We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.
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 …
We have tried hard to get a photo of a typical sundown town sign, but so far without success. A graduate of the U of TN had a roommate from a sundown town who was proud of a photo of her taken next to her town’s sundown town sign, when it was still up. But …
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 …
Using Research Information to Help a Sundown Town Overcome Its Past Read More »
Truthful history lays bare those areas in our social structure marked by continuing injustice. Much of our culture has evolved to “explain” – really, to explain away – injustice. It is up to each of us to change our social structure and culture to eliminate racism, overt and subtle. Change the Calendar to Promote Better …
The photo shows police arresting Tougaloo College students who were trying to use the main Jackson (MS) Public Library in 1961. It was Mississippi’s first sit-in. By 1975 most examples of “de jure” segregation were gone from the Southern states. However, African Americans (and to a degree Native Americans, Latinx, and some others) still faced …
Civil Rights Movement to Modern Times: c. 1945 – Now Read More »
Finally we are beginning to tell the truth about slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Photos like this help. It shows U.S. troops and Black residents occupying Jefferson Davis’s former plantation in southwest Mississippi. The banner across the front shows how they felt about being there. The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader In 2010, just in …
Teaching Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction (to 1890) Read More »
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, …
History and Social Justice Inspired by James W. Loewen, sociologist, historian, citizen. Telling the truth about the past helps cause justice in the present. Achieving justice in the present helps us tell the truth about the past. James W. Loewen (1942-2021) We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the …