South Bend's Own Words

Over fifty years ago, a Notre Dame priest sought to become a literature professor. He ended up on another path, becoming an ally with South Bend's Latinx immigrant community and founding a youth and community service...

In the small, midwestern city of South Bend, Indiana, for members of the LGBTQ+ community, having a space for themselves is life changing. And for twenty years, people here have had that space. Today, it’s called the...

Ms. Adeline Wigfall-Jones’ west side barber shop has brought safety and built community for generations. Now in her 90s, Ms. Adeline shares her life’s journey from a small farm in rural Georgia, to the rigorous studies...

John Charles Bryant was a lifelong historian of South Bend's African American community. In 2021, after a colorful life of nearly 84 years, he reached out to us to record a series of four oral history interviews. Each...

With makeshift decor and a boom box for music, the original Seahorse was totally undistinguished, but it became a sanctuary for South Bend’s LGBTQ+ community seeking a place where they could be their whole selves. Tom...

After growing up in Puerto Rico, Joaquin Robles moved to South Bend, Indiana, and lived forty-plus years here. Joaquin talks about his experiences in this city, and his perspectives on multi-generational discrimination...

As the only African American Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) at South Bend, Indiana’s Memorial Hospital in the late 1960s, Charlotte Huddleston shares her perspective on racism in healthcare, housing, and in education...

Since 2017, for 54 episodes, you’ve been with us as we’ve gone back into South Bend’s history. And next week, we’re presenting a new format for “South Bend’s Own Words.” It still shares stories of people who worked to...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...