History, race are the focus of two authors' lectures at IU South Bend
The Heritage Center
Local historian David Healey and author Lisa Swedarsky will speak about their new books during a Nov. 6 lecture at Indiana University South Bend.
Healey will discuss the shifting context of race and civil rights in South Bend and throughout the country. Swedarsky will speak about a community center in South Bend that was staffed entirely by blacks but yet admit black members for nearly 40 years, from 1925 to 1963.
The two authors' talks on their new books (both published by Wolfson Press) will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, in the fifth floor atrium of the Franklin D. Schurz Library on the IU South Bend campus. The event will also include a timeline and photo exhibit of the Engman Natatorium. The South Bend natatorium is currently being renovated for the Civil Rights Heritage Center, which will be used for research, outreach and programming.
Healey reintroduces a book first published in 1922, The Negro in South Bend, A Social Study and the Quest of Restless Souls by Buford F. Gordon, a pastor of the First AME Zion Church in South Bend. Healey will talk about Gordon, his writing, the shifting context of race and civil rights in South Bend and the country.
Swedarsky, who researched Hering House on the west side of South Bend, will speak about her book, A Place with Purpose: A History of Hering House, 1925-1963. The community center was the focus for the black citizens and was staffed entirely by blacks, yet no members of the community served on the center's board of trustees.
Healey has both a bachelor's and a master's degree from IU South Bend. Swedarsky has a bachelor's degree from Ball State University and a master's from IU South Bend. Both Healey and Swedarsky participated in the Freedom Summer bus trip through historic site in the South and were members of the Civil Rights Heritage Center. The heritage center developed after students returned from the bus trip and determined there was need to continue the lessons learned from their journey.
Wolfson Press, which is named for longtime IU South Bend Chancellor Lester Wolfson, is an outgrowth of the Master of Liberal Studies Program and the interest in public writing. The press published two other books in late 2007, And Now, Michiana Chronicles and Kurt Simon: Businessman and Benefactor. All of its books are intended to enrich and deepen the campus' relationship with the region.
For more information or to RSVP for the event, call Laura Fox at 574-520-4183. To learn more about Wolfson Press, visit http://wolfsonpress.wordpress.com/.
