A Family Reunion Drew 500 People To An Omaha Park. It’s Been Going For Over 100 Years.

As he pulled into Levi Carter Park on Sunday, Paul Bryant’s eyes started welling up with tears. The Omaha native moved to Atlanta some years ago, and lately he has made a point to return home every summer for the Bryant-Fisher family reunion.

But after enduring major surgery and suffering a series of strokes, his survival was far from certain. “I didn’t know if I’d ever be here again to see this and these people,” Bryant said, recalling the emotional moment he arrived at the picnic. 

He and roughly 500 relatives joined this year’s Bryant-Fisher reunion Aug. 7-9, the 109th installment of a summer tradition for one of Nebraska’s most prodigious families. 

Family historian Arlett Brooks estimates the number of blood relatives across the nation at 3,000-plus. “We are the largest documented Black family in the Midwest. We take pride in knowing that.”

The family history that Brooks preserves is intertwined with the nation’s history. After the abolition of slavery, relatives migrated from the Deep South to Omaha, drawn by railroad and meatpacking jobs. 

Historical matriarch Emma Early Fisher Bryant convened the inaugural family picnic in 1917 in Mandan Park near the original family home in South Omaha as a send-off for sons going to fight in World War I.

“The more I learned about my family, I realized we were part of history,” said family member Jacqueline Walker. “Railroad workers, steel workers, factory workers, farmers, war veterans, grocery store owners.”

Fast forward to today, the family’s ranks include Ph.D.s, CEOs, entrepreneurs, ministers, authors and at least one celebrity — Gabrielle Union.

Brooks, like her mother before her, maintains the family history book the Bryant-Fishers regard as a second bible. What used to be shared as oral tradition has been written down with the aid of genealogical research that extends back to the late 19th century. Brooks records births, deaths and achievements in an updated version every five years. Copies are greatly prized and closely guarded. 

“Not to be blasphemous, but it’s like the book of life,” said cousin Marc Nichols. 

Bryant-Fishers of a certain age are expected to know which of the 12 family branches and nine generations they belong to. In case they don’t, Nichols said, the book is “the word.” 

Nichols was in his late 20s when an aunt impressed upon him the dimensions of who he descended from. She asked him if he knew his family — how it was made up. When he said “no,” they went through the book “cover to cover.”

He has done the same with his children and plans to do it with his grandkids. It’s an oft-repeated ritual throughout the family.

“Now for me, it’s our heritage, our lifestyle, our history and more importantly our future,” he said. “How we treat family today dictates the legacy we leave behind.”

Arlett Brooks is grooming daughter Makida Brooks to assume the archivist role. 

“It was instilled in me at a very young age how important family is and how important the connections are to build and to keep intact,” Makida Brooks said.

With age comes appreciation for the intensity of these ties, especially when compared to other clans. Darwin Flowers said the magnitude of it didn’t hit him until he mentioned the reunion tradition to acquaintances and co-workers. They all reacted with amazement, Flowers said, and he realized “that this is a blessing we’ve been born into.”

“So it became a really big deal at that point realizing we have something that sets us apart from most families and it’s something we have to keep … making a priority so that it doesn’t go away.” 

Many family members still reside in Omaha, where it’s common to regularly bump into cousins, aunts and uncles. Sizable groups live across the nation, like Paul Bryant in Atlanta. Some enclaves host their own reunions that Omahans travel to. 

In a family full of traditions, the most time-honored is the picnic. Then and now, its touchstone event is a dawn fish fry.

Mandan hosted the first 74 reunions before the event outgrew it. Most since then have been at Carter Lake. It has become a bedrock for family unity and renewal.

Jacqueline Walker recalls being at Mandan as a girl and the adventure of its Missouri River overlooks, woods and hills.

“My grandfather Henry Walker took us grandkids to the morning fish fry. He and Uncle Chester caught the fish we had for breakfast with nets from a boat on the river. We had buffalo, crappie, bluegill and carp.”

Even now, the Johnson branch has designated members catch fish, often weeks in advance, that they freeze to cook on picnic day.

Children’s races staged early on remain a tradition. A dance contest was held for many years.

As the family has grown, so has this heritage renewal, which now plays out over multiple days. 

The 109th kicked off with a casual Friday meet and greet at the downtown Embassy Suites. Some made a night of it out and about in the Old Market. The celebration continued into Saturday with a party at the North Omaha Elks Lodge. Individual families convened their own private celebrations around town. 

Then came the marquee event: the Sunday picnic. Collapsible canopies sprouted up alongside the lake, with some branches flying a banner displaying their name (Johnson, Hodges, Williams). Pit masters worked barbecues, deep-fryers and smokers.

The reunion itinerary has served as a model for the biennial Native Omaha Days, whose sponsoring Native Omahans Club was co-founded by a Bryant-Fisher — the late Bettie McDonald. 

When the reunion and Native Omaha Days coincide, “the Days flow right into the reunion and many Bryant-Fishers from out of state plan their summers to be there for both celebrations,” said cousin Teela Mickles. In those milestone years, 700 or more gather. For the centennial in 2017, 850 to 900 turned out.

Some family members refuse to miss a reunion. Arlett Brooks has missed one — she was in labor with one of her daughters. Patriarch George Wright, perhaps the oldest living male member at 87, has never missed one, even when he lived in Minnesota. He’s not alone in a lifetime of perfect attendance. Military members have come from overseas.

Strong women like Mickles, an ordained minister with 79 grandkids and great-grandkids, have played a pivotal role in keeping the family together.

“We are a family built on love, tradition, strength and resilience. Witnessing women persevere, carry families on their backs … lifts me up when I feel discouraged or defeated,” said Makida Brooks. “Just knowing the stock that I come from, I know I can do anything. It empowers me.”

Motivated women and men took charge at the recent picnic, many sporting T-shirts emblazoned with “Bryant-Fisher” and/or “Dozens of Cousins” — the latter the name of the club created to organize the reunions.

A long-standing tradition observed there was the outdoor worship service. It’s traditionally led by a minister in the family, and this year, cousins Mickles and Cheryl Bowles did the honors. 

Some folks skipped the morning feed and worship to attend service at their family church. The big turnout came for the soul food dinner from midday till dusk. With hundreds milling about, some swaying to music, the scene resembled a concert crowd. 

In her family, Arlett Brooks took over cooking from her mom, and now Makida and her sisters prepare the handed-down recipes for ribs, greens, mac and cheese, cornbread and all the works.

The good eats encouraged what Marc Nichols called “fellowship,” as kin went from tent to tent sampling home-cooked dishes, telling stories and sharing memories. In a family for whom connections matter, members ensured elders and kids engaged. There’s nostalgia, too, he said, for “those who aren’t with us anymore.”

Reconnections between loved ones occurred the entire reunion weekend, variously expressed in warm embraces, high fives, handshakes, laughs, shrieks and tears. Phone cameras captured these emotional scenes.

Planning will soon commence for the milestone 110th. Makida Brooks plans to be there. Like countless other Bryant-Fisher descendants, she remains determined to keep the tradition alive for her kids and, eventually, her grandkids and great-grandkids.

“I feel very grateful and blessed to be a part of this family,” she said, “to experience this love, this history and these traditions.”

This story was originally published by Flatwater Free Press, an independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories in Nebraska that matter. Read the article at: https://flatwaterfreepress.org/a-family-reunion-drew-500-people-to-an-omaha-park-its-been-going-for-over-100-years/