Women Who Built Omaha

Winner of the 2023 Nebraska Book Award During the 1930s the Federal Writers Project described Omaha as a mans town, and histories of the city have all but ignored women. However, women have played major roles in education, health, culture, social services, and other fields since the citys founding in 1854. In The Women Who Built Omaha Eileen Wirth tells the stories of groundbreaking women who built Omaha, including Susette Bright Eyes LaFlesche, who translated at the trial of Chief Standing Bear; Mildred Brown, an African American newspaper publisher; Sarah Joslyn, who personally paid for Joslyn Art Museum; Mrs. B of Nebraska Furniture Mart; and the Sisters of Mercy, who started Omahas Catholic schools. Omaha women have been champion athletes and suffragists as well as madams and bootleggers. They transformed the citys parks, co-founded Creighton University, helped run Boys Town, and so much more, in ways that continue today.