The “Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French Post Office” is named in honor of an Omaha sailor. Born in Arkansas, French moved to Omaha to live with his older sister after his parents died. He enlisted in the Navy in 1937, serving as a mess attendant and returning home after fulfilling his four-year commitment. As an African American man, French served at a time when prejudice and discrimination were ever-present in the military. He proudly reenlisted four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
During the Battle of Guadalcanal, Japanese destroyers sank the USS Gregory on September 4, 1942. With 15 of his injured shipmates adrift in a raft, French tied the line to himself and swam more than six hours in shark-infested waters towing his shipmates to safety.
Heralded as the “Hero of the Solomon Islands,” French was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal on May 21, 2022. Risking death so that others might live, French demonstrated the courage to defend American freedom, so that democracy may continue to grow and prosper for generations to come.
]]>On June 24, 1969, 14-year-old Vivian Strong was shot and killed by James Loder, a white police officer, while leaving a party in the Logan Fontenelle public housing complex. Vivian was one of many teenagers at a dance party in a vacant housing unit that had been left unlocked by the maintenance crew. After a neighbor called the police and officers arrived, the teenagers ran from the party. Officer James Loder raised his gun and fired a single shot, hitting Vivian Strong in the back of her head as she ran away. Vivian was killed instantly. The shooting death of this unarmed Black girl by a white police officer sparked several days of turbulent protests along 24th Street. Burning and looting destroyed both white and Black owned businesses between Hamilton and Lake, forever changing this vibrant Northeast Omaha community. Vivian Strong was the fourth of ten children, and the emotional toll of her death had a devastating effect on the family. In March of 1970, an all-white jury acquitted Officer James Loder of all charges related to killing Vivian Strong.
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