Great Plains Black History Museum is a confidentially controlled, countrywide famous organization with a extraordinary compilation counting more than 10,000 displays. It is located in the Webster Telephone Exchange Building at 2213 Lake Street in North Omaha, Nebraska, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1962, Omaha community leader Bertha Calloway worked with a local group called the Negro History Society to create the Great Plains Black Museum. Calloway's goal over the next 30+ years was to teach Nebraskans about the contributions of African-Americans in the Midwest. In a 1996 interview Calloway explained, "People must see black history in order for the images they have of black people to change. That’s what our museum is all about... revealing a history that’s been withheld."[1] In 1976 the Museum formally opened, funded by a grant from the United States Bicentennial Commission. For the following 25+ years the Museum featured paintings, rare books, photographs, and films, with one of the largest historical and cultural institutions west of the Mississippi River.