Description
In 1922, the city of South Bend celebrated its first swimming pool opened to the public. The Engman Public Natatorium drew nearly ten thousand admissions in its first 60 days, even accounting for a 12 day period in which “a ‘clogging’ of the sterilization machinery forced the closing” of the pool. [1] Despite the pool’s location in an integrated neighborhood and the prominent placement of the word “public” in the name of the facility, the Engman Natatorium served a very specific public: the white citizens of South Bend. [2]
As early as 1931, black community leaders in South Bend began organizing efforts to end this segregation. [3] Black youths in the city had very limited options when it came to recreational activities; some restaurants, stores, and privately owned parks refused to cater to South Bend’s black community, or severely restricted the hours or activities they were allowed to partake in. [4] The levying of a tax in 1936 by the South Bend Common Council “in order to repair cracks in the building” of the Natatorium inspired legal pushback from the black community. [5] Although they were not allowed to enjoy the accommodations at Engman, black citizens of South Bend had to pay the tax. [6] Black lawyer J. Chester Allen “led the charge to file a successful petition to desegregate the facility,” protesting to the state that since the pool was taxpayer-funded, it should not be segregated. [7] The result of this legal battle was the opening of Engman Natatorium to black swimmers on Mondays only, beginning in October 1936. [8]
For 14 years, Engman Public Natatorium was still a largely segregated space where black swimmers could be denied entrance when it was “not their day.” [9] In 1950, lawyers J. Chester Allen, Elizabeth Fletcher Allen, and Maurice Tulchinsky represented the local NAACP branch at a meeting of the South Bend Parks Board. [10] There, they threatened legal action unless the facilities were integrated immediately, and the Parks Board relented. [11] Beginning in 1950, Engman Public Natatorium became a truly public institution, serving all citizens of South Bend. After years of use, the pool fell into disrepair and required costly maintenance, and was closed by the South Bend Parks Board in 1978. [12]
Since 2010, the former Engman Public Natatorium building has housed the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center (CRHC). [13] The CRHC functions as a community space, and also serves as “a living museum that simultaneously preserves and honors past struggles for civil rights and social justice in the northern Indiana region while initiating and supporting contemporary efforts to advance the unfinished fight for justice.” [14] The CRHC houses a permanent exhibition which discusses the struggle to integrate Engman Public Natatorium. In a collaboration with the Franklin D. Schurz Library at Indiana University South Bend, the CRHC has worked to gather and preserve oral histories, historical documents and artifacts, and other primary source materials that trace the social, cultural, and political contributions of underrepresented communities in South Bend and northern Indiana. [15] Where the divisive pool once stood in the Engman Public Natatorium building, the Civil Rights Heritage Center has planted a peace garden, creating a unifying space for all residents of South Bend from a place of historic segregation. [16]
Source
[1] “City’s Youth Finds Pleasure Daily at the Natatorium,” The South Bend News-Times (South Bend, IN), Sept. 10, 1922.
[2] “A Look Back: Civil Rights for All,” South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN), Jan. 16, 2017.
[3] Ibid.
[4] “Civil Rights Pioneer Barbara (Vance) Brandy 1,” St. Joseph Public Library Michiana Memory, January 18, 2017, http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16827coll13/id/132/rec/15.
[5] “A Look Back: Civil Rights for All,” South Bend Tribune.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.; “Civil Rights Heritage Center,” Indiana University South Bend, accessed October 1, 2019, https://clas.iusb.edu/centers/civil-rights/index.html. [8] “A Look Back: Civil Rights for All,” South Bend Tribune.
[9] “Ruth Tulchinsky, Voice of the People, February 13, 2009,” St. Joseph County Public Library Michiana Memory, February 23, 2016, http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16827coll4/id/2451/rec/10.
[10] “Ruth Tulchinsky, Short Statement on Visiting the South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center, 2010,” St. Joseph County Public Library Michiana Memory, March 22, 2016, http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16827coll4/id/2452/rec/6.
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Civil Rights Heritage Center,” Indiana University South Bend.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] “Ruth Tulchinsky, Short Statement on Visiting the South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center, 2010,” St. Joseph County Public Library Michiana Memory.
Contributor
Student Author: Allison Hunt
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey