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?
- Surely
- Was there an ordinance?
- Don't Know
- Sign?
- Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
- Year of Greatest Interest
- Still Sundown?
- Probably Not, Although Still Very Few Black People
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | 1910 | 1 | ||||||
| 1940 | ||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | 5800 | 0 | ||||||
| 1980 | 5349 | 0 | ||||||
| 1990 | 5541 | 5 | ||||||
| 2000 | 9273 | 8 | 37 | 28 | 67 | |||
| 2010 | ||||||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Threat of Violence
- Violence Towards Newcomers
- Private Bad Behavior
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
Email 1/2008
Racism is still evident in Mooresville. Confederate flags fly on poles at many houses and in the back of cars and trucks. Racial slurs are still used in conversations about African Americans. A youth-oriented dance club (called J2) was forced to shut down a few years ago after residents constantly complained about “inappropriate behavior” from the patrons of the club (who were overwhelmingly black teenagers from Indianapolis). An African American family would undoubtedly feel very uncomfortable living in Mooresville.
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email 1/8/2008:
I moved to Mooresville from indianpolis in 1978, witnessed the racism for myself, blacks would not get served at McDonalds, and even witnessed orders being taken from customers behind them, until they just left, also experienced the shock when, a black woman approached me when i was on my lunch break as a freshman in highschool to ask where the nearest bank was, so i told her, and my fellow students were appalled i actually spoke to her, i was raised in a liberal houshold in indianapolis and didnt move there until i was 13. There are many many stories like this, i moved away, at the age of 18 (1985) so i am unaware of how it is currently. But i did know and work for known Klan members on the local farms. And actually the experience had an positive impact for me, because seeing the gross hatred and negativity, caused me to work especially hard to understand and learn about people of all cultures, and accept them. I decided i did not want to be one of those ugly hateful people I grew up around.
***
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The KKK was active in Mooresville, and one resident remembers that Mooresville had a sign, “No Niggers in the Valley,” and white gangs would run blacks out.