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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.

Nazareth

Pennsylvania

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?
Possible
Was there an ordinance?
Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
Sign?
Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Don’t Know

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
1930
1940
1950
1960 6209 1
1970
1980
1990 5713 2
2000
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Police or Other Official Action

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

According to a historian at the local historical society, she has never heard, seen, or read anything definite about sundown practices in Nazareth. There does, however, seem to be a persistent urban legend that black people were not allowed to buy homes in Nazareth until recently because of Moravian Church dictate.

She added that on the surface, the urban legend has no truth to it, however, twentieth-century Moravians have never dictated who can live in a community in so many words. But, like many stories, there may be a kernel of truth somewhere that was misunderstood. From 1740 until 1857, Nazareth was a closed Moravian community, meaning that only members of the church could live here, including blacks and Native Americans.

She concluded by noting that the collection at the historical society contains nothing pertinent to this topic.