Civil Rights Heritage Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Civil Rights Heritage Center (CRHC) is an institution established by Indiana University South Bend as a result of student interest and faculty support as a center for the study and documentation of local civil rights history. Through community involvement, students, faculty, and community members joined forces to push for the restoration of a public building known for its policy of racial discrimination against African Americans as a center for the study of civil rights.
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Now housed in the former Engman Public Natatorium – South Bend, Indiana's first swimming pool that excluded and then segregated against African Americans for almost thirty years – the CRHC is dedicated to the preservation of the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the history of race and ethnic relations in the South Bend area, and seeks to provide education, research, and forums, while examining human rights principles and challenges for future generations.
Located within the West Washington National Historic Register District, the Engman Natatorium opened in 1922 as a public swimming pool that limited use to whites and was not fully integrated until 1950. The Natatorium closed in 1978, and sat for decades in a state of disrepair. Thanks to the efforts of students and faculty from Indiana University South Bend, the City of South Bend, the South Bend Heritage Foundation, and the Indiana University Foundation, the building underwent extensive renovations and now functions as the home of the Civil Rights Heritage Center.[1]