Negro in South Bend: A Social Study

The first in the On Their Shoulders series of South Bend regional Civil Rights books, this volume is a new edition of a 1922 text long out of print, written by a Black minister, on the socioeconomic conditions of South Bend's African American population. A book of this kind is unique in the South Bend area; larger cities tended to attract more interested journalists and social commentators, so Gordon's presence here in our relatively small community was an anomaly. Though he lived in the city for only five years, Gordon was instrumental in the establishment of Hering House--a facility which would remain a social center for the Black community of South Bend for decades to come. His book is an essential document for understanding the nuanced civil rights history of South Bend.