Omaha Star headquarters to be transformed into journalism museum
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Nebraska’s only Black newspaper, The Omaha Star, is still hot off the press.
“Paper’s been going 87 years. We have never missed a publication day ever. So we can’t start with me,” said Terri Sanders, CEO and publisher.
The paper first founded in 1938 by Mildred Brown is now in the hands of Sanders and her non-profit The Omaha Star Institute.
Keeping the paper’s essence, she’s finding, includes staying innovative.
“We’re on all the social media platforms, we do podcasts. We do a little bit of all of it because I don’t want to be a dinosaur because we all know where dinosaurs are – nowhere.”
“We’ll talk about the Black newspaper, we’ll talk about Blacks in journalism. We will talk about some of the firsts and about photographers,” Sanders told 6 News. “All of that is part of journalism.”
Mildred Brown’s apartment, located in the office building with its original features, will be part of it.
Next door is the Mildred Brown Strolling Park. That’s where Sanders will honor some of Omaha’s legends like media mogul Cathy Hughes.
“There are so many people from Omaha who have contributed to world events. So that speaks to why I want to put a walk of fame in the park and have stars embedded in the ground,” said Sanders.
Journalism has been known as the first rough draft of history and for Sanders the Black newspaper is a crown jewel.
“Everybody says ‘newspapers are dead’. Not true, they are not. But you have to understand the value of a newspaper.”
Sanders plans for the renovations to be done by summer of 2025 in time for the next Native Omaha Days celebration.
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