Collections

This collection contains documents related to South Bend, Indiana attorney David W. Albert's involvement as the legal representative for Brookins, et al. in the lawsuit of Brookins v. South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) starting in 1980. The Brookins party alleged that the SBCSC and its representatives had engaged in various acts of discrimination with the intent and effect of segregating students and faculty on the basis of race in the South Bend, Indiana public school system. After the SBCSC decided on a desegregation plan, the Brookins party argued in court that the proposed plan would involve closing schools in the system that were racially integrated or could be easily integrated, therefore working against the goal of desegregation. The collection includes legal documents from the proceedings of the case itself; research files utilized by Albert to gather and present statistics and data about racial distribution within the South Bend community and schools in the SBCSC; and research into legal precedent established by prior cases related to school desegregation. The collection also includes minutes from SBCSC Board of Trustees meetings from 1977-1987 and documents related to the SBCSC Community Advisory Committee that was formed to provide community input on the formation of the desegregation plan, including Albert's participation in the Facilities Subcommittee in the early 1980s.

Mr. J. Chester Allen and his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Fletcher Allen, were prominent African American attorneys in the South Bend, Indiana area. The Allens lived a relatively privileged lifestyle; however, they were very aware that their privilege necessitated a responsibility to help other African Americans who suffered injustices – social, economical, and educational. As lawyers, they worked within the system and with such groups as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Urban League (among others) to bring about positive social change. Their efforts brought an end to the Engman Natatorium's exclusion of African Americans, and they helped bring equity to war contracts in Michiana industries for both African Americans and women during World War II. Their family law practice often took on pro-bono cases for those who could not afford lawyers of their caliber.

This collection contains newspapers created by and related to the students of Indiana University South Bend, spanning a date range from 1950 to the present. Noteworthy titles in the collection include The Preface (1969-present), the university's preeminent and longest-running student newspaper, and IU Center News (1950-1962), the university's first student-run publication. The collection includes several other shorter-lived IU South Bend student publications, as well as other area newspapers that have been collected because of IU South Bend student, faculty, and/or alumni involvement.

This collection contains academic campus bulletins outlining degrees and classes offered at Indiana University South Bend, as well as early Indiana University extension courses offered in the South Bend-Mishawaka area before the establishment of IU South Bend as a stand-alone university, from 1915 to the present day. Campus bulletins contain information about the curriculum at Indiana University South Bend, as well as administrative leadership, academic policies, and general information about the campus. Campus bulletins are an excellent resource for tracing the history of degrees and classes offered at the university over time.