Farmers blamed the railroads，banks and other business interests for their problems．Many farmers joined the new Farmers’Alliance organization，which opposed high freight costs imposed by the railroads．
Many Nebraska farmers also joined the Populist Party，which advocated agricultural reforms．The Populists nearly carried the state in the presidential election of 1892，and from 1895to 1901，they held the governor’s office．
Nebraska also supplied national leadership for the Populist movement．William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska won election to Congress and served two terms（1891－95）．In 1896，he unsuccessfully ran for president as a Democrat on an essentially Populist platform．He was nominated（提名，任命，命名）twice more as the Democratic presidential candidate but was not elected，although he served as U．S．secretary of state．
Following the Civil War，black people began to establish themselves in Nebraska．In 1860，there were an estimated 82black people in the state．By 1900that number had risen to 6，269．Most black people moved to Omaha，where chances were greater of finding work．Most opportunities for employment were found with the railroads，packing houses or other labor fields．The 1910teachers of music，and 14clergymen of black descent lived in Nebraska．
History books indicate that black people contributed to the settlement of Nebraska．In 1870，Robert Anderson was the first black person to homestead（家园，田产）in Box Butte County．Other homesteaders included L．B．Mattingly，who resided near David City；David Patrick，who lived in Hamilton County；and the Speece and Shores families，who settled in Custer County．
Black organizations such as the Women’s Club in 1895began to emerge（形成）in Omaha，as did newspapers such as the Progress，the Afro－American Sentinel and The Enterprise in the 1880s and 1890s．
Many black people distinguished（区别，辨别）themselves in public life：Dr．Matthew O．Ricketts was the first black person to serve in the Nebraska Legislature in 1892，Silas Robbins was the first black person to be admitted to the Nebraska State Bar Association in 1895，and Clarence W．Wigington was the first black person to design a home in Nebraska．
World War I had a notable（显著的，著名的）effect on life in Nebraska．The state furnished 47，801men for the war，and about 1，000soldiers were killed in the line of duty．The state also gave about 300million to war causes and contributed food to the war effort．Demand for the state’s farm products brought new economic prosperity（繁荣）．
But when the war was over，the economic boom collapsed．The 1929stock market crash caused farm prices to fall even further．The Great Depression that followed，together with a severe drought that hit the Midwest，created economic disaster for farmers．Many faced bankruptcy（破产）and loss of their land to banks and insurance companies．
However，some farmers refused to give up their land．By 1932，conditions had become so desperate（不顾一切的，令人绝望的）that groups of farmers began preventing foreclo－sures by threatening physical violence at public land sales．Sympathetic sheriffs（郡治安官，州长）often refused to carry out court orders for the public sale of land marked for foreclosure（丧失抵押品赎回权，排斥）．In 1933，Gov．Charles Bryan imposed a moratorium（延期偿付，延期偿付期间）on farm foreclosures．Federal aid came to Nebraska farmers through New Deal long－term，low－interest loans and other relief programs．
The end of World War II ushered in prosperity which has，for the most part，continued to the present day．In 1944，Congress passed the Pick－Sloan Missouri Basin Project，which authorized the creation of flood control dams，reservoirs（水库，蓄水池）and hydroelectric（水力电气的）plants in states drained by the Missouri River，including Nebraska．Spectacular（引人入胜的，壮观的）growth in irrigation has occurred across the state and，with the invention of the pivot（枢轴，支点）system，thousands of acres of dry land have been made productive．However，intensive irrigation and water pollution have caused concern about the future of the state’s water supply，generating controversy（论争，辩论）between land developers and environmentalists．
Since the 1950s，Nebraska farms have become larger in size and fewer in number．The average farm size has grown from 444acres in 1950to 885acres in 1997，while the total number of farms has dropped from 109，000to about 51，500．Machinery and modern farming methods have made agriculture more efficient，thereby decreasing the need for farm workers．This trend has caused many rural residents to move to larger communities in search of jobs．
This population shift has generated new efforts to increase industry in Nebraska．During the 1960s，manufacturing employment increased sharply，partly as a result of campaigns to attract new businesses to the state．Service industries also have experienced rapid growth．Expanding and diversifying（使多样化）Nebraska’s economy remains a top priority in state government today．
Nebraskans experienced some of the racial unrest（不安的状态，动荡的局面）more commonly associated with the country’s larger urban areas．Civil rights demonstrations in Omaha in 1963led to the creation of the Omaha Human Rights Commission，and in 1968and 1969，race riots required intervention by the military and the National Guard．
Many changes in education have occurred in Nebraska since World War II．The University of Nebraska was reorganized to include campuses at Lincoln and Omaha，with central administration at Lincoln．Kearney State College was added to the university system in 1991．A state－supported system of community colleges was created in 1971．Following passage of the Nebraska Educational Television Act in 1963，Nebraska became one of the first states to broadcast educational programming to the entire state．At the elementary and secondary level，many school districts have been consolidated，reflecting the decline in rural Nebraska’s population．