Lowell Heights Olivet REDRAFT NRform revised with plans

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Lowell Heights-Olivet African Methodist Episcopal Church St. Joseph County, IN Name of Property County and State Sections 9-end page 18 attorney-elect for the fight against the Ku Klux Klan when the organization fought to stop the building of First A.M.E. Zion Church. Planning meetings for that were held at Olivet. During the 1950s, YMCA programming for the city’s African American population were held at Olivet while members of the congregation led to the desegregation of South Bend’s Public Natatorium.6 In 1957, the Olivet congregation hosted a concert at the Morris Civic Auditorium by noted songstress Mahalia Jackson. During the 1960s, workshops and testimony on fair housing were held and received at Olivet and congregation member, Fred Coker, became state president of the NAACP.7 In 1968, the congregation participated in a city-wide rally on civil rights. The rally included Mrs. Frankie Muse Freeman, the only woman appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The congregation hosted “A Pageant on Negro History” during the rally. Also in 1968, upon the death of Martin Luther King, Reverend O.L. Powell, pastor of Olivet during the 1960s, led a march in South Bend.8 The pastor at the time of the move to Notre Dame Avenue, Reverend Roderick Johnson, led South Bend’s local civil rights organization during the 1960s, but stepped away from its leadership to focus on the congregation’s new home. The assistant pastor in 1970, L. J. Perry, was elected the first African American president of the city’s Rotary Club.9 On December 16, 1971, the Olivet congregation celebrated the church’s 100th anniversary.10 Under the leadership of Reverend Clarence G. Robinson, the $60,000 mortgage on the Notre Dame Avenue building was paid off and burned in April 1976 after a celebration banquet was held at the Indiana Club in South Bend. The building on Notre Dame Avenue continues to serve the Olivet A.M.E. congregation today as they celebrate their 150th year anniversary (2020) and near the building's centennial in 2023. Developmental History/Additional historic context information 6 Powell, Alma. Interview with South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Archivist Scott Shoger 7 Powell, Alma. Interview with South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Archivist Scott Shoger 8 Powell, Alma. Interview with South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Archivist Scott Shoger 9 Powell, Alma. Interview with South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Archivist Scott Shoger 10 Bryant, John Charles Official Olivet A.M.E. Church History 1870-2020