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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.

Richland

Washington

Basic Information

Type of Place
Independent City or Town
Metro Area
Politics c. 1860?
Unions, Organized Labor?

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Surely
Was there an ordinance?
Don't Know
Sign?
Don’t Know
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Surely Not

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 23548 189
1970
1980
1990
2000 38708 530
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

“From 1949 to 1953 we lived in Richland, WA… One
thing that struck me was that Richland was not
integrated in those days, there were no blacks allowed
in the town. The town was small, it was safe…
[Blacks] couldn’t live in the town, and I don’t know why
that is or was.”
-former Richland resident

Of the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco,
“There were no blacks allowed in Richland or
Kennewick.”

A college student who grew up in Richland reports
that Richland had about 20 blacks when he was in
high school. “There were racist jokes told in my
presence.”

“Did I feel safe growing up in Richland? Yes. Did I
feel deprived? Not necessarily. Did I have any idea
what the rest of the world was like? No way. The first
African American to graduate started high school in
1956, two years after I graduated. And is Richland still
‘lily white’? Yeah, pretty much so.”
-former resident

“My understanding is that in Richland it was not so
much actual in writing covenants as it was corporate
(and perhaps earlier government) policy. You couldn’t
live there unless you worked at Hanford. Thus, if no
blacks were hired, no blacks would be living there.”
-Richland resident