The Black press of South Bend · The Reformer, and the papers that were not this city's

1967 –

A weekly of the community's own, verified from two directions: South Bend's Black newspaper of record was The Reformer, founded in 1967 — the Notre Dame Scholastic of 15 December 1967 already calls it "a weekly newspaper," in the act of covering the Phillips fund — and described by the Reparatory Justice Commission as a paper that "catered to the Black community as well as other marginalized groups." Its pages carried the movement's working apparatus: a "Free Legal Help" column that directed readers facing employment discrimination to the law firm of J. Chester and Elizabeth Allen; coverage in 1967 of community demands including more vocational training; and the Urban League's presence under its slogan "Not alms but opportunities." The Fort Wayne lesson applies to everything earlier: papers from other cities are not this city's. The Indianapolis Recorder photographed the Allens in 1942 and covered South Bend as Indiana's Black paper of statewide reach — it is Indianapolis's paper. The Chicago Defender, the Chicago Daily Tribune and the Pittsburgh Courier carried this city's episodes — the 1923 flight, the 1924 Klan clash, the 1936 pool ruling, the 1949 Hampton dance — because the national Black press and the Chicago dailies treated South Bend as part of their field; none was published here. No South Bend-published Black newspaper before The Reformer

Sources:

1. City of South Bend, Final Report of the Reparatory Justice Commission (2026), Part VIII — The Reformer's founding in 1967, its community, its "Free Legal Help" column and the Allens, its 1967 demands coverage and Urban League slogan.
2. Notre Dame Scholastic, 15 December 1967 — The Reformer as "a weekly newspaper," contemporaneous corroboration of its 1967 existence.
3. Indiana History Blog, Allen series — the Indianapolis Recorder photograph of the Allens, 25 July 1942, as the boundary case: coverage of South Bend by another city's paper.