Abstract
This lecture series was inaugurated in 1994 in honor of Fr. John Markoe, of the
Society of Jesus, and the Omaha De Porres Club he founded on November 3,
1947, in what is now the Schleich Room on the 4th floor of Creighton Hall. Fr.
Markoe, a member of the mathematics faculty, mentored that club through the
1950s and into the 1960s. The club was made up mainly of students from
Creighton and other area colleges. Named after Saint Martin De Porres, the
patron of social justice, the objective of the club was the realization of racial
justice in Omaha. The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Martin De Porres
on November 3.
What made the Omaha De Porres Club so remarkable was its use of nonviolent
but militant tactics several years before similar boycotts, sit-ins, and marches
garnered headlines in the South, especially under the leadership of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Before Dr. King and the civil rights movement achieved national
and even international prominence, Fr. Markoe and the De Porres Club stirred
consciences and challenged racist attitudes and segregationist practices in Omaha.