Cyrus D. Bell

Cyrus Dicks Bell[1] (August 1848 - October 21, 1925) was a journalist, civil rights activist, and civic leader in Omaha, Nebraska.

[14] Bell again expressed his frustration at the Republican Party in Nebraska for failing to promote black candidates for elected and appointed offices in February 1879, writing in opposition to a letter by Benjamin Fulton.

[15][16] In a March 30, 1879, celebration of the anniversary of the ratification of the 15th amendment at the Masonic Hall, Bell and another prominent Omaha ex-slave, Edwin R. Overall, spoke.

[17] Bell, along with John Jeffcoat and Silas Robbins, led the Afro-American Bimetallic League in Omaha during the pro-growth/pro-inflation Free Silver movement of William Jennings Bryan in the late 1890s,[18] and Bell played a prominent role in the Negro Interstate Free Silver League headed by George Edwin Taylor.

[19] Bell considered Bryan a friend, and praised him in his paper, but joined the majority of Blacks in endorsing the McKinley Hobart ticket.

Other leaders at the meeting were J. O. Adams, Price Saunders, E. S. Clemens, Cyrus D. Bell, W. B. Walker, Parker, Alfred S. Barnett, W. G. Woodbey, F. Lewis, Dr. Stephens, Alfonso Wilson, Fed Thomas, Silas Robbins, and Dr. Matthew Ricketts.

Ricketts initially opposed the idea that whites could be allowed in the league, fearing they could dominate it, but Walker supported that clause convincingly.

The motion was especially disliked by delegates who did not live in Omaha[25] Bell frequently took part in local meetings to discuss the condition of African Americans.

Overall, Dr. W. H. C. Stephenson, Wilson, and Gamble were selected as delegates, with Curry, John Lewis, Calvin Montgomery, and P. Hampton as alternates.

[27] In the early 1890s, local leaders James Alexander, Matthew Rickets, Richard Gamble, and Bell were outspoken in condemnation of the lynching in Omaha George Smith (aka Joe Coe, a convicted rapist) and threatened lynching of Sam Payne (convicted murderer of Maud Rubel).

[29] Edwin R. Overall, John Albert Williams, and Cyrus D. Bell worked to bring a convention of the National Colored Personal Liberty League led by Henry Clay Hawkings to Omaha August 17, 1898 during the Trans-Mississippi Exposition.

In 1892 or 1893, Bell established the Afro-American Sentinel[34] and in 1893, George F. Franklin began publishing the Enterprise (later owned and edited by John Albert Williams).