Near the end of World War II, at age four or five years old, Abdul Nur moved from Elkhart, Indiana, to South Bend. Despite the short distance, Abdul experienced a huge cultural shock. For the first time, he was surrounded by children from multiple racial and cultural groups. Abdul went on to experience multi-ethnic spaces throughout his time at Central High School and into the Air Force.
As early as middle school, Abdul began a deep education into Islam that eventually led him, as an adult, to convert and take on the name Abdul Nur. These experiences led him to get involved in civil disobediences in Nashville, Tennessee, fighting for justice during the height of the 1960s civil rights movement. With a degree from Indiana University South Bend, Abdul became involved in several activist groups here from the 1960s through the 90s.
In 2001, IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center students Andrea Sheneman and David Healey sat down with Mr. Nur. They spoke about his early experiences in South Bend’s schools, his learning and conversion to Islam, and how that all informed his actions for justice.
This episode was produced by Donald Brittain from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at IU South Bend, and by George Garner from the 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/.
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