a great night tonight."^[128]^[132]

The incident received much media attention and inspired many Internet memes.^[133] President Barack Obama, in an "off the record" comment, called West a "jackass".^[134] Former US President Jimmy Carter said West's interruption was "completely uncalled for".^[135] West's behavior was criticized by celebrities, including Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Lady Gaga.^[126]^[136]^[137]^[128] The following day, West apologized for his verbal outburst both in a blog entry and during an appearance on The Jay Leno Show.^[124]^[125] He maintained that, while Swift was "very talented", "Beyoncé's video was the best of this decade!!!! ... I gave my awards to Outkast when they deserved it over me ... I'm not crazy y'all, I'm just real."^[138] Two days after the VMAs, Swift told an interviewer that West had not spoken to her since the ceremony.^[139] West then contacted her to offer a personal apology, which Swift accepted: "Kanye did call me, and he was very sincere in his apology."^[122]^[139] It has been said that the incident and subsequent media attention turned Swift into "a bona-fide mainstream celebrity".^[140]

Swift released a cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl", exclusively through Rhapsody in June 2009^[141] and continues to make her stage entrance to Petty's recording of the song.^[142] Swift contributed backing vocals to John Mayer's "Half of My Heart", featured on his fourth album, in November 2009.^[143] Mayer wrote the song as a tribute to Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac: "I thought, 'Well, if this is going to be my love letter to that style of music, who's going to be the Stevie Nicks in this equation?' And I thought, 'This Taylor Swift girl is going to be around for a long time."^[144] The song received positive reviews from music critics.^[145]^[146]^[147] Swift and Mayer performed the song live at Madison Square Garden, New York in December 2009.^[148] It was released as the album's third single in June 2010 and peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[149] Swift collaborated with a number of other artists in 2008 and 2009. She co-wrote and recorded "Best Days of Your Life" with Kelly Pickler.^[150] She co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack – "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier" – with Martin Johnson and Robert Ellis Orrall, respectively.^[151] Swift also provided vocals for Boys Like Girls's "Two Is Better Than One", written by Martin Johnson.^[152]^[153]^[154]^[155] In January 2010, Swift contributed two songs – including "Today Was a Fairytale" – to the Valentine's Day soundtrack^[156] and recorded a cover of Better Than Ezra's "Breathless" for the Hope for Haiti Now album.^[157]

Swift at the 2010 Time 100 Gala, where she was honored

In November 2009, Swift became the youngest ever artist, and one of only six women, to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.^[158] Fearless also won the Association's Album of the Year award.^[158] The album won many other accolades and has become the most awarded album in country music history.^[159] Swift was the youngest ever artist to win the Academy of Country Music's Album of the Year honor.^[160] The American Music Awards honored Swift with Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album plaudits.^[161] She was awarded the Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame^[162] and was named Songwriter/Artists of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association.^[163] She won four BMI Awards.^[164] Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year.^[165] Swift was included in Time's annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2010.^[166]

In January 2010, Swift won four Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Best Country Album, Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song, from a total of eight nominations.^[167]^[168] She was the youngest ever artist to win Album of the Year.^[169] During the ceremony, Swift sang "Rhiannon" and "You Belong with Me" with Stevie Nicks. Her vocal performance received negative reviews and sparked a widespread media backlash.^[140]^[170] Her vocals were described variously as "badly off-key", "strikingly bad" and "incredibly wretched".^[171]^[172] While The New York Times found it "refreshing to see someone so gifted make the occasional flub" and described Swift as "the most important new pop star of the past few years",^[169] music critic Bob Lefsetz predicted that her career would end "overnight".^[173]^[174] In April 2010, Stevie Nicks, writing in Time, defended the singer: "Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and her childlike nature. It's an innocence that's so special and so rare. This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John ... The female rock-'n'-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it's women like her who are going to save the music business."^[166]

[edit] 2010–12: Speak Now release, 13-month world tour and collaborations

Swift released her third studio album, Speak Now, in October 2010.^[175] She wrote all twelve songs alone: "I'd get my best ideas at 3 a.m. in Arkansas and I didn't have a co-writer around."^[176] Album recording sessions took place in California, Tennessee and Kentucky over a two year period.^[177]^[178] Swift, who co-produced the record with longtime collaborator Nathan Chapman,^[179] has described it as "a collection of confessions—things I wish I had said when I was in the moment".^[180] She originally intended to call the album Enchanted but Scott Borchetta, her record label's CEO, felt the title did not reflect the album's more adult themes: "She had played me a bunch of the new songs. I looked at her and I'm like, 'Taylor, this record isn't about fairy tales and high school anymore. That's not where you're at'".^[181] Musically, it has been said that the album "expands beyond country-pop to border both alternative rock and dirty bubblegum pop".^[182]

Speak Now received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[183] USA Today felt that Swift's songwriting skills would remind listeners "what all the fuss was about in the first place", with the album capturing "the sweet ache of becoming an adult".^[184] The Los Angeles Times praised her ability as a songwriter to "hit on common experiences that feel unique".^[182] The New York Times described the album as savage, musically diverse and "excellent too, possibly her best".^[179] The Village Voice found that the album demanded "a true appreciation of Swift's talent, which is not confessional, but dramatic: Like a procession of country songwriters before her, she creates characters and situations—some from life—and finds potent ways to describe them."^[185] Entertainment Weekly noted that while love may confound her, "the art of expert songcraft clearly doesn't".^[186] Music critic John Christgau found the album's songs "overlong and overworked" but remarked that "they evince an effort that bears a remarkable resemblance to care—that is, to caring in the best, broadest, and most emotional sense".^[99] Rolling Stone described Swift as one of the best songwriters in "pop, rock or country": "Swift might be a clever Nashville pro who knows all the hitmaking tricks, but she's also a high-strung, hyper-romantic gal with a melodramatic streak the size of the Atchafalaya Swamp".^[187]

Swift performing during the Speak Now World Tour in July 2011

Swift carried out an extensive promotional campaign prior to Speak Now's release.^[188] She appeared on various talk shows and morning shows, and gave free mini-concerts in unusual locations, including an open-decker bus on Hollywood Boulevard and a departure lounge at JFK airport.^[189]^[190] She took part in a "guitar pull" alongside Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill and Lionel Ritchie at LA's Club Nokia; the musicians shared the stage and took turns introducing and playing acoutic versions of their songs to raise money for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.^[191]^[192] The album's lead single, "Mine", was released in August 2010 and five further singles were released throughout 2010 and 2011: "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly" and "Ours".^[193] Speak Now was a major commercial success, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. Its sales of 1,047,000 copies made it the sixteenth album in United States history to sell one million copies in a single week.^[194] As of February 2012, Speak Now has sold over four million copies in the US^[195] and over 5.7 million copies worldwide.^[196]^[197] In her career, as of May 2012, Swift has sold over 22 million albums^[198] and 50 million digital tracks worldwide.^[199]

In September 2010, Kanye West's 2009 VMA interruption once again became newsworthy when West used his twitter account to apologize to Swift, referring to her as "just a lil girl with dreams like the rest of us": ""I wrote a song for Taylor Swift that's so beautiful and I want her to have it. If she won't take it then I'll perform it for her." Later that month, both artists performed at the 2010 VMAs. Swift sang "Innocent", a song widely believed to be about West, which The Washington Post has described as "a small masterpiece of passive aggressiveness, a vivisection dressed up as a peace offering".^[200] Music critics found Swift's performance overly serious and "petty".^[201]^[202] Speaking in November 2010, West said he failed to see what was "so arrogant about that moment" and described his actions as "selfless". He added that "if it was the other way around" and Swift were an established artist who had "made the video of her career, do you think she would have lost to a brand new artist? Hell no!"^[203]^[204] Also that month, he claimed that, "If I wasn't drunk, I would have been on stage longer ... Taylor never came to my defense at any interview. And rode the waves and rode it and rode it".^[205]^[206] At the Costume Institute Gala in May 2011, Swift and West came face-to-face on the red carpet. West was observed to hold "a hand out, and the two exchanged a studiedly casual, “down low” high five".^[1]

Swift toured throughout 2011 and early 2012 in support of Speak Now. As part of the thirteen-month, 111-date world tour, Swift played seven shows in Asia, twelve shows in Europe, 80 shows in North America and twelve shows in Australasia.^[207] Three dates on the US tour were rescheduled after Swift fell ill with bronchitis.^[208] The stage show was inspired by Broadway musical theatre, with choreographed routines, elaborate set-pieces, pyrotechnics and numerous costume changes.^[209]^[210] Swift invited many musicians to join her for one-off duets during the North American tour. Appearances were made by James Taylor, Jason Mraz, Shawn Colvin, Johnny Rzeznik, Andy Grammer, Tal Bachman, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Nicki Minaj, Nelly, B.o.B., Usher, Flo Rida, T.I., Jon Foreman, Jim Adkins, Hayley Williams, Hot Chelle Rae, Ronnie Dunn, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.^[211]^[212] The tour was attended by over 1.6 million fans and has grossed over $123 million, becoming one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time.^[207] Swift's first live album, Speak Now World Tour: Live, featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of the tour, was released in November 2011.^[213]

Swift speaking during a Youtube interview in September 2011

During the North American and Australasian tour legs, Swift wrote different song lyrics on her left arm for each performance. She has said that the lyrics should be viewed as a nightly "mood ring"^[214] and The New Yorker has cited the practice as an example of Swift's "keen understanding of what fuels fan obsession in the first place: a desire for intimacy between singer and listener".^[1] Artists quoted include Tom Petty, Carole King, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, Band of Horses, Jimmy Eat World, Death Cab For Cutie, Alanis Morrissette, Rachael Yamagata, Erin McCarley, Mindy Smith and Martina McBride.^[215]^[216] Swift also performed many acoustic cover versions during her North American tour. In each city, she paid tribute to a homegrown artist.^[217] She has said the cover versions allowed her to be "spontaneous" in an otherwise well-rehearsed show: "You'll have a lot of people who will come to more than one show, and I want them to get a different experience every time."^[218] Artists covered include Justin Timberlake, Tori Amos, TLC, Pink, Fall Out Boy, Dave Matthews Band, Michelle Branch, Jordin Sparks, Maroon 5, Train, John Mellencamp, Kim Carnes, Avril Lavigne, The Jackson 5, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Gwen Stefani, All American Rejects, Britney Spears and Eminem.^[219]

At the 54th Grammy Awards in February 2012, Swift's song "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.^[220] She also performed "Mean" during the ceremony. The song is believed to be a rebuttal to Bob Lefsetz, one of the most vocal critics of her 2010 Grammy performance.^[174] Lefsetz had previously been a supporter of the singer's career,^[221] and Swift and Lefsetz had corresponded occasionally by email and telephone.^[174] Time felt she "delivered her comeback on-key and with a vengeance"^[222] while USA Today remarked that the criticism in 2010 seemed to have "made her a better songwriter and live performer".^[223]

Swift was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association in both 2010 and 2011. During the 2011 ceremony, she played an acoustic version of "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" in honor of Alan Jackson, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee,^[224] who later thanked Swift in his speech for "the prettiest version I've ever heard".^[225] Swift won various other awards for Speak Now. She was named Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music in both 2011 and 2012^[226] and was named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association in 2011.^[227] Swift was the American Music Awards's Artist of the Year in 2011, and Speak Now was named Favorite Country Album.^[228] She was also the recipient of two BMI Awards.^[229] Billboard named Swift 2011's Woman of the Year.^[230] Also that year, Billboard ranked her at number 15 in a list of the Top 20 Hot 100 Songwriters 2000–2011; she was the second highest ranking woman.^[231] Swift was ranked second on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade.^[232]

Swift contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album in March 2012. "Safe & Sound" was co-written and recorded with The Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett.^[233] John Paul White has said working with Swift was "a revelation. She had some great ideas. We had complete freedom. It truly was a collaboration. We brought the melancholy and the darker angle. Taylor was bringing the melody and the chords."^[234] Rolling Stone described the song as "Swift's prettiest ballad" and wondered whether the alt-country folk song was "a one-off novelty, a trial balloon cred-move, or the stirrings of a "grown-up" style".^[235] Swift and The Civil Wars debuted a live version of the song at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville in January 2012.^[236] It was released as the album's lead single and, as of April 2012, has sold 970,000 copies in the United States.^[237] Swift's second contribution to the album, "Eyes Open", was written solely by the singer and produced by Nathan Chapman.^[238] In May 2012, Swift contributed vocals to "Both of Us", a Dr. Luke-produced song on B.o.B's second album Strange Clouds.^[239]^[240]^[241]^[242]

2012–present: Untitled fourth studio album [link]

Swift is currently working on her fourth album with producer Nathan Chapman.^[243]^[244] It is scheduled for release in the fall of 2012.^[245] Swift intends to keep writing and recording throughout 2012 "because I'm having so much fun".^[246] After writing her third album alone, Swift is now collaborating with people "from all different places in music",^[246] including songwriters Lori McKenna,^[247]^[248] Butch Walker,^[249]^[250] Ed Sheeran,^[251] and Dan Wilson.^[252] The album will detail "the rise and fall of a relationship",^[253] as well as the resulting "absolute crash-and-burn heartbreak".^[254] She has described the album's mood as "sad, if I'm being honest."^[255]

Artistry [link]

Songwriting style [link]

Swift has said she writes songs as an "open letter".^[256] She has said songwriting is "is a way of verbalizing those things that I feel that I can’t say".^[47] Swift has said she is "very interested in any writing from a child's perspective" and has cited To Kill a Mockingbird as one of her favorite books.^[257] Neil Young has described Swift as "a great writer" and follows her career.^[258]^[259] Kris Kristofferson has said that "she blows me away. It's amazing to me that someone so young is writing such great songs. She's got a great career ahead of her".^[260]^[261] Dolly Parton has said her songs are "great" and that she has "the qualities that could last a long time".^[262] Stevie Nicks has said Swift writes "songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John".^[166]

Vocal abilities [link]

In studio recordings, the Los Angeles Times identifies Swift's "defining" vocal gesture as "the line that slides down like a contented sigh or up like a raised eyebrow, giving her beloved girl-time hits their air of easy intimacy".^[182] In a review of Speak Now, The Village Voice noted that her phrasing was previously "bland and muddled, but that's changed. She can still sound strained and thin, and often strays into a pitch that drives some people crazy; but she's learned how to make words sound like what they mean".^[185] Slate, reviewing Speak Now, described Swift as "a technically poor singer": "Though she does vary her phrasing in ways that attempt to mask her limited voice (the way she sneers, "She looks at me like I'm a trend/And she's so over it," on "Better Than Revenge" is especially effective), Swift is still noticeably off-pitch at least once on every song on the album".^[263]

In an interview with The New Yorker, Swift characterized herself primarily as a songwriter: “I write songs, and my voice is just a way to get those lyrics across”.^[1] "I'm not trying to go out there and do vocal acrobatics. I'm just trying to write good songs".^[264] However, her vocal presence is something that concerns her and she has "put a lot of work" into improving it.^[265] She has said that she only feels nervous performing "if I'm not sure what the audience thinks of me, like at award shows".^[266]

Public image [link]

Swift has been described as "America's sweetheart" and "a role model".^[267]^[268] The singer considers it her "responsibility" to be conscious of her influence on young fans.^[269] However, she insists that "I don't live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free".^[270] Swift does not drink alcohol because she worries that "I might come off in a way that I can't control. Maybe I should just lighten up!" "It's not like I judge people who [drink] or that I don't hang out with people who drink".^[270] She refuses to take part in overly sexualised photo-shoots.^[9] The lyrical content of her songs is regarded as appropriate for young audiences. A New Yorker journalist who attended a Swift concert recounted watching "sixteen-year-old girls holding hands and swaying, and a girl in a hijab sobbing as she sang the words. It was hard not to be a little moved, and not to feel relieved that the words being sung were, more or less, safe ... One can attend a concert by Katy Perry and listen to a stadium full of thirteen-year-olds chant along with the song “Peacock” which goes, “I want to see your peacock-cock-cock! Your peacock-cock!"^[1]

A Rolling Stone journalist who profiled Swift in 2009 remarked upon her polite manners: "If this is Swift's game face, it must be tattooed on because it never drops".^[271] A 2012 Vogue cover story described Swift as "clever and funny and occasionally downright bawdy" in person, but noted that she "asks if her cursing can be off the record".^[272] Grantland.com describes Swift as "talkative and openly neurotic in a way you'd never see from a blonde country princess like Faith Hill or Carrie Underwood. She is more like Diane Keaton in Annie Hall: overly gracious and eager to please but full of a nonstop, nervous, fluttering energy".^[273]

There has been much media commentary about Swift's reactions when she is recognized at award ceremonies.^[274] In 2011, The Hollywood Reporter remarked that she "seems to be consistently shocked and wonderstruck by each awards win, despite racking up an ever-growing collection of Grammys, CMAs, MTV Moonmen and AMAs".^[275] Kristen Wiig parodied Swift's surprised facial expressions during a Saturday Night Live sketch in February 2012.^[276] Swift later said she had seen the sketch: “I was laughing the entire time and then I realized that, as I was watching it, I was making the face she was making”.^[277] At the Academy of Country Music Awards in April 2012, the ceremony's host Blake Shelton joked in his opening monologue that Swift should release a perfume called "I can't believe I smell this good". When Swift later presented Shelton with the Academy's Best Male Vocalist award, "the two faced off, showing each other their ultra-surprised looks".^[278]^[279]

Feminist discussion [link]

Swift at the premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie, April 2009

The merits of Swift as a feminist have been widely discussed.^[280] She has been described by Jezebel as "a feminist's nightmare": "Her image of being good and pure plays right into how much the patriarchy fetishizes virginity, loves purity, and celebrates women who know their place as delicate flowers".^[281] However, a Village Voice music critic dismissed this criticism as "shallow and gross, in that special way that things get gross when you cram shaded and living work through an ideological sieve like you're mechanically separating chicken".^[282] He continued: "Criticisms include: She's a conformist stooge of the patriarchy (she's now had two hits about defying fathers); she idolizes chastity (she's coy about sex, but only the willful could miss the fucking in the new "Sparks Fly," which includes the line "Gimme something that'll haunt me when you're not around"); and she sells girls corrupt and shallow fairy-tale notions of romance (one of the two fairy-tale songs on Fearless mocked a guy for trying to white-knight her, and the only mention of such things on Speak Now is "I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you"—note the tense)."^[282]

The song Fifteen has been the subject of particular scrutiny. It has been said that the song contains a "feminist message" in the lyrics "Back then I swore I was gonna marry him some day, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine” and "In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team".^[283] Feminist critics claim the use of the word "everything" in the lyric "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy, who changed his mind, and we both cried" is a reference to virginity: "Songs like "Fifteen" dig up the ancient Puritan ideal that girls can only access power by confidently and heterosexually denying access to their pants."^[284] However, others interpret "everything" as trust: "Abigail trusted and opened up to a boy for the first time, only to be let down. Maybe that includes sex, maybe it doesn’t."^[283]

When asked by The New York Times in 2010 whether she considered herself a feminist, Swift replied, "I have never really thought about that".^[285] In December 2011, Billboard's Tom Roland asked Swift whether the marginalization of women in country music, prevalent in the 1950s, was still an issue: "I was fortunate enough to come about in a time when I didn't feel that kind of energy at all, and it was always my theory that if you want to play in the same ballgame as the boys, you've got to work as hard as them. I was always playing just as many shows as they were and playing on the same shows as they were. I was willing to pay my dues as an opening act, playing in clubs and bars and playing in tiny venues. The new male artists were doing the same thing, so I never saw an issue there."^[286]

Philanthropy [link]

Arts education [link]

In September 2010, Swift donated $75,000 to Nashville's Hendersonville High School to help refurbish the school auditorium's sound and lighting systems.^[287] In May 2012, she pledged $4 million to fund a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. The two-storey, 7,500-square foot space will have its own exterior entrance and museum officials have decided to name it The Taylor Swift Education Center.^[288] It will feature three classrooms and a children's exhibit gallery, and will house interactive activities such as a musical petting zoo and a “wet” classroom space to make concert posters and other art projects. New programs and workshops for teenagers and senior citizens will also be accommodated within the space. The Center is scheduled to open in early 2014 and Swift will be involved in an advisory capacity.^[289]

Children's literacy [link]

In December 2009, Swift donated $250,000 to various schools around the country that she had either attended or had other associations with. The money was used to buy books, fund educational programs and pay teachers' salaries.^[290] In October 2010, she took part in a live webcast, Read Now! with Taylor Swift, broadcast exclusively in US schools to celebrate Scholastic's Read Every Day campaign.^[291]^[292] In October 2011, Swift donated 6,000 Scholastic books to Reading Public Library, Pennsylvania^[293] and, in February 2012, she donated 14,000 books to Nashville Public Library, Tennessee.^[294] Most of the books were placed in circulation; the rest were gifted to children from low-income families, preschools and daycare centers.^[294] In March 2012, she co-chaired the National Education Association's Read Across America campaign and recorded a PSA encouraging children to read.^[295]^[296]

Natural disaster funds [link]

In June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to the Red Cross's disaster relief fund.^[297] Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008.^[298] Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert,^[299] reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross.^[300]

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.^[301] In August 2010, she donated $100,000 to help rebuild a playground in Hendersonville, Tennessee, which was damaged by floodwater.^[302] In May 2011, Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region, raising more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show.^[303] The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards.^[304] In July 2011, Swift further aided the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.^[305] In April 2012, Swift donated $1,500 to a fund to help a man left permanently paralyzed by the tornado to make his house wheelchair-accessible.^[306]

Other charitable endeavors [link]

In September 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police.^[307] In January 2008, Swift donated a pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the Victory Junction Gang Camp.^[308] Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly".^[309] Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund.^[310] She appeared in a Got Milk campaign in July 2010.^[311]

Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org.^[312] In November 2009, after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night, she donated $20,000 to the cause.^[313] Swift donated a pair of her shoes to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer. In June 2011, as the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year, Swift donated $25,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Tennessee. This figure was matched by the Academy.^[314]

Other work [link]

Acting [link]

Swift made her acting debut in a 2009 episode of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing a rebellious teenager.^[315] The New York Times noted that the character allowed Swift to be "a little bit naughty, and credibly so".^[316] Rolling Stone felt she "held her own" and "does a good job with the script"^[317] while the Chicago Tribune said she "acquits herself well".^[318] Later that year, Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for an episode of Saturday Night Live.^[319] Entertainment Weekly described her as "this season’s best Saturday Night Live host so far", noting that she "was always up for the challenge, seemed to be having fun, and helped the rest of the cast nail the punchlines". Proving "admirably resilient in a wide variety of sketch roles", "Swift inspired more of a female, girly-in-the-best-sense sensibility in SNL than it’s shown since the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler days".^[320]

In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day and won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout.^[321] In 2012, she voiced the character of Audrey in the animated film The Lorax.^[322] Swift is in talks to star as Joni Mitchell in the film adaptation of Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us, which follows the careers of Mitchell, Carly Simon and Carole King.^[323]

Product endorsements [link]

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008.^[324] Swift was the face of L.E.I. jeans in 2008.^[325] In 2007, Swift launched a line of sundresses at Wal-Mart.^[326]^[327] In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson and appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.^[328] In 2011, Swift partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, "Wonderstruck".^[329] Swift works with American Greetings, Inc.^[330] She also has endorsement deals with companies including Target, CoverGirl and Sony.^[331]

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest.^[332] Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed.^[333]^[334]^[335]

Personal life [link]

Swift's main residence is a duplex penthouse in Midtown Nashville, Tennessee.^[336]^[1] She also owns a house in Beverly Hills, California.^[337]^[338] According to Forbes, Swift earned $18 million in 2009,^[339] $45 million in 2010,^[340] $45 million in 2011^[341] and $57 million so far in 2012.^[342]

Relationships [link]

Swift writes autobiographical songs and has said that, "I've never been shy or secretive with the fact that if you walk into my life, you may be walking onto a record".^[343] Listening to music as a child, Swift felt confused "when I knew something was going on in someone’s personal life and they didn’t address it in their music".^[344]

Swift dated singer Joe Jonas from July to October 2008.^[345]^[346] She dated actor Taylor Lautner from October to December 2009.^[347]^[348] She was romantically linked to musician John Mayer from late 2009 until June 2010.^[349]^[350] They first met in 2008 and recorded a duet, "Half of My Heart", in late 2009.^[351]^[352] Swift dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal from October 2010 to December 2010.^[353]^[354]^[355]^[356]^[357] On December 9, 2011, Gyllenhaal called the LAPD for assistance, after a large number of photographers followed the couple's car in Los Angeles.^[358] Following their break-up, they were seen together in January and February 2011.^[359]^[360]

Politics [link]

On her eighteenth birthday, "the first thing" Swift did was register to vote.^[361]^[362] After casting her vote in the 2008 US presidential election, Swift declined to inform journalists which candidate she had supported.^[363] However, following Barack Obama's inauguration, she told Rolling Stone: "I've never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive. I'm so glad this was my first election."^[364] In 2009, after Swift's MTV VMA acceptance speech was interrupted by Kanye West, President Obama described West's behaviour as "really inappropriate. The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What is he doing up there? He’s a jackass."^[365] Former US President Jimmy Carter said West's interruption was "completely uncalled for".^[366]

In 2010, former U.S. President George H. W. Bush attended the taping of a Swift television special in Kennebunkport, Maine,^[367] and later described Swift as "unspoiled" and "very nice".^[368] In 2012, Swift was presented with a Kids' Choice Award in recognition of her charitable work by Michelle Obama, who praised her as someone who "has rocketed to the top of the music industry but still keeps her feet on the ground, someone who has shattered every expectation of what a 22-year old can accomplish".^[369] Swift later described the First Lady as "a role model".^[370]

Swift is an admirer of the Kennedy family and has spent time with Rory, Caroline and, particularly, Ethel Kennedy.^[371] When asked about her friendship with Swift, Ethel replied, "Oh, she is amazing! Such good company."^[372] Rory has said, "There is a mutual admiration society between my mother and Taylor Swift and I just love it! I think it says so much about Taylor – she has that ability to connect and cross generations ... She's terrific and such a great role model for young girls, as well as for all women, really. ... She's just so curious and interested".^[372] In January 2012, Swift travelled to Utah to attend the Sundance premiere of the HBO documentary Ethel.^[373]

In a 2012 interview, Swift remarked that she was "very cautious" about using her public profile to address political issues, adding that she hoped to "gradually" become more outspoken: "I don't feel that I am in a place to sing about politics or anything like that. I don't know enough at this point".^[374]

Filmography [link]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience	Herself	Cameo
2009	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Haley Jones	Episode: "Turn, Turn, Turn"
2009	Hannah Montana: The Movie	Herself	Cameo
2009	Saturday Night Live	Host	Also appeared as the Musical Guest
2010	Valentine's Day	Felicia	Movie acting debut
2012	Lorax, TheThe Lorax	Audrey	Voice only

Discography [link]

Main article: Taylor Swift discography

Taylor Swift (2006)
Fearless (2008)
Speak Now (2010)
Untitled Fourth Studio Album (Fall 2012)

Tours [link]

Fearless Tour (2009–10)
Speak Now World Tour (2011–12)

Awards and nominations [link]

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Taylor Swift

Swift has won 109 awards from a total of 162 nominations. She has been the recipient of ten American Music Awards, six Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, six Academy of Country Music Awards and 13 BMI Awards.

References [link]

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^ "Taylor Swift's father is a Blue Hen". Udel.edu. September 23, 2009. http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2010/sep/swift092309.html. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
^ Fitzmaurice, Sarah (August 27, 2011). "Taylor Swift buys parents $2.5m Nashville mansion". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2030765/Taylor-Swift-buys-parents-2-5m-Nashville-mansion.html. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
^ ^a ^b Cutter, Kimberly (June 2, 2010). "Taylor Swift's Rise to America's Sweetheart". Marie Claire. p. 2. http://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity-lifestyle/celebrities/taylor-swift-quotes-2. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
^ Murray, Nick (November 23, 2011). "Live: Taylor Swift Brings Selena Gomez And James Taylor To Madison Square Garden". The Village Voice. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/11/taylor_swift_madison_square_garden_november_22_review.php. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
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^ ^a ^b Nisha Lilia Diu (April 3, 2011). "Taylor Swift: 'I won't do sexy shoots'". Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/8421110/Taylor-Swift-I-wont-do-sexy-shoots.html. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
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^ "Taylor Swift: A Date with Grammy?". EW.com. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20175197_2,00.html. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
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^ "Songwriter Taylor Swift Signs Publishing Deal With Sony/ATV | News". BMI.com. May 12, 2005. http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/234444. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
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^ "Jimmy Carter weighs in on Kanye West's VMA stunt". Atlanta, Georgia: CNN. September 17, 2009. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/17/carter.kanye.west/index.html. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
^ A.J. Jacobs (August 28, 2010). "Taylor Swift premieres new song Mine and has an unlikely fan... former U.S. President George H.W. Bush | Mail Online". Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1306922/Taylor-Swift-premieres-new-song-Mine-unlikely-fan--U-S-President-George-H-W-Bush.html. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
^ "George H.W. Bush Jimmy Carter Quotes – George Bush on Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush". Esquire. 2010-12-15. http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/meaning-of-life-2011/george-hw-bush-quotes-0111-2. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
^ Moss, Hilary. "Michelle Obama Honors Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift ‘So Honored’ – The Cut". New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2012/04/michelle-obama-honors-taylor-swift.html. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
^ Pacella, Megan (April 15, 2012). "Taylor Swift Reflects on Meeting First Lady Michelle Obama". Taste of Country. http://tasteofcountry.com/taylor-swift-michelle-obama/. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
^ Van Meter, Jonathan (January 14, 2012). "Taylor Swift: The Single Life – Magazine". Vogue. p. 6. http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/taylor-swift-the-single-life/#6. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
^ ^a ^b CELEBScom (January 31, 2012). "Ethel & Rory Kennedy talk Taylor Swift and "Ethel" at the Celebs.com Studio at Sundance". YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dmmm5vkS18. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
^ "Taylor Swift Wrote a Song About the Kennedys – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. January 23, 2012. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/01/taylor-swift-wrote-a-song-about-the-kennedys/. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
^ Harper's Bazaar Australia, April 2012

External links [link]

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Awards
Preceded by Carrie Underwood	Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance 2010	Succeeded by Miranda Lambert
Preceded by N/A	Grammy Award for Best Country Solo Performance 2012	Succeeded by incumbent
Preceded by Miranda Lambert	Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist 2008	Succeeded by Julianne Hough
Preceded by Carrie Underwood	Academy of Country Music Award for Entertainer of the Year 2011–2012	Succeeded by incumbent
Preceded by Carrie Underwood	Country Music Association Award for Horizon Award 2007	Succeeded by N/A
Preceded by Carrie Underwood	Country Music Association Award for Female Vocalist of the Year 2009	Succeeded by Miranda Lambert
Preceded by Kenny Chesney	Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the Year 2009	Succeeded by Brad Paisley
Preceded by Brad Paisley	Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the Year 2011	Succeeded by incumbent
Preceded by Rihanna	American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist 2009	Succeeded by Lady GaGa
Preceded by Carrie Underwood	American Music Award for Favorite Country Female Artist 2008–2011	Succeeded by incumbent
Preceded by Chris Brown	American Music Award for Artist of the Year 2009	Succeeded by Justin Bieber
Preceded by Justin Bieber	American Music Award for Artist of the Year 2011	Succeeded by incumbent

v t e Taylor Swift

Discography Awards and nominations

Studio albums	Taylor Swift Fearless Speak Now

Extended plays	Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection Beautiful Eyes

Live albums	Speak Now World Tour Live

Filmography	Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience Hannah Montana: The Movie Valentine's Day The Lorax

Television	Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless Taylor Swift and Def Leppard

Concert tours	Fearless Tour Speak Now World Tour

Principal collaborators	Nathan Chapman Liz Rose

Related articles	Big Machine Records 2009 MTV Video Music Awards controversy "Best Days of Your Life" "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home"

Book

v t e Taylor Swift singles

Discography Awards and nominations

Taylor Swift	"Tim McGraw" "Teardrops on My Guitar" "Our Song" "Picture to Burn" "Should've Said No"

Fearless	"Love Story" "White Horse" "You Belong with Me" "Fifteen" "Fearless"

Speak Now	"Mine" "Back to December" "Mean" "The Story of Us" "Sparks Fly" "Ours"

Featured singles	"Two Is Better Than One" "Half of My Heart" "Both of Us"

Soundtrack singles	"Eyes Open"

Promotional singles	"Change" "Breathe" "You're Not Sorry" "Crazier" "Today Was a Fairytale" "Speak Now" "If This Was a Movie" "Superman" "Safe & Sound"

Grammy Award for Album of the Year (2010s)

Fearless performed by Taylor Swift; Colbie Caillat, featured artist; Nathan Chapman & Taylor Swift, producers; Chad Carlson, Nathan Chapman & Justin Neibank, engineers/mixers; Hank Williams, mastering engineer (2010)	The Suburbs performed by Arcade Fire (William Butler, Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Jeremy Gara, Timothy Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry); Arcade Fire & Markus Dravs, producers; Arcade Fire, Markus Dravs, Mark Lawson & Craig Silvey, engineers/mixers; George Marino, mastering engineer (2011)
21 performed by Adele; Jim Abbiss, Adele, Paul Epworth, Rick Rubin, Fraser T. Smith, Ryan Tedder & Dan Wilson, producers; Jim Abbiss, Philip Allen, Beatriz Artola, Ian Dowling, Tom Elmhirst, Greg Fidelman, Dan Parry, Steve Price, Mark Rankin, Andrew Scheps, Fraser T. Smith & Ryan Tedder, engineers/mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer (2012)	(2013)

v t e Billboard Year-End number one albums (1990–2009)

1990: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 – Janet Jackson 1991: Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey 1992: Ropin' the Wind – Garth Brooks 1993: The Bodyguard – Soundtrack 1994: The Sign – Ace of Base 1995: Cracked Rear View – Hootie & the Blowfish 1996: Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette 1997: Spice – Spice Girls 1998: Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture – James Horner 1999: Millennium – Backstreet Boys 2000: No Strings Attached – 'N Sync 2001: 1 – The Beatles 2002: The Eminem Show – Eminem 2003: Get Rich or Die Tryin' – 50 Cent 2004: Confessions – Usher 2005: The Massacre – 50 Cent 2006: Some Hearts – Carrie Underwood 2007: Daughtry – Daughtry 2008: As I Am – Alicia Keys 2009: Fearless – Taylor Swift

Complete list (1956–1969) (1970–1989) (1990–2009) (2010–2029)

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift

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Film Summary

Persondata
Name	Ice-T
Alternative names	Tracy Marrow
Short description	American musician and actor
Date of birth	1958-02-16
Place of birth	Newark, New Jersey
Date of death
Place of death

Persondata
Name	Germanotta, Stefani Joanne Angelina
Alternative names	Lady Gaga
Short description	American pop singer
Date of birth	March 28, 1986
Place of birth	New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death

Persondata
Name	Swift, Taylor
Alternative names	Swift, Taylor Alison
Short description	Singer and songwriter
Date of birth	December 13, 1989
Place of birth	Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
Date of death
Place of death

	Book: United States
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	Book: Lady Gaga
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

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[edit] 2008–10: The Fame and The Fame Monster

[edit] 2011–present: Born This Way