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James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.

Follansbee

West Virginia

Basic Information

Type of Place
Independent City or Town
Metro Area
Politics c. 1860?
Don’t Know
Unions, Organized Labor?
Don’t Know

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Probable
Was there an ordinance?
Don't Know
Sign?
Don’t Know
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Probably Not, Although Still Very Few Black People

Census Information

The available census data from 1860 to the present
Total White Black Asian Native Hispanic Other BHshld
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920 3135 0
1930 4841 8
1940 4834 6
1950 4435 4
1960 4052 0
1970
1980
1990 3389
2000 3115 6 11 11
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Threat of Violence
  • Other

Main Ethnic Group(s)

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

“Threat Against W. Va. Families Is Laid To Klan,” Pittsburgh Courier, 10/27/1923.

“A dozen or more families were Tuesday night preparing to leave the mill town of Follansbee, WV, … because of a warning painted on a tin mill fence facing the quarter Monday night.
The message was painted shortly after two fiery crosses were burned on the hill overflowing the colored section. Officials of the town credit the Ku Klux Klan with the warning.
Race citizens for years were excluded from the town, but recently many colored families were brought in by industrial concerns.
The families announced their intention of leaving.”

As of 2000, the African American population of Follansbee is .2%. American Indian/Alaskan natives and Asians each make up .4% of the population.