♪ ♪ (upbeat music) -[Narrator] Coming up on this Special edition of Nebraska Stories.

A Century of Nebraska History.

Moments remembered, lives lived, and voices that continue to shape who we are.

Up first William Henry Jackson, captures a nation moving west.

At the Genoa Indian School, as new ways were taught, old ones were lost (upbeat music) In the Great Depression a young Loren Eiseley found freedom on the rails.

Students study art created by children imprisoned at Terezin and from Vietnam to Kent State, one veteran's lifelong fight for justice.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (soft music) -[Narrator] William Henry Jackson was one of the most prolific American artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

(soft music) He personally witnessed and recorded the expansion of the American West in thousands of photographs and in hundreds of drawings and paintings.

(soft music) At the age of 23, the young Civil War veteran headed West.

He landed in Nebraska City, where he was hired by a freighting outfit, bound for the mines of Montana.

Traveling the historic Oregon Trail, Jackson sketched landmarks and moments of everyday life along the trail that became iconic scenes of the West.

(soft music) In 1868, he opened Jackson Brothers Photography studio in Omaha and was commissioned by the Union Pacific to photograph the Transcontinental Railroad.

(soft music) He visited the Omaha, Pawnee, and Otoe reservations, recording rare images of tribal members.

(soft music) In 1870 Jackson's landscape photography caught the attention of Ferdinand Hayden, a geologist leading an expedition into Wyoming territory.

Jackson became the first photographer to successfully document the awe-inspiring wonders of Yellowstone.

His images conveyed the breathtaking beauty and unique natural features of the wilderness, convincing Congress to preserve Yellowstone.

It became the nation's first national park in 1872.

(soft music) During his extensive travels throughout the West, Jackson marked the profound changes that shaped our nation.

(soft music) He documented various groups of indigenous people in both artistic renderings and photographs, (soft music) capturing not only their unique tribal cultures, but creating an important record of their existence during a pivotal chapter in American history.

(soft music) Today, the Oregon Trail Museum at Scotts Bluff National Monument holds the largest collection of William Henry Jackson paintings in the world.

(soft music) Park visitors can immerse themselves in Jackson's vibrant tapestry of American Western history, as seen through the eyes of an intrepid explorer and pioneer in American art and photography.

(soft music) (soft music) ♪ ♪ (native music) -[Narrator] They were the subjects of an educational experiment carried out with the best of intentions.

(native music) The experiment gave a new twist to an old saying "the only good Indian is a dead one."

(native music) It was designed to kill the Indian and save the man.

(native music) -[Henrietta] As Americans were to be all alike.

(native music) And that likeness, unfortunately, was to be white and not Indian.

(native music) -[N. Scott] What was it?

Give him a uniform, cut his hair, remove him as far as possible.

From the center of his real existence.

His spiritual existence.

Put him in a strange place, you know, a place where he has no advantage whatsoever.

And he will become what you want him to become.

You can draw a picture and let him look at it, and slowly he will transform himself into the image that he sees there.

(serene music) (bugle blaring) -[Sid] We were controlled by whistles and bugles.

A bugle sounded when we were to get out of bed.

(bugle blaring) We got into formation and we marched to our meals at the dining room.

A triangle was used, and when the first triangle sounded (triangle clanking) we sat down on stools.

The second triangle indicated there was to be complete silence, and we were to bow our heads and say our prayers, and that the third triangle we began to eat.

-[Narrator] Sid Bird was just six.

Years old when he left home for the Genoa Indian School in Nebraska.

It was 1925, but the formula for civilizing Indians hadn't changed since the early days of Carlisle.

(clock ticking) -[Henrietta] The regimentation at the school was quite systematic in all parts of their day were planned very, very carefully.

They would go to school half a day.

They would work the other half a day in one or the other of the trades that they were learning, or in the support systems of the school itself, in the kitchens, in the laundries, in the bakery and so forth.

Assimilation is a policy of the federal government by this time.

And what's going to be taught at the school is a value system consistent with an industrializing society.

So you're going to teach hard work, ambition and a willingness to be a total individual, to stand alone.

-[Sid] In the Lakota way.

You are responsible not to yourself, but always to the Oyate, to the group.

Whereas in the school you say you have to be your own person.

You have to acquire an education and you had to do that by yourself.

You could not be responsible to the group.

You're responsible.

So you take care of number one and you get to the top at the expense of others.

(serene music) -[Narrator] The key to making the system work was separation.

For their first few years at school, the children weren't allowed to go home.

And when their parents came to visit, it was a bittersweet occasion.

(serene music) -[N. Scott] The family was a very strong organization in the Indian tribes.

Everyone you know belonged wholly to his family.

His first allegiances were to the family.

Everything that sustained him in his life came directly from the immediate relationships of the family.

So to give up a child, you know, it was like death (serene music) and the loneliness of the children being uprooted from that and placed in what was effectively a prison, (serene music) had to make for a loneliness that is difficult to imagine.

(serene music) -[Sid] My grandparents had been informed and they were standing waiting at the train station.

I practically leaped from the train, tears of joy streaming down my cheeks, and I ran to my grandmother and she embraced me and she said.

Takoja.

Takoja.

Tehan Agliso My grandchild.

My grandchild.

You come from a long ways.

And she embraced me.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

I suddenly discovered that the people that I loved and longed to be with, I could no longer communicate with them.

My own language had been beaten out of me, and so I could no longer communicate with these people.

And I wept bitterly, and I vowed that I would relearn my language.

(serene music) ♪ ♪ (serene music) -[Narrator] In the 1930s, the world turned dark with depression.

On the Great Plains It came with the prairie wind sweeping the soil into the air, blotting out the sun.

(gusty wind blowing) Men without jobs became drifters.

(engine rattling) Loren Eiseley was just 19 years old when he joined them.

(train chugging and horn blowing) -[N.Scott] The rest is almost forgotten.

With years.

The grim, long windings through the Rockies, viewing the scenery from side doors or pulling a bandana over one's face and being careful to duck low in smoky tunnels.

People dropped away as the mood or hunger struck them.

Others ran and climbed aboard.

(serene music) (train horn) It was a time of violence, a time of hate, a time of sharing, a time of hunger.

(serene music) It was all that every human generation believes it has encountered for the very first time in human history.

(serene music) -[Gale] It looked as though, you know, Western civilization was perhaps coming to an end.

Uh, society was falling apart.

There was nothing like the Great Depression before.

What did he have to look forward to?

Uh, and he saw a good deal of violence, and he saw an uncaring society.

And I think it fueled this natural poetic urge, which was one of alienation to begin with.

(train horn blaring) (train chugging and horn blowing) -[N. Scott] It was the last of my drifting days.

And if anyone were to ask what year it was, what month, what afternoon?

I could not answer.

I would be able to say only that it was for me, the most perfect day in the world.

(train chugging) -[Gale] He was out in western Kansas amid the fall wheat harvest, (wind whistling) and he had come to this railroad station and they were waiting to jump a train.

And there were three other fellows there.

One is an Indian who was dispossessed.

(soft wind blowing) Another looked as though he might have seen the papyrus of ancient Egypt.

(soft wind blowing) Another is a freight car hopper, who has the skills of a great boxer, and Eiseley is sipping grape soda with him, and the sun is out and he doesn't have any worries at the time, so he projects them into the past and into an unknown future.

(serene music) -[N. Scott] The town was small enough not to bother us, and out of some trifle of change, we bought great pop made by a factory in that very town.

(serene music) We drank it slowly with gusto, and accounted it great, while we stretched the shade beneath a water tank, or lay dozing on the rough planks of the loading platform.

(serene music) I do not know whether we were headed west or east, or from what train we had dropped, or for what we waited.

We were just there.

Birds of passage with no past, no future, no desires.

(serene music) ♪ ♪ (serene music) -[Narrator] Friedl Dicker-Brandeis was 44 years old when she first saw the Jewish ghetto Terezin.

(serene music) She was greeted by soldiers with guns, thousands of people lining the streets, and total confusion.

(serene music) -[Beth] There is a thirst for trying to understand this very difficult history, and I think that our world is difficult today, and people want to know how to make it a better place.

-[Narrator] As an artist, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis had worked with children before.

(serene music) She knew Terezin would be a frightening place for them.

(serene music) So in her luggage, Friedl packed paint, brushes, paper and books not for herself, but for the children.

(serene music) Surrounded by the walls of Terezin, Friedl opened her suitcase, (serene music) and in secret, the children began to create.

(serene music) -[Jim] There are ways to find meaning by looking at art and listening to music.

I think it's important as artists to bring that to others.

(serene music) -[Anna] It's not just a child in Terezin.

(serene music) The Terezin child also expresses the feelings of many children in this country now.

(serene music) Let people know this is how I feel.

This is what I want you to know about me.

(serene music) (serene music) -[Narrator] These Omaha students are just beginning to learn about the Holocaust.

-[Beth] We really wanted to show that children were a big part of this story.

-[Narrator] Along the way.

They will meet Friedl's students from Terezin.

-[Beth] We can't teach about the Holocaust unless we give the kids some context.

We had to think of a way to get them to connect.

I mean, you know, they don't get it.

And we chose the topic of freedom.

(paper rustling) How about if my freedom were taken away?

-[Student] If my freedom were taken away, I would fight for the freedom.

-[Student 2] We couldn't follow our dreams.

We couldn't listen to our iPod all day.

- If freedom were gone, every day would not want to be lived.

If freedom were gone, every day would be lived without drive.

If freedom were gone, every day would be lived without purpose.

If my freedom was taken away, I would not care to go on.

(serene music) -[Beth] He represented much more than just that poem that he read.

It's not easy.

(serene music) It's not easy.

So thank you for sharing that.

What has happened is their understanding that this topic and the ramifications of what happened in the Holocaust can be translated into their own personal experiences.

- Well, we want to.

I want to know how they felt when this was happening.

-[Narrator] To further their lessons.

These Omaha students were encouraged to draw, write and form with their hands.

(fabric rustling) -[Student 3] They put 35 girls in each room.

(rustling sounds) -[Student] 35 girls had to share a room.

- Whoa!

One room?

-[Student] I could not live in a room with 35 girls.

-[Student 2] I wrote that people were separated by age and gender.

(serene music) - Lines about when they had to be punished.

-[Student] And it made them feel weak and hopeless.

(serene music) -[Narrator] The children of Terezin created over 5000 drawings and collages.

(serene music) They wrote newspapers and poems.

(serene music) Their creations were hidden from their Nazi oppressors.

(serene music) At the end of the war, they were found stuffed into walls (serene music) and suitcases.

-[Anna] It means that up until the very last moment, you don't give up hope of survival.

(serene music) These children knew that they were meant to die.

(serene music) But hope is a remarkable, remarkable human property of the mind.

(serene music) ♪ ♪ MUSIC: Guitar intro Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young - "Ohio" TIM BUTZ: Kent State was a very political campus.

When I hit campus in March of '69, I was a very confused man.

NARRATOR: On April 30th, 1970, when President Nixon announced an expansion of the Vietnam War, protests erupted nationwide, including at Ohio's Kent State.

Students held a peaceful protest, burying the Constitution.

Tim Butz was there - he and another student burned their discharge papers as well.

TIM: The invasion of Cambodia really angered me.

It was just a sign that this war was never going to end.

NARRATOR: Tensions only escalated through the weekend with smashed windows, blocked streets and the burning of the campus ROTC building.

The National Guard was called in, just in time for another rally on Monday, May 4th.

TIM: It was all circulated by word of mouth.

By the time I got there, the Guard was coming back down the hill after having shot the students.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young "Ohio" ♪ " Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming, ♪ "we're finally on our own.

♪ "This summer I hear the drumming, ♪ 4 dead in Ohio ."

♪ [sounds of rifle fire & screaming] TIM: I saw people laying on the ground bleeding, people crying, people hysterical, people panicked.

NARRATOR: The shootings left 4 dead and 9 injured.

TIM: Those young people that had never been exposed to violence all of the sudden saw violence unfold right before their eyes.

NARRATOR: This wasn't Tim's first exposure to bloodshed.

The young Ohioan served 3 and 1/2 years in the Air Force, doing a tour of duty at the Tan San Nhut Air Base in Vietnam, a prime target of the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive.

Tim worked the flight line - inspecting planes before and after takeoff.

TIM: Life on a flight line is neither easy nor safe.

When you're working on metal aircraft in 100 degree heat day after day after day, it can wear you down.

You know, it was so hot out there, you could not stay hydrated.

NARRATOR: As Tim looks through photos with his wife Barb, it is the darker memories of war that are tougher to shake.

TIM & BARB: Yeah... TIM: So this is me on top of a Vietnamese Air Force tank.

This is the main gate to the base.

The VC tried to enter the base through here on the 1st night of Tet but they didn't get very far on that one.

TIM: I was on the night crew, and that first night of the Tet offensive, we just knew something was going to happen.

You could feel it in the air.

[sounds of explosions] TIM: We lost six planes during the Tet offensive to ground fire, to rockets and mortars.

And we lost five people while I was over there.

One of them was killed on the first night of the Tet offensive.

He took an AK-47 round to the head.

The Tet offensive informed me that the war was unwinnable.

The smartest thing we could do was to get us the hell out of there and stop the bloodshed.

NARRATOR: Going from Vietnam into a college classroom, Tim felt shunned, disconnected from his generation.

But it was the shooting of his fellow students that pulled Tim back into battle.

TIM BUTZ: I lost friends in the Tet Offensive, I lost a friend on May 4th, and both those things have had life changing aspects for me.

I can understand men dying in a war.

That's what wars are designed to do, is kill.

But going to a demonstration on an American college campus, that's not a capital crime.

Two of the four students that were killed weren't even at the demonstration.

They were just walking across campus when the National Guard opened fire.

NARRATOR: Tim was a casual friend of Allison Krause, one of the four students killed that day.

TIM: She was a kind young woman.

She had so much to offer the world.

How do you not be angry over that?

It was all unnecessary.

NARRATOR: Tim left school and began working for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, becoming one of the most respected behind the scenes leaders of the movement.

TIM: Yeah, that's Kerrey, that's me... I was a logistics kind of guy.

NARRATOR; And he was getting noticed - the FBI had developed a thick file on his activities.

TIM: At no time, the file indicates, did Butz urge violent acts against the government.

How can you advocate violence when you've been to Vietnam.

It just don't work.

The FBI was spying on everybody back then.

Among my circle of friends, having an FBI file is kind of a badge of honor.

NARRATOR: Tim realized he wasn't simply a protester or anti-war activist but more of a social justice advocate.

In the late 70's, Tim moved to Nebraska, got married and spent the next 30 years of his career working as an advocate for the disabled, fair housing, and the Nebraska ACLU before finally retiring in 2014.

EMCEE: It is an honor for the Department of Nebraska to honor Mr.

Tim Butz with the 2017 Distinguished Service Award.

(applause) NARRATOR; This year, the state chapter of the Disabled American Veterans honored Tim for his volunteer efforts.

TIM: It's really a sense of duty to help other veterans.

TIM on phone with Vet: DAV, this is Tim... TIM: I saw the way we were treated, the VFWs and the American Legions didn't want us because we were losers.

You can tell me what you were doing there and I understand it perfectly but the VA rating officials don't.

TIM: There were barriers with the VA... (going through files) We're going to want to know how heavy a load you were carrying, VET: Okay.

how often this happened.

TIM: That just seemed unwilling or unable to address our needs.

TIM: These rating officials that are going to be looking at it, they weren't in Vietnam.

TIM: Being able to knock down some of those barriers for current veterans is highly rewarding.

And perhaps a little bit of revenge.

NARRATOR: With retirement, Tim has earned the right to slow down.

But that's not how he and his wife Barb are wired.

TIM: Can you check on a status of a claim for me?

(screen door opening) TIM: I enjoy a cold beer on a warm porch, but there's some things that just have to get done in life.

And this is one of them.

BARB JESSING: You retire and you get out, as if this were something to be done with and to be over, but there's a way of thinking about it, which is what are you saving yourself for?

You know, this is part of what you do.

If you save energy and emotion or whatever, for what?

It's being spent and used in a really good way.

TIM: Life is good.

As long as I have two feet running, I'm going to stay busy and I'm going to do something that benefits others and gives me a sense of satisfaction.

These are my glory days, not when I was 19.

Right now, these are my glory days.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Watch more Nebraska stories on our website, Facebook and YouTube.

Nebraska Stories is funded in part by the Margaret and Martha Thomas Foundation, and the Bill Harris and Mary Sue Hormel Harris Fund for the presentation of cultural programming.

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