From the Omaha World-Herald

One hundred and fifty years ago Sunday, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act of 1862 and the landscape of America changed. 

To commemorate the anniversary, descendents of homesteaders from 30 states carried the state flag of their homesteader ancestor in a ceremony Sunday at the Homestead National Monument Heritage Center near Beatrice. 

Carrying the Louisiana flag for his ancestors is Harry Alford, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. 

Myron Long Soldier, pipe carrier and member of the Oglala Sioux from South Dakota, gave a prayer at the beginning of the ceremony.