We The People: Nebraska

FAIN: BC-50559-10

Nebraska Humanities Council (Lincoln, NE 68508-1836)
Jane Renner Hood (Project Director: May 2010 to December 2010)
Christopher Sommerich (Project Director: December 2010 to July 2012)

To support an increased number of speakers for the Humanities Resource Center Speakers Bureau; the 2011 Chautauqua "Bright Dreams Hard Times: America in the Thirties," offering enchanced programming for young people; the planning and programming for the Nebraska tour of "Journey Stories" traveling exhibition; and the expansion of the Capitol Forum to high school students and teachers in small, far-western Nebraska communities.

The Nebraska Humanities Council requests a We The People grant of $88,150 to support four projects that are core programs within the NHC's strategic plan. The Humanities Resource Center speakers bureau will provide over 400 programs on U.S. and Great Plains history and culture across the state, reaching children and adults in communities of all sizes. The "Bright Dreams, Hard Times: America in the 1930s" Chautauqua will bring scholars portraying President Franklin Roosevelt, Louisiana Governor Huey Long, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, writer, Zora Neale Hurston, and humorist Will Rogers to a Nebraska community for four days of humanities programming. "Capitol Forum on America's Future" will offer over 1,000 high school students an opportunity to examine key issues facing the United States from the perspective of the humanities. Museum on Main Street will bring an American history exhibition directly to the citizens of six small, rural communities.