Alma Powell

South Bend's Own Words

Alma Powell left her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, when she was two years old. Her father worked for Studebaker by day, and with his family, ran Nesbitt’s Club and Casino by night. Despite the name, it was a music and a social hall, holding local political rallies and community conversations as well as nationally known musicians.

There were, as Alma said, few career paths for an educated young Black woman. Teaching was one of them, and Alma’s career as an educator and administrator is distinguished. She is the first African American woman to serve as principal of a South Bend school, and in 1980, she was chosen to lead the South Bend School Corporation’s desegregation efforts. Additionally, she served in leadership roles in her beloved Olivet A.M.E. church, in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and during the formative years of the transformation of the Engman Natatorium into the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.

In 2012, Dr. Monica Tetzlaff sat down with Alma Powell. They talked about her growing up, her family’s business on the west side—specifically, the Lake—as well as her years of leadership, especially as an education administrator.

This episode was produced by Nathalie Villalobos and George Garner from the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center.

Full transcript of this episode available here.

Want to learn more about South Bend’s history? View the photographs and documents that helped create it. Visit Michiana Memory at http://michianamemory.sjcpl.org/.

Title music, “History Explains Itself,” from Josh Spacek. Visit his page on the Free Music Archive, http://www.freemusicarchive.org/.