Born into the prominent Eagleson family in Bloomington in 1908, Elizabeth Eagleson Bridgwaters was a civic leader in the local African American community. Bridgwaters was the daughter of Preston Bridgwaters, the second African American to graduate from Indiana University.
Bridgewaters was an IU graduate with 87 1/2 hours of post-graduate classes.Nonetheless, the best job she could find at the age
of 56, when her husband became ill, was in IU food
service, a job that she held when elected to the school
board in 1969.
Bridgwaters was the first African American elected official in Monroe County and was elected to serve two terms on the Monroe County Community Schools Board (8 years; one as president). She oversaw the hiring of the first black teacher,
principal, counselor, and even school architect, as
well as spearheaded programs to help disadvantaged
children. She also served on the IU Staff Council. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Aurora Alternative High School (1995-2010) in Bloomington.
After leaving a position at the university, she served as the Director of the Neighborhood Development Office under the Federal Housing and Urban Development Office. She was a candidate for Mayor of the City of Bloomington and Indiana State Representative for the 51st District. She was appointed to three commissions under Governor Bowen and received the Sagamore of the Wabash Award from him. She was an active member of the National Council of Black Elected Officials. She compiled photo exhibits at the Mathers Museum and the Monroe County History Center. She was ordained as a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church at age 78 (the oldest to be ordained at that time) and was a local minister until fall of 1998, when she was diagnosed with cancer. She died in March of 1999."