Summary
The erasure of minority stories makes challenging the dominant reading of history important. The Green Book was an annual travel guide used by African American travelers from the 1930s to the mid-1960s to navigate a racially segregated America. A group of 9th graders, social studies teachers, and college students mapped Omaha’s 30 Green Book sites using ArcGIS and created Story Maps and a Hub Page to share the history uncovered on each one. This experience lit a spark with diverse summer school students and created an engaging hands-on curriculum for Nebraska’s social studies classrooms. The work will also educate thousands of Nebraskans through a 2025 joint exhibit with The Durham Museum, Great Plains Black History Museum, and Smithsonian. View the project at https://www.ops.org/Page/6677
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | U.S. History | History, Mapping, Research
Conference Room
Flannigan
Meet the Presenters
Kristine Gerber is a passionate storyteller and historian who brings Omaha’s rich past to life. A graduate of the University of Nebraska at Kearney with degrees in Journalism and Public Relations, she began uncovering the city’s hidden stories in 1999 while working at the Omaha World-Herald. There, she discovered the most powerful way to explore history—by listening to the everyday people who lived it. Those interviews led to the publication of Omaha: Times Remembered, and launched a publishing journey that has resulted in more than 50 books celebrating Omaha and Nebraska history. Today, Kristine shares her love of local history and architecture with secondary students and social studies teachers through Omaha Public Schools’ Making Invisible Histories Visible program, inspiring the next generation to connect with the places and stories that shaped their community
Cory Johnson
