We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.
Historical Database of Sundown Towns Select a state from the map below to view a list of sundown towns FL MI ME NY PA VA WV OH IN IL WI NC TN AR MO GA SC KY AL LA MS IA MN OK TX NM KS NE SD ND WY MT CO ID UT AZ …
Publication of Sundown Towns opened up an entire new area of study in history, sociology, geography, and related fields. Intrigued by their prevalence, Guy Lancaster studied sundown towns across Arkansas for his Ph.D. and it then became a published book. Now that we know that thousands of communities went sundown, there is room for many more, …
A database contributed by people across the nation underlies these maps and the tables you can generate. You can help by sending in information you have about towns new to us, or new information about towns we list. Historical Sundown Towns by State This map rests on a database entered by Loewen, Berrey, and students, …
Dozens of students, from middle-schoolers in Ohio doing a project for National History Day to grad students finishing dissertations in Arkansas and the suburbs of Los Angeles, have worked on confirming sundown towns. Loewen supervised a series of undergraduates at the University of Illinois, usually working in pairs. Other professors led entire seminars on sundown …
Sundown Towns in the Arts Matt Ruff’s novel Lovecraft Country – which was also adapted into an HBO series – pays homage to the legendary fantasy/horror writer H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) while at the same time attacking his severe white supremacy. Sundown Towns prompted the book. “Sundown in Southern Illinois” “Sundown Town” in Fayetteville, AR “No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs” …
Using Research Information to Helpa Sundown Town Overcome Its Past A first step in opening up sundown towns and suburbs is to show how they became all-white. Often decades of obfuscation have made that difficult. Leaders of a sundown town often do not want their town’s racial history known. For one thing, the stark racism …
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Sundown Towns The best introduction to sundown towns – cities, towns, counties, even whole subregions that for decades were all-white on purpose – is of course the book Sundown Towns. It is also available audibly. From Maine to California, thousands of communities kept out African Americans (or sometimes Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans, etc.) by force, …
Essay 14: How to Teach the Nadir of Race Relations Recognizing that inaccurate history often subtly promotes continuing white supremacy, the National Education Association (NEA) commissioned these articles and has posted some of them in slightly different form at its website. I thank Harry Lawson and others at NEA for the commission, for editorial suggestions, and …
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Because there were thousands of sundown towns and suburbs in the United States, I have not been able to confirm them all. I hope this website helps to nurture a genre of “sundown studies,” because much remains to be investigated. The sheer extent of the problem needs study. Did a given town or county develop …
This happy student became a finalist in the National History Day “exhibits” competition. Sixth graders on Springfield, IL, prompted a new “Race Riot Walking Tour.” Middle-school students in Ohio did award-winning local research on sundown towns for National History Day. A lawyer in DE researched the “Reverse Underground Rail Road” and got two new state …