South Bend's Own Words

A Mississippi native who moved to South Bend in 1944 speaks about Black businesses on the west side. 

Elmer Joseph came to South Bend from a resort community in Mississippi. His family was financially well off, yet still deeply impacted by Jim Crow segregation. He attended an all-Black school—and experienced a huge culture shock when he moved to South Bend to attend Central High. 

Elmer remembers some of the many west side Black businesses around Linden Avenue.* He even opened up a business of his own, running a tavern on Chapin and Western. 

In 2003, Civil Rights Heritage Center historian David Healey sat down with Mr. Joseph. They talked about his experiences growing up on the west side, and what life was like for a Black business owner here in the mid-twentieth century. 

* Quick note: During the recording, the host says Linden Street instead of Avenue. He must have had the last episode with Odie Mae Streets on the brain and got his wires crossed.

This episode was produced by Jon Watson from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

A 1931 graduate of South Bend’s Central High School talks about her experiences growing up in a resort town of Kentucky, and the discrimination she experienced as a white-passing African American woman both in the south and in South Bend. 

Odie Mae Johnson Streets was born in Chicago before moving with her family to Dawson Springs, Kentucky. In the 1920s, she moved to South Bend both so her father could find work at Studebaker and so she could go to school beyond the sixth grade—a common end point in formal education provided to most Black students in Dawson Springs. 

In 1996, Odie Mae sat down with her niece to record her life’s story. She spoke about growing up in Kentucky and Indiana, challenging racial discrimination at Central High School by joining the swim team, seeing South Bend’s Birdsell Street evolve into a multi-racial neighborhood, and how her four children lived their own lives in South Bend and beyond. 

This episode was produced by Nathalie Villalobos and by George Garner from the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Gail Brodie lived her entire life in her beloved west side community. She even has an honorary street named after her. 

Her mother, Annette Brodie, was a long-time community activist during the late 1960s. Annette pushed city leaders to provide basic services, like paving their dusty, dirt streets. Gail took on her mother’s community work and became as trusted, and as vital a resource. 

As a generational homeowner, Gail had a privilege and a perspective of the west side of South Bend, Indiana different than some of her neighbors. 

In 2007, Doctors Les Lamon and Monica Tetzlaff, along with student Derek Webb, sat down with Gail. They talked about her upbringing in the shadows of her mother’s community leadership, her unique perspectives on the community’s evolution, and how she answered her own call to community service. 

This episode was produced by Nathalie Villalobos by George Garner from the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Andre Buchanan grew up in South Bend’s east side African American community in a house that, today, is threatened by the rampant construction of the Eddy Street shopping areas right by the Trader Joe’s. During the mid-1940s, when he was in the fourth grade, Andre was one of the first students of color to attend Saint Joseph Catholic grade school. Despite living and going to school on the east side of town, his family worshipped on the west side at the multi-racial Saint Augustine’s Church. Andre’s father even helped build Saint Augustine’s. 

In 2007, Indiana University South Bend student Imani Ingram and professor Les Lamon sat down with Andre. They talked about his different treatments between predominately white and Black South Bend schools, his experiences with discrimination at the Natatorium, and his perspective as part of the east side African American community. 

This episode was produced by Jon Watson from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Over the past two years, doctors Jamie Wagman and Julia Dauer from Saint Mary’s College collected local stories of those impacted by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. 

Last year, they gave a public presentation with clips from some of the narrators who graciously shared their stories. They did it again this past September at the Saint Joseph County Public Library with new narrators sharing a different set of stories. 

We shared the first presentation as a special on this feed last year, and we’re doing so again now. 

Ruperto Guedea lived the majority of his life in the United States straddling multiple cultures. Born into a small mining community in northern Mexico during the late 1930s, his mother and father brought their family across the border just after World War II. His first school was openly hostile towards Spanish speakers yet did not teach him English. After moving to Chicago, he fit right in with the Polish and other European immigrant families who also knew no English. He met and married a woman whose Mennonite faith traditions were significantly different than his. Together, they got involved with the new influx of Mexican and Central American immigrants that transformed the Elkhart and Goshen area into a multi-lingual and multi-cultural community. For Ruperto, it meant reflecting on his personal transformation between his Mexican, American, and Mennonite cultural identities. 

In 2007, Indiana University South Bend’s Cynthia Murphy sat down with Ruperto. They talked about his parents, his youth in Mexico, and his incredible journey over six decades in the United States.

This episode was produced by Nathalie Villalobos and George Garner from the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Alma Powell left her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, when she was two years old. Her father worked for Studebaker by day, and with his family, ran Nesbitt’s Club and Casino by night. Despite the name, it was a music and a social hall, holding local political rallies and community conversations as well as nationally known musicians. 

There were, as Alma said, few career paths for an educated young Black woman. Teaching was one of them, and Alma’s career as an educator and administrator is distinguished. She is the first African American woman to serve as principal of a South Bend school, and in 1980, she was chosen to lead the South Bend School Corporation’s desegregation efforts. Additionally, she served in leadership roles in her beloved Olivet A.M.E. church, in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and during the formative years of the transformation of the Engman Natatorium into the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

In 2012, Dr. Monica Tetzlaff sat down with Alma Powell. They talked about her growing up, her family’s business on the west side—specifically, the Lake—as well as her years of leadership, especially as an education administrator.

This episode was produced by Nathalie Villalobos and George Garner from the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

The daughter of migrant farmworkers, Rebecca Ruvalcaba witnessed the growth of the Latines community from a few originators, like her father, Benito Salizar. Rebecca’s parents instilled in her a desire to learn, and to serve. She adapted to a late-in-life diagnosis of dyslexia to earn degrees from Indiana University South Bend and the University of Notre Dame. She became a social worker, a director of La Casa de Amistad, and served in various leadership roles at the University of Notre Dame. 

In 2018, Rebecca sat down to talk about her roots in South Bend’s migrant farm community, her growth as a learner and a leader, and her continued passion for serving her community. 

This episode was produced by Nathalie Villalobos and George Garner from the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

In the 1940s, professional baseball segregated players both by race and by gender. The All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League, and our home team, the South Bend Blue Sox, famously upset rigid gender discrimination and opened pro-ball to white women. But only white women.

For a talented young athlete like Renelda Robinson, the opportunity to play ball came from a café owner on Birdsell Street in South Bend’s west side. Uncle Bill’s All-Colored Girls Softball team brought young players on adventures across the Midwest.

In 1987, Renelda sat down to talk about her years in baseball’s spotlight.

This episode was produced by Nathalie Villalobos and George Garner from the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.

Additional thanks to Ryan Olivier and the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend.

Near the end of World War II, at age four or five years old, Abdul Nur moved from Elkhart, Indiana, to South Bend. Despite the short distance, Abdul experienced a huge cultural shock. For the first time, he was surrounded by children from multiple racial and cultural groups. Abdul went on to experience multi-ethnic spaces throughout his time at Central High School and into the Air Force.

As early as middle school, Abdul began a deep education into Islam that eventually led him, as an adult, to convert and take on the name Abdul Nur. These experiences led him to get involved in civil disobediences in Nashville, Tennessee, fighting for justice during the height of the 1960s civil rights movement. With a degree from Indiana University South Bend, Abdul became involved in several activist groups here from the 1960s through the 90s.

In 2001, IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center students Andrea Sheneman and David Healey sat down with Mr. Nur. They spoke about his early experiences in South Bend’s schools, his learning and conversion to Islam, and how that all informed his actions for justice.

This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

At two public events in October 2022, doctors Jamie Wagman and Julia Dauer from Saint Mary’s College presented the results of an oral history collection project they’d been working on. The idea was to collect stories of real people in our community deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The full versions of these oral histories are preserved in the Civil Rights Heritage Center’s archives, but today we share audio from Drs. Wagman and Dauer’s public presentations.

Narrators include Mark Albion, Dea Andrews, Fr. Brian Ching, Stacy Davis, Nikki Hammond, Skyler H., Jennet Ingle, HR Jung, Andre Northern, Lauren S., Ramal Taylor, and Asa Wood.

This episode was produced by Jamie Wagman and Julia Dauer from Saint Mary’s College, Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend, and George Garner from the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.

One of the most fundamental human needs is shelter.

From the 1910s through the 1950s, many thousands of people of African descent fled the most brutal forms of economic, racial, and violent oppression in the U.S. South and sought refuge in South Bend, Indiana. Many white people did not warmly welcome them into their new homes.

African American people were largely only allowed to live in the city’s west side. Quickly produced, low-quality factory homes were one of the few choices for most African Americans. A lot of people were only able to make shacks out of old piano boxes.

As the city grew and evolved, some neighborhoods maintained white racial exclusivity by adding restrictions onto deeds that homes only be sold to other white people. In other neighborhoods, less overt, but equally effective pressures thwarted African American homeownership well into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Today, we hear from South Bend citizens who were simply trying to find a place to live. Narrators include Willie Mae Butts, George McCullough, Maurice Roberts, Charlotte Hudleston, Margaret and Leroy Cobb, Jack Reed, Audrey and Dr. Bernard Vagner, Tom Singer, Barbara Brandy, Ralph Miles, Glenda Rae Hernandez, and Federico Rodriguez.

This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

On June 29, 1922, several hundred people attended a special, two-hour evening opening of the new Engman Public Natatorium. By September, South Bend’s Parks Board estimated almost 10,000 people took advantage of the brand-new facility.

It is unclear exactly when the white people in charge of the Natatorium first denied entry to African American people—but they did. And as a taxpayer funded, supposedly “public” facility, it became a focus of local civil rights action by a group of doctors, lawyer, politicians, and other Black professionals pushing against an entrenched system of discrimination.

By 1978, the Natatorium was over fifty years old, and it was falling apart. Officials started asking whether it was time to shut it down.

Paul McMinn was just out of college then. Bob Goodrich offered him a job to run the Natatorium. Neither of them knew it would be the Nat’s last open season.

In 2018, I sat down with Paul and Bob, and also Bob Heiderman who taught classes at the Natatorium and other pools in South Bend.

As we’re now over a century since the Natatorium first opened, I thought it was fitting to hear Paul and the two Bob’s talk about the last days of the Engman Public Natatorium.

This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

Madeline Smothers was born in Rockville, Illinois, in 1917. By 1935, she joined members of her extended family living in South Bend’s east side, soon befriending people in power like lawyers J. Chester and Elizabeth Fletcher Allen.

At this time, South Bend was rapidly evolving—but for African Americans who left the South to chase factory jobs up north, they were still confronting the entrenched racism they hoped they were fleeing when they left the South. As entrenched as racism was, many people still pushed for change—including Ms. Smothers’ friends, the Allens. And the Allens’ young, fair complected friend Madeline was a palatable candidate for some of the first jobs held by African Americans downtown.

The trust she built led Ara Parseghian, the University of Notre Dame’s football coach in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, to ask Madeline and her husband for help recruiting and retaining Black athletes.

In 2003, David Healey sat down with Madeline in the east side home she lived in for decades. Madeline talked about the early days of South Bend’s growing African American community, her time with the Allen family, and how different her experience was as a light-skinned African American woman in South Bend.

This episode was produced by Jweetu Pangani from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

Jack Reed was about four or five years old when his mother moved him from Tennessee to South Bend. He absorbed a strong desire to work watching his mother clean other people’s homes. The job he desired most was as a state police officer. The Indiana State Police, however, did not hire African Americans.

Jack eventually served as the first African American Battalion Chief in the South Bend Fire Department, and then later got an offer from Mayor Joe Kernan to serve on a greater scale in his administration. Jack stayed on with the transition to Mayor Steve Leucke. From an office atop the County City Building, Jack had a unique view of how the city worked and tried to support its people.

In 2001, IU South Bend student Greg Balue and Civil Rights Heritage Center Director Les Lamon sat down with Jack Reed. They talked about Jack’s experiences with racism in this city, and in spite of his treatment, how he made his way up through multiple levels of city service.

This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

Dr. Les Lamon was a long-time history Professor at IU South Bend. In 2000, he started the Freedom Summer class that brought students on a bus tour through the civil rights movement in the U.S. South. David Healey was a student in that class. Inspired by his experience, he became an early founding member of the Civil Rights Heritage Center on campus and led the early Oral History program. His efforts preserved the life stories of dozens of local people— the very stories we’ve shared on this podcast.

David passed away in March 2010—two months too soon to see the results of his research and organizing to transform the former Engman Public Natatorium.

In May 2009, Les and David were on a road trip to Fort Wayne—and Les turned on the tape recorder. He and David talked about their inspirations as white men to study the African American civil rights movement, and about forming and leading the early days of the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

This episode was produced by Jweetu Pangani from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

In the 1970s, Ricardo Parra helped organize and direct a new midwest chapter of the National Council of La Raza, a progressive Chicano political advocacy group. Over the following decades, both Ricardo and his wife, Olga Villa, became integrally involved in South Bend’s growing Latinx community. They allied themselves with almost every local organization, like La Raza, El Campito children’s center, the former El Centro migrant advocacy center, and of course, La Casa de Amistad.

Olga was a strong leader, had a love for life, and deeply supported those who worked with her. In 2014, Olga passed away at the age of 71.

Four years later, in 2018, I sat down with Ricardo along with Valeria Chamorro from the Civil Rights Heritage Center. We talked about Ricardo’s arrival at Notre Dame, his life with Olga, and how the local Latinx community has grown and changed over the past fifty years.

This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center.

In 1952, three-year-old Ralph Miles moved with his family to South Bend after an uncle told Ralph's father that the Bendix company was hiring. 

Ralph’s special needs school gave him work well beyond his grade level. He left that school to attend Harrison and then Washington. The work was on grade level, and way too easy for him. Bored, and without appropriate emotional and learning spaces, he acted out. By the time he got to Washington High School, he turned to violence, particularly to combat racist white students. 

Eventually, Ralph was expelled for bringing a gun into school. 

He did not have a positive opinion of local Black leaders or Black organizations. He saw cronyism, colorism, and compliance with white people in power at the expense of people in his west side community. 

In 2003, Civil Rights Heritage Center historian David Healey sat down to talk with Ralph Miles. They discussed Ralph’s early years in his special needs school, his perspective as a disaffected high school student, and his critiques of South Bend’s Black elite. 

In the interview, both David and Ralph use words like “normal” and “regular” to describe Ralph’s first school—the one for students with special needs. We do not condone the use of those words, as they set a rigid and unacceptable definition of “normal”, and pits those that differ as somehow irregular or abnormal. 

This episode was produced by Jweetu Pangani for the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South bend, and by George Garner for the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.

In the 1920s, Lucille Sneed’s parents left Tennessee for South Bend to work at Studebaker. They were part of the first wave of African Americans migrating north chasing what they saw as opportunities in factory jobs. 

During World War II, Lucille’s brother was called into military service. Lucille took his place at the Studebaker factory. 

She stayed after her brother returned. Lucille learned how to sew with large, industrial machines to make upholstery and other fabric materials for thousands of Studebaker cars. She also learned how to navigate segregation in South Bend’s shops, theaters, and restaurants. 

In 2002, Civil Rights Heritage Center co-founder Amy Selner and historian David Healey sat down with Ms. Sneed. They talked about her work at Studebaker, her time at Central High School, and what South Bend was like in the middle of the 20th century.

This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Do you know someone whose story about South Bend should be preserved? 

We're seeking nominations for new oral history recordings. Every year, we'll invite about six people with unique, compelling stories to share how they experienced South Bend's past. 

In 1867, the people inhabiting what we now call South Bend established a corporation to run community schools. Today, few things are as important, or as fought over, as our public schools.

This episode shares stories from people who were children in South Bend schools from the early through late-mid 20th century, as well as stories from people who, as adults, fought for change. 

Narrators include Barbara Brandy, John Charles Bryant, Leroy and Margaret Cobb, Coleridge Dickinson, Glenda Rae Hernandez, George Hill, William Hojnacki, George McCullough, Federico Rodriguez, and Helen Pope. 

This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend; and George Garner from the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.

Dale Gibson was a long-time resident of South Bend, and a teacher at Adams and the former LaSalle High School. 

As a white man, he neither experienced nor recognized the segregation happening in South Bend. In college, an attempt to bring a Black friend to a local swimming pool sparked a life-long interest in the anti-war and racial justice movements. 

Dale was actively involved with South Bend’s First Unitarian Church. In the 1960s, they were vocal against the war in Vietnam and in favor of African American equality. It’s likely that outspokenness provoked someone to bomb the church in 1968. 

Marguerite Taylor is a long time resident of South Bend’s north east side. She’s the daughter of Renelda Robinson, a neighborhood leader honored as the namesake of the Robinson Community Learning Center. As a girl, Renelda got to travel by playing softball for a local chapter of the The American Negro Girls Softball League. She did this when sports not only segregated women, but the few white women’s teams—like the All American Girls’ Professional Baseball League—refused to accept African American players. 

In 2003, Marguerite Taylor was joined by Charlie Howell to speak with the Civil Rights Heritage Center’s Les Lamon and David Healey. They talked about Renelda Robinson, and the incredible changes they’ve witnessed in South Bend’s near north east side. 

Jerome Perkins was one of the first African Americans to serve as a police officer in South Bend, serving from 1952 to 1972. Back then, just like now, deep frustrations over African Americans’ treatment at the hands of police grew ever deeper. Jerome answered a call from the Mayor who hoped to improve community relationships by installing more Black officers.

In 2003, David Healey sat down with Officer Perkins to discuss his life and his career. Officer Perkins did not loudly call out any police injustice; however, there is some subtle context in here. He spoke of the segregation between white and Black officers, the racist behaviors he endured, how white people received far softer treatment for similar offenses, and how the frustration felt by over-policed Black people boiled over. 

This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend; and George Garner from the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.

Savino Rivera, Sr. is a bilingual educator and coach with two decades of service to the South Bend Community School Corporation. He's the child of two migrant farm workers. When his father left the family, his mother continued farm work to support him and his nine brothers and sisters. With her working almost every hour almost every day, and with no history in the U.S. school system, Savino had to navigate high school, college, and his career on his own. 

Mr. Rivera built a career providing support for local immigrant students in the South Bend Community School Corporation working under the late Maritza Robles, a celebrated school board member and advocate for local Latinx students. 

This episode was produced by Joey Meyers from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend; and George Garner from the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Jeannette Hughes' father taught church history. The job meant she and her family moved to many different college towns around the U.S. Being part of a fundamentalist faith group, Jeannette had little conception of a transgender identity. She had, as she called it, “a normal boyhood.” Still, she knew that she wanted her cousins to call her “Sandy,” and felt more herself sitting down to use the bathroom. 

As Jeannette became an adult and traveled the world, she began understanding more about the trangender experience. She eventually settled in Goshen, adopted her true gender identity, and even found a faith community that embraced her. 

In 2015, Jeannette sat down with Dr. Jamie Wagman from St. Mary’s College. They talked about her parents and the fundamentalist faith community they shared, and how discovering a transgender serving store in Chicago changed her life. 

This episode was produced by Joey Meyers from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend; and George Garner from the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Willie Mae Butts was born in West Virginia. She came to South Bend in 1952 when her husband decided to open a medical practice along West Washington. 

Willie Mae devoted so much of her time—to working with her husband’s medical practice, to raising her children, and to many local causes, including as the first African American woman elected to South Bend’s Human Rights Commission. 

In 2003, Willie Mae sat down with IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center’s David Healey. They talked about her early days along South Bend’s west side, how hard it was for her and others to find jobs and housing, and how tirelessly she worked organizing for change.  

This episode was produced by Joey Meyers from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend; and George Garner from the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Ben Johnson is best known as one of only thirty people who served all eight years in President Bill Clinton’s administration. 

His parents were sharecroppers from Arkansas who moved to South Bend when Ben was a young child. Ben spent many years here, and became a strong advocate in the fight for African American equality. That advocacy brought him into contact with people in power. It encouraged him to try and gain that power to use for his community. In 1971, he became the first African American man to run a serious campaign for South Bend’s Mayor. 

In the late 1970s, Ben left South Bend for Washington, D.C. to serve in local government. Eventually, he was chosen by President Bill Clinton to serve on the national stage. 

In 2003, Ben talked by phone to IU South Bend professor Dr. Les Lamon. They talked about his activism in South Bend outside systems of power, and how he moved to positions of power from inside those systems. 

This episode was produced by Joey Meyers of the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend, and George Garner of the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Bishop Donald L. Alford is a staple along South Bend’s Western Avenue. He’s the founder and pastor of Pentecostal Cathedral Church of God in Christ, and also the founder and owner of Alford’s Mortuary. A lifelong resident of South Bend, Bishop Alford graduated from Washington High School in 1957. 

In 2007, Bishop Alford sat down with Indiana University South Bend professor Les Lamon, and student Sara Lowe. They talked about Bishop Alford’s life and his work, and the changes he’s seen along Western Avenue over many decades. 

This episode was in the works right before and released during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. We're all staying safe and staying at home, and if you're in a position to do so, we hope you are too. 

Want to learn more about South Bend’s history? View the photographs and documents that helped create it. Visit Michiana Memory at http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/. 

Lois Clark is a tireless advocate for peace and justice. For four decades she served with the local Head Start, educating scores of children. As Mayor Pete Buttigieg put it when he honored Lois in 2013,"She has made an incalculable impact." But many in South Bend recognize her as one of the people who stand, or in Lois’ case, sit, on a downtown street corner protesting war. She hold signs that say “honk for peace,” and patiently waits for passers-by to do so. When they do, Lois smiles and waves. 

In 2016, Lois sat down with IU South Bend’s Dr. Monica Tetzlaff, Dr. Paul Mischler, and Jamie Morgan. They soaked up Lois’ wit and wisdom as she shared her philosophies on life, peace, and justice. 

Want to learn more about South Bend’s history? View the photographs and documents that helped create it. Visit Michiana Memory at http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/. 

Anita Roberts is descended from one of the first families of color in South Bend. Her grandfather worked as a foreman at the Studebaker wagon factory, and her grandmother as a domestic worker in the Studebaker family home. As an adult, Anita moved to New York to embark on a long career, first as a union activist and later as a representative for the International Council of Shopping Centers. She participated in one of the freedom rides, fighting against segregation in a Maryland lunch counter. She even got to meet some of the 20th century’s iconic civil rights leaders like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. 

Willie Coats lived almost his entire lifetime in South Bend, mostly on West Washington Street. As a child, he lacked the historical framework to understand the racism he  encountered. As an adult, and after he read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, he could put his experiences in context—like the racial slurs shouted at him by white neighbors, and witnessing a black man shot by police in 1967 and participating in the riots afterwards. 

Willie channeled his activism through groups like the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. He held symposiums, started community organizations, and even opened a black-centric bookstore about a block west of the Engman Natatorium. 

In 2005, Willie sat down with David Healey. Willie spoke about growing up in South Bend’s west side, and what the civil rights movement meant to kids like him.   

David Healey was a part of the first Indiana University South Bend Freedom Summer class in the summer of 2000. Fifteen students toured the southern U.S. to learn how the civil rights movement unfolded there. It changed the student's lives. Two of them decided to start a South Bend civil rights center, and they asked David to join. 

David got to work researching the history of the civil rights movement here. Among all the stories they uncovered, one of the most impactful was that of a once segregated South Bend swimming pool. With help from Gladys Muhammad, in May of 2010, the Natatorium was transformed into a new home for the Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Four months before that important day, David and Gladys sat down with IU South Bend student Sara Lowe. They spoke about the Center’s humble beginnings, and how their work has helped share a history that might have otherwise been forgotten. 

Father Theodore Hesburgh is an author, educator, and advocate for justice who served the University of Notre Dame for over three decades. Among his many actions, he served under Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon on the U.S. Commission for Civil Rights. 

In 2009, the day before the inauguration of the first African American President, he shared stories from his life and his work with the University of Notre Dame’s Dr. Richard Pierce, and Indiana University South Bend Development Director Dina Harris. 

Oscar Jones, Jackie Ivory, and Bobby Stone were heavily inspired by the Mississippi Delta blues they heard growing up. As teenagers, they’d sing doo-bop music on street corners on the west side of South Bend. It led to lifelong careers in music for both Bobby Stone and Jackie Ivory, and a lifelong love of music for all three. They performed together in what was known then as the “chitlin’” circuit, a network of clubs that played black music to almost entirely black audiences. As the blues was appropriated by white musicians, their lives changed. They played with local legends like the late Billie “Stix” Nix, and national treasures like Muddy Waters and Etta James. 

In 2003, they sat down with the Civil Rights Heritage Center's David Healey. They talked about their careers, about growing up in South Bend, and how the music borne from African American culture has changed the whole world.  

John Charles Bryant is descended from of one of the first African American families to call South Bend home. His ancestors moved here in 1858, seven years before the city officially incorporated. Every generation since has contributed things big and small to this city, and John Charles has detailed information about all of them. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of this city’s history—and he’s happy to share it. In 2001, he was the first person selected to be interviewed by the Civil Rights Heritage Center. We share part of that interview with historian David Healey about John Charles’ memories growing up, some of the first African Americans to make history, and his family’s legacy from over 150 years in South Bend. 

South Bend, Indiana residents have likely seen a group of people holding signs on a downtown street corner saying messages such as, “Honk for Peace." Reynaldo Hernandez is one of those people. He and his wife, Glenda Rae, have been active fighters for peace and social justice issues in this city for decades. Born in Texas to parents of Mexican heritage, Ray later pursued a life as a minister. When Glenda Rae told him that she did not want to be a preacher’s wife, he switched gears. He found an opportunity in South Bend to work for El Centro Christiano Communidad helping the city’s booming migrant farm worker population. In 2011, he sat down with Indiana University South Bend’s Monica Tetzlaff. They talked about Ray’s life story, and his views of himself as, in his words, an Anglicized Mexican American. 

Don Willman came to South Bend with his mother at a young age. He became involved in the theater program at Central High School under famed director James Lewis Cassady. Cassady helped open a love for theater that stuck with Don. 

As a teenager, Don met the love of his life. He and his partner Burt became both business partners, and life partners. They shared their lives for three decades until Burt’s death in 1998. Along the way, Don became a noted interior designer and artist. They also helped save the former Studebaker mansion from destruction. It’s reopened now as Tippecanoe Place, and operates as a restaurant. 

Don’s involvement in theater, antiques, and design in South Bend and Chicago surrounded him with people familiar with gay culture. As a result, his experiences as an out gay man were mostly positive. Don doesn’t remember experiencing any discrimination from his mother, nor much from his friends and colleagues. He was able to be open about his life and his relationship, while so many others never had that luxury. 

In 2014, Don told of his life’s work, his life’s love, and his experiences as a gay man living in South Bend. 

When Barbara Brandy was nine years old, a group of her family and friends tried to come into the Engman Public Natatorium to swim. At the time, the city-owned pool was segregated by day. Monday was the only day African Americans could swim. Barbara and her friends came after church on Sunday. The white man behind the ticket booth told them, “No.” 

This day was just one in the 68 years she spent in South Bend. The racism she faced, the life she was able to lead, and the stories she told, have inspired countless others. 

Paula Gonzalez came with her family to South Bend in 1948. They came through the migrant farm track from Texas. As a child, she spent a few months working with her family on the farms. She then spent the rest of her life with organizations that helped make migrant farm work safer and better. 

September 15 through October 15, 2017 is Hispanic Heritage Month across the United States. With so much uncertainty facing the children of undocumented workers who signed up for the DACA program, we urge you to take steps to support them. Call your members of Congress. Support local and national businesses that protect immigrants. Volunteer at a local organization. 

For more information on how you can support DACA recipients, visit http://www.lacasadeamistad.org/. 

Leroy and Margaret Cobb were two of the 26 people who fought severe housing discrimination in order to build a safe, stable, and wonderful neighborhood. The organization was called the Better Homes of South Bend.