Oo-Mah-Ha Ta-Wa-Tha (Omaha City)

“This little book tells many important tribal stories for today and for future generations. These historic vignettes of the Omaha Nation and its leaders are shared so personally by author Fannie Reed Giffen and her col­laborators, Susette and Susan La Flesche. It has been a treasure of mine for 25 years and I hope it becomes one of yours. The re-publication of the original comes on the 125-year anniversary of the 1898 Omaha Trans-Mississippi Expo­sition and Indian Congress. Its arrival is timely as many of its stories and people are vital to our nation’s history. A sculpture of Omaha Chief Big Elk will stand proudly on the banks of the Missouri as the city of Omaha cel­ebrates its namesake this summer! Susette La Flesche Tibbles is known today for her role in the Trial of Ponca Chief Standing Bear. She is recognized as an activist for Indian rights along with her sister Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American Physician. Their sto­ries were not part of my childhood, yet today these amaz­ing women inspire me. The stories of America’s first people are essential to an understanding of our country. More and more, books like this are shining a light on people we need to know. I want to thank Zea Books for making this little jewel of Amer­ican history accessible for more of us to appreciate and enjoy.” —From the new Foreword by Judi M. gaiashkibos, Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, Executive Director doi:10.32873/unl.dc.zea.1342https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/zeabook/1143/thumbnail.jp

Oo-Mah-Ha Ta-Wa-Tha (Omaha City)

“This little book tells many important tribal stories for today and for future generations. These historic vignettes of the Omaha Nation and its leaders are shared so personally by author Fannie Reed Giffen and her col­laborators, Susette and Susan La Flesche. It has been a treasure of mine for 25 years and I hope it becomes one of yours. The re-publication of the original comes on the 125-year anniversary of the 1898 Omaha Trans-Mississippi Expo­sition and Indian Congress. Its arrival is timely as many of its stories and people are vital to our nation’s history. A sculpture of Omaha Chief Big Elk will stand proudly on the banks of the Missouri as the city of Omaha cel­ebrates its namesake this summer! Susette La Flesche Tibbles is known today for her role in the Trial of Ponca Chief Standing Bear. She is recognized as an activist for Indian rights along with her sister Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American Physician. Their sto­ries were not part of my childhood, yet today these amaz­ing women inspire me. The stories of America’s first people are essential to an understanding of our country. More and more, books like this are shining a light on people we need to know. I want to thank Zea Books for making this little jewel of Amer­ican history accessible for more of us to appreciate and enjoy.” —From the new Foreword by Judi M. gaiashkibos, Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, Executive Directo

Developing Pandemic Comics for Youth Audiences

In spring 2020 our team received funding from the Rapid Response Research program of the National Science Foundation to develop comics that would help youth understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Our project built on a decade of expertise creating comics about the biology of viruses. In collaboration with virologists and artists, we developed three comic stories about COVID-19 during the pandemic and posted them on-line during the last half of 2020. The fictional narratives address fundamental issues in biology, virology, and network science, in order to help readers understand the complexities of living through a viral pandemic. The stories focus on three themes: the biology and social context of the COVID-19 virus; the relationship of wild animals, particularly bats, to the pandemic; and the impact of the pandemic on Tribal communities. We describe the challenges of comic development during the pandemic and the feedback from youth on whether the comics were appealing, interesting, and understandable. The stories were posted on worldofviruses.unl.edu and are published by the University of Nebraska Press as the book, C’RONA Pandemic Comics, with essays for youth about the virus and the pandemic

NATIVE DAUGHTERS

For almost two years, Nebraska’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications has benefited from this perfect storm, riding a project wave dedicated to a singular idea: You can’t really understand American history without understanding Native American history. And you can’t understand Native American history without understanding the critical role Native women have played in defining, enriching and protecting that history. Underwritten by a $125,000 Carnegie Foundation grant, this journalism project is intended to substantially raise the profile of Native Daughters. To that end, the college enrolled two dozen of its best and brightest students – reporters, photographers, videographers, Web masters, copy editors and designers – in a three-semester depth reporting class that exhaustively examined the role that Native women have traditionally played in Indian history, culture, art and politics. The students’ extensive research included bringing to campus some of the nation’s most accomplished Native women, including award-winning filmmakers, Harvard-educated environmentalists, Dartmouth Medical School surgeons, prolific authors, veteran lawyers, tribal presidents and decorated Iraqi War veterans. Before it ended, the student journalists spent many hours on the Pine Ridge, Omaha, Santee and Winnebago reservations, conducted more than 150 interviews, shot thousands of photographs and hundreds of hours of video. Now, this rich body of work has been sculpted into a glossy, 172-page, full-color magazine, a documentary, a photo gallery and interactive Web site that will be continually updated. Ultimately, this Web site will be integrated into public school curricula throughout Nebraska, the U.S. and eventually worldwide. It will be used by teachers throughout Indian Country and beyond who want their students to see see and read stories about powerful role models. Teachers who want their students to know the rich and complex contributions Native women have made to both indigenous and American cultures. Who want their students to understand the forces that gave rise to the Northern Cheyenne proverb: “A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women lie on the ground.