A History of the Harriet Tubman Center

Since the 1870s, anti-racist organizations have been struggling in Omaha. Some made major gains and transformed the city while others came and went rapidly. This is the story of one of those organizations called the YWCA Harriet Tubman Center.

Moving In

Hillside Presbyterian Church, North 30th and Ohio Streets, North Omaha, Nebraska

North Side YWCA, North 22nd and Grant Street, North Omaha, Nebraska,

Originally a new home for Hillside Presbyterian Church, the building at N. 28th and Miami eventually replaced the original segregated YWCA at N. 21st and Grant, too.

Built as a new home for the Hillside Presbyterian Church in 1947, the building at 2710 North 28th Avenue became home to the North Side YWCA starting in 1955. Originally established in the 1890s, the Near North Side was home to a segregated YWCA facility for more than 60 years before that. During the 1960s, the YWCA officially integrated and and the North Side YWCA became inactive. By 1972, the building was inactive for a year. However, it was renamed the YWCA Harriet Tubman Center and activities began there again.

A production about the life of Harriet Tubman was led by the Afro Academy for Dramatic Arts at the YWCA Harriet Tubman Center in 1972. Pic from the Omaha World-Herald, Omaha World-Herald on July 17, 1972.

Diane Grabes was the center’s director then, and 60 kids participated in activities at the center that year. Some of the different programs focused on sports, as well as field trips and more. In the summer of 1972, the Afro Academy for Dramatic Arts led a summer program there with a play about the life of Harriet Tubman.

Several activities were held at the Center over the next several years, including partnerships with the Omaha Urban League and others. Mentors called Big Sisters were recruited and afterschool and summer programs were held.

Omaha Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities

This image shows Bobby Lowery teaching class at Central High School. It was in the Omaha World-Herald on October 23, 1970. — This image shows Bobby Lowery (b. 1947) teaching class at Central High School. It was in the Omaha World-Herald on October 23, 1970.

Bobby Lowery (b. 1947) was a former American Government class teacher at Central High School when he proposed to the YWCA to open the new Omaha Student Rights Center in July 1972. His start at Central was lauded when he started after a few seasons of playing semi-pro football, coming to the area with the Omaha Mustangs in 1970. However, after just a year of teaching he was suspended from his position when he took 50 students from a study hall outside of the school, which was prohibited by school leaders. After he was suspended, Lowery resigned.

With the goal of acting as “a mediator between school officials and parents in investigating expulsions and suspensions,” Lowery started the the center “to make sure the child stays in school.” A later article said, “The organization accepts cases of either sex or race discrimination, unfair expulsion of students, and unfair punishments. The organization has been extremely successful in obtaining equal treatment for minorities within the school system.”

Funded by the YWCA, “The specific areas to be examined will be determined by complaints filed by students and parents with the center,” according to an article in the Omaha World-Herald. Planning to hire 20 staff members, Lowery was the first employee.

Bob Lowery (b. 1947) was the founder and director of the Omaha Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities from 1972 to 1974.

In fall 1972, Lowery facilitated two workshops called “Awareness Sessions” for parents and students focused on student rights. Focused on creating a handbook for students, the session was interactive and outcomes-driven. That same season, Lowery tried advertising the Center in the newspapers at Central and Northwest High Schools. According to the World-Herald though, “…officials at both schools… refused to publish the ads.” A district superintendent stated that the district supported the decisions, and at a meeting of all high school prinicipals they collectively decided no advertising for the center in the school newspapers.

The next year in 1973 Lowery confronted the school district for its pattern of excluding him from disciplinary meetings where parents requested his attendance. The district cited their policy leaving those decisions for the meetings at the principals’ discretion, and at a meeting for all the high school principals they decided the organization couldn’t advertise in any newspapers in the city.

In May 1974, nearly two years after starting the program, Bobby Lowery closed the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities because it ran out of funds. He had gone to the Omaha City Council and lobbied in Washington, DC for funding, but failed in his quest. Lowery went as far as changing the program’s name to “Youth Counseling” to apply to other sources for funds, but that didn’t work either. The executive director of the YWCA said, The Student Rights Center had “made a contribution to education in Omaha,” and that “we’re very sorry to lose Lowery.”

The Rest of Center’s Life

A fashion show was held during an open house at the Harriet Tubman Center in September 1975. Shown here is model Verlie Childress. This image is from the Omaha Star on October 2, 1975.

The Center moved along in 1973, offering self-defense classes for women and youth, yoga, tennis, volleyball and dance classes, and more. Most of the programs were held at the Center with a few at area churches. Starting a family education program, they drew in new funding and continued. Another new grant that year led to hiring a new director, their programs included 4-H clubs, leadership training, drug and sex education, parent education, job and career counseling, and support groups for mothers.

In 1975, the Center offered a Family Life Program that included a “parents night out,” pre-job and vocational guidance, a “mother’s day out,” and youth activities. There were also self-defense, basic modeling, and physical fitness classes. A year later, the Family Life Program focus was declared for “single heads of households and their families. Each week is a Parents Day Out where participants have lunch and talks, or demonstrations and outings. For the kids there are 4-H Clubs, Y-Teens, special workshops on sexuality and drug abuse, and field trips. Tubman Center also provides the neighborhood with a recreational facility and meeting place for groups.”

However, soon after that declaration was made the Omaha YWCA declared it was “attempting to cut expenses so it can focus on programs,” so they closed the Tubman Center permanently in December 1976.

In July 1977, Rev. Harvey B. Burtley announced the opening of Thine Will Church of God in Christ in the former Harriet Tubman Center. After remodeling it for several months, it opened and has been operating there since.

Remembering the Harriet Tubman Center

Today, the building (shown at the top) still stands in good shape. However, there is no memorial to the Harriet Tubman Center or the Omaha Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities. Maybe someday that will change.

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