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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.

Sterling Heights

Michigan

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?
Possible
Was there an ordinance?
Sign?
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?

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
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

Main Ethnic Group(s)

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

Used to be referred to as “Sterling Whites.”

Email from May, 2016: “Sterling Heights started in the late 1950s and early 1960s, my mother delivered the mail there and remembers there being no diversity at that time. There were parts plants for the auto industry, but it was to her knowledge uniformly white. During the 1970s, just before she left the area, some Chaldean families moved in, but there wasn’t any overt sign of trouble. In that way, Sterling Heights resembles Dearborn, not welcoming to African-Americans, but not necessarily as hostile to Middle Eastern families, particularly Orthodox Christian. It has a rather substantial Middle Eastern and Balkan community today, and a small black population.”