1. In 1964, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln hired its first African American faculty member, Dr. Samuel DuBois Cook. Cook went on to have a distinguished career at the university, serving as the first African American dean of Duke University.

2. On June 28, 1918, Nebraska was struck by a deadly tornado that killed 20 people and destroyed much of the town of Chester. The tornado was part of a larger outbreak that caused widespread damage across the Midwest.

3. In 1898, renowned author Willa Cather graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in English. Cather's novels, such as "My Ántonia" and "Death Comes for the Archbishop," are celebrated for their portrayals of life on the Great Plains.

4. On June 28, 1944, the U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Nebraska, a battleship that saw action in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The ship was decommissioned in 1947 and ultimately scrapped in 1962.

5. Nebraska became a state on March 1, 1867, but it wasn't until June 28 of that year that the state's first governor, David Butler, took office. Butler's tenure was marked by controversies over state finances and politics, but he went on to serve in the U.S. Senate from 1875 to 1881.