Summary: In this first episode of IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center's podcast, "South Bend's Own Words," Dr. Bernard and Audrey Vagner share their experience moving to South Bend, and their lives in this city over many decades. Dr. Bernard Vagner grew up near Shreveport, Louisiana, a place notorious for the frequency with which citizens used lynching as a method to terrorize and enforce racial segregation against people of color. He studied medicine at Xavier University with a goal of becoming a surgeon, but instead became a well regarded general practitioner. He was also key in several efforts to desegregate South Bend, particularly in the 1968 effort to pass a city wide fair housing ordinance.
