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 LGBTQ Center. As the Center approached its twentieth anniversary, Dr. Jamie Wagman and students from Saint Mary’s College students preserved the history of the Center by conducting oral histories of fourteen people who were foundational to the Center’s evolution. 

For the Center’s anniversary gala in 2025, Dr. Wagman and student Phoenix McClellan pulled clips and organized them into this presentation.

Featuring the voices of some of the many people whose time and dedication have shaped the LGBTQ Center throughout its two decades, including Rhonda Redman, Hank Mascotte, Phillip Schatz, Meghan Buell, Eli Williams, Drew Gardner, Nancy Mascotte, H.R. Jung, Michael McMillion, Krista Cox, Angela Hankins, Kathryn Kirk, J.D. Schock, Jamie Morgan, Derek McDowell, and Rhiannon Carlson.

This episode was produced by Dr. Jamie Wagman and Phoenix McClellan from Saint Mary’s College, by Jon Watson and Caleb Matz from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center. 

Full transcript of this episode available here.

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/. 

Title music, “History Repeats,” from Josh Woodward, used via CC-BY-4.0-DEED. Visit his website at https://www.joshwoodward.com.

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 she undertook to get her barber’s license, to opening her famous shop in South Bend, Indiana. 

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. 

Full transcript of this episode available here.

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/. 

Title music, “History Repeats,” from Josh Woodward, used via CC-BY-4.0-DEED. Visit his website at https://www.joshwoodward.com.

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 would cover 20-year chunks, talking about the people who inspired him, and some of the many figures in local African American history that he spent so much of his life learning about and sharing. 

In this episode of "South Bend’s Own Words," we feature parts of that heartfelt conversation. With stories from over a century and a half, John Charles shares his rich family history and personal experiences. He takes us back to the 1850s, recounting his family’s journey from North Carolina to South Bend and the legacy of his ancestors, Rebecca and Farrow Powell, who were pivotal in establishing the first African American church. 

Topics include: 

Childhood Memories: John Charles reminisces about growing up on Main Street, attending Olivet A.M.E. Church where his mother was an organist, and his cherished relationship with his parents.

Cultural Identity: He shares personal experiences of racial identity, discussing his light skin tone and the societal dynamics he navigated in both majority Black and white communities.

Career and Challenges: He shares candid stories about his professional life, including facing discrimination at the University of Notre Dame, as well as the life lessons he learned from family and friends.

Multigenerational Impact: Reflecting on the changing landscape of South Bend, John Charles speaks on the cultural shifts and the loss of Black businesses post-desegregation, while highlighting his efforts to give back through scholarships.

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. 

Full transcript of this episode available here.

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/. 

Title music, “History Repeats,” from Josh Woodward, used via CC-BY-4.0-DEED. Visit his website at https://www.joshwoodward.com.

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 Beatty was a frequent patron, and he shares his personal experiences of coming out, his family’s reactions, the challenges he lived through, and some of the other LGBTQ+ spaces that the community in the 1990s and beyond called their second home. 

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. 

Full transcript of this episode available here.

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/. 

Title music, “History Repeats,” from Josh Woodward, used via CC-BY-4.0-DEED. Visit his website at https://www.joshwoodward.com.

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 and evolution of the Latine community here.  

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.  

Full transcript of this episode available here.  

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/.  

Title music, “History Repeats,” from Josh Woodward, used via CC-BY-4.0-DEED. Visit his website at https://www.joshwoodward.com.  

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. 

This episode is the first of a new format for “South Bend’s Own Words,” featuring more of the back story behind the history. We hope you enjoy the switch. 

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

Full transcript of this episode available here.

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/. 

Title music, “History Repeats,” from Josh Woodward, used via CC-BY-4.0-DEED. Visit his website at https://www.joshwoodward.com. 

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 make this city change—real stories told by them, in their own voices.

Look for the first of the new episodes to arrive in this same podcast feed on June 12, 2024. And please, tell a friend to subscribe. We’d love more people to hear our city’s history told in “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. 

Full transcript of this episode available here.

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/. 

Title music, “History Explains Itself,” from Josh Spacek. Visit his page on the Free Music Archive, http://www.freemusicarchive.org/. 

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. 

Full transcript of this episode available here.

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/. 

Title music, “History Explains Itself,” from Josh Spacek. Visit his page on the Free Music Archive, http://www.freemusicarchive.org/. 

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. 

Full transcript of this episode available here.

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/. 

Title music, “History Explains Itself,” from Josh Spacek. Visit his page on the Free Music Archive, http://www.freemusicarchive.org/.