In honor of Black History Month, the Barbara V. Brandy Foundation is partnering with the IUSB Civil Rights Heritage Center and Wolfson Press to launch a children’s book series about local civil rights icons.
The first book will tell the story of Barbara V. Brandy, who was turned away from the Engman Public Natatorium because she came on a day reserved for white swimmers.
It’s called “The Little Girl in the Red Bathing Suit” after the outfit she wore that day.
“She never wore the color red her entire adult life,” Barbara’s youngest son, Kenneth Brandy, said Thursday.
“I remember once hearing Mother saying, ‘I hate that color.’ Hate was a word that, as children, we were not allowed to use in our household,” he added. “Such a strong word. How does a color evoke life-impacting emotion?”
Barbara Brandy went on to become the first Black secretary at Robertson’s Department Store, the Bendix Corporation, Kaley School, Kennedy Elementary School and the St. Joseph County Engineering Department, where she retired.
Still, Kenneth Brandy said being turned away that day left a deep impact on his mother, and she never forgot the significance of color.
“Imagine if a color determined your life, determined your journey, determined your mindset and determined your choices,” he said. “Some of us are donned in a skin color that we can’t simply refuse to wear.”
Brandy said the book series is meant to help kids understand race in their own communities, whether they’re “children who live with the skin color” or those “that judge by the color they see.”
“Planting those seeds early can change the life of how someone sees other people,” he said. “You know, [ages] 7 to 9 — those are building blocks of how children see the world and what they take from it.”
“The Little Girl in the Red Bathing Suit” is set to be released next February.
Brandy said the goal is to release a new book each year focused on a different civil rights figure from South Bend. He said the series will likely be available at the county’s libraries and, hopefully, in school libraries.
Kelcey Ervick, an English professor at IUSB and director of the university’s publishing center, said the books are particularly relevant now, amid debates over what students should be taught about race and what should be available in public libraries.
“I think it’s really important to be telling these stories and just forwarding them on as stories — as our history, as the things that happened. And to get our students hearing about them,” she said.
“The Little Girl in the Red Bathing Suit” is set to be released next February.
Kids can now submit artwork for the book online. Reference photos are on the Barbara V. Brandy Foundation website.
Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo.
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