Chalfant Heights, Twyckenham Drive and Chalfant Street
A neighborhood on the city's east side developed by black realtor William Morris.
Audio Clip:
Audio transcript:
Click here to read audio transcript
[CRHC.SBCRH.063] South Bend Civil Rights History collection, Civil Rights Heritage Center Collections, Indiana University South Bend Archives.
Before the passing of the open housing legislation as part of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1968, it was legal in South Bend and in much of the United States to openly discriminate against African Americans by refusing to sell them houses. Many places in South Bend explicitly banned the selling of homes to people who weren’t white, although non-white people could be brought in as domestic servants. According to a 1959 US Civil Rights Commission study of conditions in South Bend, Fort Wayne, and Indianapolis, “The area of discrimination in housing in Indiana is probably the greatest blight we are facing in the problems of discrimination affecting the Civil Rights Commission.” In the early 1960s, Chalfant Heights was developed by William Morris, an African American realtor, as a place of quality housing for African Americans. The neighborhood consists of 11 homes, which are still present. Although laws are now in place designed to ensure equal opportunities for housing, the reality is that these laws are difficult to enforce, and housing discrimination continues largely unchallenged through today.