The Walking in the Footsteps Student Support Fund 👣
Help Otoe-Missouria students study in the land of their ancestors
Lena’ Black (Otoe-Missouria), center, UNL art student and first recipient of the Footsteps award with tribal members Susan Arkeketa and Annette Arkeketa at Great Plains Art Museum exhibition in September 2026, where Lena’ exhibited her artwork.
Frequently asked questions
Is my donation secure?
Do I get a receipt?
How is my personal data handled?
About the Campaign
Before there was UNL and before there was Lincoln, there was Nyi Brathge (“flat water”), the homeland of the Otoe-Missouria people for hundreds of years. Under duress, in 1833 and again in 1854, the Otoe-Missouria Nation signed treaties with the U.S. government ceding the land that became Lincoln and the University of Nebraska. They first moved to the Big Blue Reservation near Beatrice, but were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory—now Oklahoma—in the 1880s.
Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors (Ahadada Wathigre Hįnéwi Ke) is a joint project of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma. The project seeks to promote healing and reconciliation in southeast Nebraska by reconnecting the Otoe-Missouria people to their homelands and by educating non-Native people about the history and ongoing presence of the Tribe and other Indigenous Nations in our region.
The Walking in the Footsteps Student Support Fund provides crucial financial assistance to students from the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, as well as other tribes with historical connections to Nebraska. Funds support all educational costs, including tuition, room and board, books, and student fees.
This fund was initiated by Margaret Jacobs, Charles Mach Professor of History and Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and Tom Lynch, professor emeritus in the UNL Department of English and former editor of Western American Literature.
Now in its second year, the fund continues its goal of enabling Otoe-Missouria students not only to walk, but also to study, in the footsteps of their ancestors. Last year, the inaugural award supported Lena’ Black, the first recipient of the scholarship and now a senior at UNL majoring in graphic design in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.
Watch the video above to hear Lena’'s story and learn how this support helps reconnect students like Lena’ to their heritage, while empowering their academic journey.
Your contribution helps ensure that this work continues and that future generations can follow in these footsteps.