Black History Month: Elizabeth Fletcher Allen — circa 1930s to 1970s

Born in Chicago, Elizabeth Fletcher earned a degree from Talladega College before going to Boston University. One of the first Black women to practice law in South Bend, possibly the state of Indiana, Allen used her law degree to advocate for justice. In addition to battling to desegregate the Engman Public Natatorium, Allen criticized the 1935 shooting of an unarmed African American man, Arthur Owens, by a white South Bend police officer. She even wrote to (and received a reply from) then-first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to encourage integrated housing. Decades before Ruth Bader Ginsberg championed the role of women in the legal profession, Allen set that precedent here in South Bend.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Black history facts