Black History Month: Fugitive slave case first heard in South Bend court — 1850

South Bend Tribune
·1 min read
The cover of a book, released in 1873, on the South Bend fugitive slave case.

Lucy and David Powell, along with their four children, escaped their northern Kentucky enslaver, John Norris, and made their way through Indiana to Cassopolis, Mich. Norris abducted and attempted to return with several of the family members. He was stopped in South Bend and forced to plead his case in court. Initially, he was unsuccessful as a local abolitionist attorney, Edwin Crocker, and a sympathetic judge sided with the Powell family who were then able to return to Cassopolis. Read more about this incredible case in the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center’s African American Landmark Tour at aalt.iusb.edu.

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