Tom Singer, lawyer and ally, on discrimination in South Bend

About this episode

Tom Singer discusses his experiences and advocacy against discrimination in South Bend.

As a student athlete in Central High School, Tom Singer saw how his African American teammates had very different experiences than he did. This observation fueled his work as an ally in the 1960s civil rights movement. Tom leveraged his law degree to challenge discrimination, filing a case against a local gym that charged African Americans more for memberships, challenged discriminatory treatment against incarcerated Muslims, and many other actions that pushed for real, meaningful change. As Tom looked back on the changes from the 1960s into the 21st century, he saw progress. He also saw a need for more. His story reveals the ongoing struggle for racial justice in South Bend. _____ This episode mentions a 1963 Testimony on Fair Housing held at the University of Notre Dame. Click here to see text from that. You can also listen to the full oral histories of Audrey and Dr. Bernard Vagner as well as Dr. Roland Chamblee . This episode was produced by Jon Watson from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the Civil Rights Heritage Center. Full transcript of this episode available here . Want to learn more about South Bend’s history? View…

People in this episode

Guest: Tom Singer

Topics covered

• civil rights
• discrimination
• racial justice
• South Bend history
• law and advocacy

Keywords

• Tom Singer
• civil rights movement
• discrimination
• South Bend
• racial justice
• law degree
• 1960s

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Central High School, University of Notre Dame, Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, Civil Rights Heritage Center

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