Center for Great Plains Studies

Historian Andrew Graybill traces one early effort to give the Great Plains its due. In his most important book, “The Great Plains” (1931), leading western historian Walter Prescott Webb (1888-1963) emphasized the significance of the environment as a historical actor in its own right. Yet the book is marred by several shortcomings, among them Webb’s wincing racism. In his talk highlighting the new 2022 edition of the book (University of Nebraska Press), Graybill explores the book’s considerable limitations while arguing for its enduring vitality. Graybill is a professor of history and director of the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He is the author or editor of four books, including “The Red and the White: A Family Saga of the American West” (Liveright, 2013). He taught at UNL from 2003-11 and is an Affiliate Fellow of the Center for Great Plains Studies. This event is part of the Center for Great Plains Studies’ Paul A. Olson lecture series and is free and open to the public. This lecture is supported by UNL History Department, the University of Nebraska Press and the UNL Faculty Senate Convocations Committee.

In this episode of Great Plains Anywhere, we talk with Ted Hibbeler, Tribal Extension Educator at UNL and a member of the Iron Shell family from the Rosebud Sioux Nation in South Dakota. Through the Native American Coalition, Hibbeler is working with the Nebraska Tribal communities and schools in the areas of food sustainability, economic development, career development, conservation and leadership.

In this episode of Great Plains Anywhere, we talk with John O'Keefe, a professor of Theology and Journalism at Creighton University and the documentary filmmaker behind the film "The Last Prairie." The film examines Nebraska's Sandhills through the perspectives of ecologists, the people who live and work there, and the Lakota people whose ancestors were driven off the land. The Center is hosting a screening of the film on March 30 in Lincoln, Neb., at the Great Plains Art Museum. Details to be announced next early next year.

The Center recently provided support to five projects aiming to gather stories on the impact of Covid-19 on the people of the region focused on those disproportionately affected by the pandemic, including Latinx, new mothers, Indigenous communities, and immigrant communities as well as workers from the healthcare and meatpacking fields. Panelists shared stories from community members affected by Covid-19 in this discussion.

Dr. Kalenda Eaton and Dr. Heidi Dodson of the Oklahoma Black Homesteader Project research talk about their new research on Black homesteaders in Oklahoma Territory. The presentation discusses the process of researching and locating specific homesteading families with a preview of new archival research that expands common understandings of the Black homesteading experience.