Omaha Response to Unrest and the Trial of the Omaha 54
Friends, families, and Black Omaha organizations and individuals including the NAACP, the Urban League, Wesley House, and Ernie Chambers bailed the students out that night. This immediate community support was indicative of the role the Omaha Black community played and would continue to play on UNO’s campus.
Hours after the 54 arrived at the Douglas County Jail, local organizations amassed enough funds through donations to bail out all of the 54 students on the evening of November 10. Jack Clayter from the Urban League and John Butler of the Omaha Chapter of the NAACP led an effort to raise community funds and arrived at the county jail with $6,501. The remaining $5,000 collected were used for a defense fund for the students in case they appeared in court and required a legal team. Donations for the Black Student Defense Fund were collected at the United Methodist Community Center[1].
With the widespread media attention given to the Omaha 54, individuals and parts of the city were divided on the way the student protest was handled. Omahans wrote letters to President Naylor either rebuking him or praising his strong stance on law and order.[2]
Displayed here is a selection of those responses received by Naylor, preserved in his scrapbook. To see all the responses, check out the "'UNO 54' BLAC (Black Liberators for Action on Campus) Sit-In Related Documents Scrapbook, 1969-1970" in the Kirk Naylor Papers.
A week after the protests, a rally was held at St. John's Church with around 150 community members and members of the Omaha 54. Robert Honoré, Marla West, and Catherine Pope spoke to a supportive audience about BLAC’s demands to the university and the mishandling of the sit-in by calling the police.[3]
In January of 1970, Omaha School Board Member Emmet T. Streeter sent President Naylor a letter calling for amnesty for the students; Streeter received no response. [4]
The 54 went to court, charged under the unlawful assembly statute of LB 1381, the Nebraska Anti-Riot Act which had passed in the legislature in 1969. The 54 were represented by three defense attorneys: Wilbur Phillips, Charles Scudder, and Martin Cannon. The trial, originally scheduled for March 6, 1970 was delayed when Cannon filed for a change of venue request, which was granted, moving the trial to March 26, 1970. The trial date was again rescheduled when the defense filed to have the case dismissed, arguing that the 54's actions were misdemeanors and the charges violated the constitutional right to assembly.[5]
Under Judge Walter Cropper the 54 were found guilty of unlawful assembly on June 4, 1970. Judge Cropper intended to sentence the 54 with a $15 dollar fine each and 6 months of probation. A compromise was reached, however, as the defense argued that students risked losing scholarships, the mark on their records, and the substantially more expensive cost to appeal the decision. In exchange for dropping the fine for 52 of the students, Honoré would pay a $50 fine and Sullivan a $15 fine. All the students would serve 6 months probation. The defense argued this path allowed the students to avoid paying the steep legal fees of fighting the charges in court and completing the probation process would expunge the charges from their records. Additionally, this allowed Honoré and Sullivan to take their case to a higher court, appeal their charges, and provide a test to LB 1381. [6]