Map showing historical sundown towns in the United States by county. Map only includes places with verifiable instances of discrimination based on race listed in this article. A location's inclusion here is not necessarily indicative of this type of discrimination being present today.
Asundown town is a municipality or neighborhood within theUnited States that practices or once practiced a form ofracial segregation characterized by intimidation, hostility, or violence amongWhite people directed toward non-Whites, especiallyagainst African Americans. The term "sundown town" derives from the practice of White towns then erecting signage alerting non-Whites to vacate the area before sundown.[1] Sundown towns might include entire sundown counties or sundown suburbs and have historically been strengthened by the local presence of theKu Klux Klan (KKK), aWhite supremacist organization.[2] Discrimination practices commonly found in sundown towns became federally illegal during the 20th century.
Sundown towns could issue written warnings to non-Whites by way of signage, city ordinances, housing covenants, and notices posted in local papers or directly on the homes of non-White families and their employers. Violent means of expelling minorities from their communities may include the realization or threat of firing gunshots and dynamite into their homes, burning down their homes, placing bombs and performingcross burnings in their yards,mobbing them,lynching them, and massacring them.
Asundown town is an all-White community that shows or has shown hostility toward non-Whites. Sundown town practices may be evoked in the form of city ordinances barring people of color after dark,exclusionary covenants for housing opportunity, signage warning ethnic groups to vacate, unequal treatment by local law enforcement, and unwritten rules permitting harassment. Sundown towns in the United States include present communities that do not "socially accept" people who are not White. AlthoughAfrican Americans are primarily the focus of sundown town claims,Chinese Americans,Jewish Americans,Native Americans, andMexican Americans have also been subject to this discriminatory practice.[3]
Legally, municipalities cannot currently enforce restrictions or discrimination against people by race or otherprotected classes, but this has not always been the case. The 1948 United States Supreme Court caseShelley v. Kraemer outlawed the legal enforcement of restrictive housing covenants. Although theCivil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited housing discrimination and defined equal protection, enforcement of such provisions would not be codified until theCivil Rights Act of 1968. As such, any location that is listed below is not an indicator of that place practicing traditional sundown town rules today.
Arab, Alabama, historically had signage warning Black people to leave the town before dark and did not permit Black residents during the daytime either.[4][5]
Cullman County, Alabama, did not allow Black people by law from the 1890s to the 1950s.[6][7][8] Notices were posted on roads leading out of the county that read, "Nigger, read and run, don't let the sun go down on you in Cullman County."[9] According to formerSpeaker of the Alabama House of RepresentativesTom Drake, "there used to be signs on the railroad track, at the county line and all that. 'Nigger, don't let the sun set on your head in Cullman County.'"[5]
Tempe, Arizona, home to Arizona State University, once was considered a sundown town. This changed in the early 1960s. Tempe allowed Black people to work but not reside in the town from its founding in 1871 until 90 years later.[10]Warren and Carol Livingston became the first Black people to buy property in Tempe in 1965.[11][12]
May 2, 1904, newspaper article describing a race war in Bonanza, Arkansas
Bonanza, Arkansas, forcibly expelled "nearly all" Black residents between April 27 and May 7, 1904, by inducing terror through "as many as 500 [gun]shots" into the homes of Black residents.[13][14][15]
Harrison, Arkansas, was the site of two race riots in 1905 and 1909. In 1905, a White mob broke into the local jail to kidnap two Black prisoners, drive them outside the city, and whip them while threatening them to leave. In 1909, Charles Stinnett, a Black man, was sentenced tohang for the alleged rape of a White woman, and Harrison's White community expelled more Black people in its aftermath.[17] Stinnett died from strangulation as a result of a botched hanging fifteen minutes after it began.[17]
Hickory Ridge, Arkansas, segregated Black housing to a "slum" west of theCotton Belt Railroad. In 1910, as a response to a rape allegation, residents expelled Black people by throwing dynamite into their houses.[18]
Horatio, Arkansas, residents posted notices on the front doors of 17 Mexicans employed at a fruit company to leave town or face violent consequences on or about April 12, 1905.[19] The community had been excluding Black people from living there for years before.[19]
Marked Tree, Arkansas, was reported byThe Commercial Appeal in 1896 in an article stating that around eight years prior, the town had been a place where "no negroes were allowed to live in Marked Tree, and a delegation of citizens was organized to drive them out."[20]
Antioch, California, residents burned Chinatown and banned Chinese people after sunset when one doctor's report on April 29, 1876, pointed to Chinese sex workers for spreadingvenereal disease.[22]
Beverly Hills, California, was planned as an "all-White suburb" along with Culver City, Palos Verdes Estates, Tarzana, and others.[23]
Burbank, California, barred members of theCivilian Conservation Corps from locating a Black-owned business in Griffith Park in the 1930s on the grounds of an "old ordinance of the cities of Burbank and Glendale which prohibited Negroes from remaining inside municipal limits after sun down."[24]
Culver City, California, was planned as an "all-White suburb" along with Beverly Hills, Palos Verdes Estates, Tarzana, and others.[23]
Glendale, California, was a sundown town at least until the 1960s.[25] In 2020, Glendale's city council passed a resolution that formally apologized for its past sundown town status.[25]
Hawthorne, California, had a sign during the 1930s that read, "Nigger, Don't Let the Sun Set on You in Hawthorne."[26] Hawthorne's former status as a sundown town was mentioned by theLos Angeles Times in 2007.[27]
Hemet, California, was once a sundown town where Black visitors were allowed to work during the day but were not allowed to stay the night.[28]
Piedmont, California, had its first Black homeowners, Sidney and Irene Dearing, in 1925 after they bypassed the city'srestrictive covenants for housing by using a White family member to purchase their home.[29][30] The Dearings faced the threat of a 500-person mob who planted bombs on the property when the Dearings refused to leave, and when the chief of police, aKu Klux Klan member namedBurton Becker, chose not to protect the family, they were forced to sell the home back to the city.[31]
San Leandro, California, used racial covenants during a post-World War II development boom to prevent those not of White ancestry, especially African Americans, to own property or live in the city. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was nicknamed "the whitest city west of the Mississippi" for its nearly all-White population and continued racial restrictions on who could reside.Ku Klux Klan activity was publicly prominent until the late 1980s.[32][33]
Gulfport, Florida, had an informal policy that barred Black people from staying in the town after sundown that lasted until the 1950s.[38][39]
Jay, Florida, once had signs aimed at Black people that warned, "don't let the sun set on you in Jay."[40] Jay went from having 175 Black residents in the 1920 census to 0 Black residents in the 1930 census after a race riot that resulted from a dispute between a White man and a Black man over farm equipment.[40] Jay's history is portrayed in the 2024 documentaryWelcome to Jay.[41]
Ocoee, Florida, was the site of a1920 massacre that nearly eliminated its Black population.[42] The city issued a formal proclamation in 2018 that it was no longer a sundown town.[43]
Cumming, Georgia, once had bands of mounted men dubbed "Night Riders", an organization that spread beyond Cumming that had the ambition "to drive every negro out of North Georgia counties", in the months following the1912 racial conflict in Forsyth County, Georgia.[45] The Night Riders left notices on Black homes at night warning them to vacate, which was "sufficient to cause an exodus of the negroes."[45] By December 1912, Night Riders had begun posting notices on the homes of White farmers who employed Black farmhands, threatening that their barns and homes would be burned if they did not cease to protect their Black workers.[45]
Fitzgerald, Georgia, was a sundown town by 1900.[46] Its founders, some of whom were formerUnion army soldiers during theAmerican Civil War, had reportedly "met and solved the race problem by keeping the races separate and drawing, not only the color line, but the land line on the negro."[46]
Anna, Illinois, drove out its Black population in response to the 1909lynching of William "Froggie" James inCairo, Illinois, for the alleged rape and murder of Anna Pelley.[26][48] The city's name was colloquially used as an acronym for "Ain't No Niggers Allowed",[49][50] despite its namesake being Anna Davie, the town founder's wife. Signs warning Black people to leave before sunset were posted onIllinois Route 127 in the Anna and Jonesboro areas as late as the 1970s.[51]
Cicero, Illinois, was the site of a1951 race riot that took place when a mob of thousands of Whites violently protested a Black bus driver's family moving into the all-White suburb.[52] Cicero allowed Black people to work in the city but not live there as late as 1966.[53]
De Land, Illinois, board of trustees members acknowledged in 2002 that the municipality had passed a sundown ordinance for African Americans decades ago.[54]
Effingham, Illinois, had sundown signs that were removed by 1960 and prohibited Black people "beyond the railroad station and bus station" for sometime thereafter.[55]
Eldorado, Illinois, forced out its non-White residents with stone-throwing and gunfire into their homes during a 1902 race war, reportedly out of "fear that colored labor will be used in the mines which are being opened in that vicinity."[56]
Granite City, Illinois, had an unwritten sundown ordinance prior to 1967 according to former Mayor Donald Partney.[57] Partney described Granite City as having "no racial problems" at the time when it reported a White population at 45,000 and a nonwhite population at 90.[57] When Homer Randolph, then-chairman of the East St. Louis chapter of theCongress of Racial Equality, claimed that the city had a sundown ordinance, Partney stated, "When I became Mayor I went through our laws and found we do not have such an ordinance."[57]
Pekin, Illinois, was a sundown town unwelcoming for non-Whites.[58] Prior to theAmerican Civil War, Pekin had been a pro-slavery place.[59] It once hosted rallies for theKu Klux Klan, including one in August 1924 that attracted 25,000 to 45,000 attendees.[60]
Sandoval, Illinois, as of 1898, would "not allow any negro to live in their town."[62] When two Black carpenters arrived in the town to finish constructing a house in 1893, owing to a labor shortage, "a party of seventy-five waited upon them, threatening to lynch them if they did not move at once. Things were finally compromised, the men agreeing to leave town as soon as the building is finished."[62][63]
1902New York Times article detailing the last Black man to be forcefully driven out of Decatur, Indiana.
Aurora, Indiana, once had a sign reading, "Nigger, Don't Let the Sun Set on You in Aurora", which was removed before 1937.[64]
Bluffton, Indiana, residents have claimed that the city "once had an ordinance to keep blacks out", according to former Mayor Ted Ellis in a 2006 statement.[65] A Sikh restaurant owner and college professor was quoted in an archived newspaper clipping stating, "We don't wear turbans in Bluffton ... we speak English."[65] Bluffton has since joined the National League of Cities' Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities, and Ellis commented that "No matter how nice we are to one another, there still is an underlying current."[65]
Decatur, Indiana, drove its last Black residents away on July 13, 1902.[66] A month prior to the incident, "a mob of fifty men drove out all the negroes who were then making that city their home."[66] According to a contemporaryNew York Times article, "The colored man who has just left came about three weeks ago, and since that time received many threatening letters. When he appeared on the streets he was insulted and jeered at. An attack was threatened and he made a hasty exit."[66] The article further states, "The anti-negroites declare that as Decatur is now cleared of negroes they will keep it so, and the importation of any more will undoubtedly result in serious trouble."[66]
Elwood, Indiana, in 1897 was a place where Black people were not "permitted to remain any length of time."[67]
Goshen, Indiana, adopted a resolution on March 17, 2015, acknowledging and apologizing for its exclusion practices and policies.[68]
Greensburg, Indiana, experienced race riots in 1906[69] and 1907.[70] Sociologist James W. Loewen described the town as a sundown town in his 2005 book,Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.[71]
Greenwood, Indiana, had an unwritten law "forbidding Negroes to be in town after dark according to the Indiana Civil Rights Commission."[72]
Howell, Evansville, Indiana, was described byThe Nashville American in 1904: "In Howell, a small station below here, negroes are not allowed to live, all strange negroes being driven out of the town by the marshal. The color line has been drawn tightly since the race riot of one year ago to-day, when several White people were killed."[73]
Martinsville, Indiana, was reported byThe Indianapolis Star in 2017 as "a town with a tragic reputation for racism, a place many blacks still consider a 'sundown town' where it's best not to be caught after dark."[75]
Muncie, Indiana, historically did not permit "strange negroes" in its Riverside and Normal City districts after dark.[76] According to a 1904 article inThe Plymouth Tribune, "the edict has gone out that unknown negroes who are found on the streets after nightfall are liable to be severely dealt with."[76] Normal City expelled its Black population earlier that year.[76]
Osgood, Indiana, in 1894 was a place where "negroes were not allowed to live there, and that there was not a colored family within quite a number of miles of the town," according to theIndianapolis Journal.[77]
Salem, Indiana, was described by theRichmond Daily Palladium in 1898 as having "the unenviable distinction of being the only town in Indiana where negroes are not allowed to live."[78]
Valparaiso, Indiana, has been cited as "surely" being a sundown town by sociologist James W. Loewen,[79] and is said to have used violent expulsion, threats of violence, violence towards newcomers, bad behavior, and reputations to exclude people of color (Tougaloo College, 2025).[80] TheChicago Review Press said in 1984 that, "In the twentieth century Valparaiso and Morgantown, Indiana, were sundown towns complete with billboards" (Tougaloo College, 2025).[80] These billboards are quoted to have said that people of color should leave by sundown. Tougaloo College says that Valparaiso and Porter County had no blacks until the 1960s, and continues to mention that after a black woman moved to Valparaiso in 1969 and her family followed, a member was shot and KKK crosses were burned (Tougaloo College, 2024).[80]
Lenox, Iowa, "was violently opposed to blacks. It was well-known," according to Taylor County Historical Society president Helen Janson, quoted in a 2006 article on racism in Iowa inThe Des Moines Register.[82]
New Market, Iowa, once had a sundown ordinance, as confirmed by former New Market Mayor Frank Sefrit.[82] This ordinance was recalled by John Baskerville, a Black professor at theUniversity of Northern Iowa, as being in force until at least the mid-1980s, when a concert featuring Black musicians, including Baskerville, prompted the local government to suspend the order for a single night.[82] Former city council members in office during the concert dispute that the ordinance was overturned and likened it to other laws "still on the books in small towns. People ignored it."[82]
Hays, Kansas, suffered from a feud in 1869 when three Black soldiers were accused of killing a railroad employee; all three died as a result of lynching in the outer city limits of Hays.[89] Lyman D. Wooster Jr., a Hays resident during the 1920s and 1930s, brought up an "unwritten law" of Hays in theHays Daily News in 2002, stating, "Namely Negroes—that was the politically correct term—were not to be in town after sundown."[90]
Howard, Kansas, as of 1901, was a sundown town where African Americans were not allowed to live.[91]
Kiowa, Kansas, posted a sign at each of four roads into the city that read, "Niggers Read and Run", and Black residents were given 24 hours to leave town.[92]
Nortonville, Kansas, was described along with Baileyville byThe Evening Bulletin ofMaysville, Kentucky, in 1902 as one of "two strong Republican towns in Kansas in which a negro is not allowed to live."[85]
Calvert City, Kentucky, was a sundown town in 1896, and signage was erected during the era reading, "Negro, don't let the sun go down on you here."[95][94]
Corbin, Kentucky, residents forced the town's Black population to leave town in late 1919, with one contemporary affidavit stating, "They swore at us and said: 'By God we are going to run all Negroes out of this town tonight."[96] Other affidavits from the time of the incident wrote that a mob intentionally wanted to remove the Black population from Corbin and that Black workers who tried to return were threatened once more.[96]
Shively, Kentucky, was the site of a violent incident in 1954 between the family of BlackKorean War veteran Andrew Wade and the residents of all-White Shively. Wade had befriended the White Braden family, who purchased a home in Shively that was transferred to the Bradens. After moving into the house in May 1954, the Bradens found aburning cross in their yard, and the home was later bombed on June 27.[98]
Brentwood, Maryland, erected a metal barrier in 1957 to separate the majority-White Brentwood from the historically Black town ofNorth Brentwood.[100] The barrier was later demolished and replaced with artwork in 2024.[100]
Silver Spring, Maryland, in the early 20th century, had an area covering more than ten square miles where racially restrictive deed covenants prevented African Americans from owning or renting homes.[101]
Groton, Massachusetts, a town that was 90 percent White in 2020, was once a "Ku Klux Klan stronghold, rife with anti-Catholic and nativist prejudice", according toThe Boston Globe.[102] That year, a board in Groton voted to reject "wholeheartedly the designation" of the town still being a sundown town at present.[102]
Dearborn, Michigan, from 1942 to 1978 had one mayor,Orville L. Hubbard, a vocal proponent ofracial segregation andanti-miscegenation who spoke candidly to reporters about Dearborn's stance on Black people living there. Hubbard once told theMontgomery Advertiser, "They can't get in here. We watch it. Every time we hear of a Negro moving—for instance, we had one last year—in a response quicker than to a fire. That's generally known. It's known among our own people and it's known among the Negroes here."[103]
Wyandotte, Michigan, is home to the Bacon Memorial District Library, which contains "about 50 pages of oral histories, along with local newspaper accounts and minutes from City Hall" about Wyandotte's history of the town's historic exclusion of Black people, which were originally gathered by librarian Edwina DeWindt for a chapter in a 1955 history of Wyandotte that was excluded from the final print.[105]
Monett, Missouri, once had signage reading, "Nigger, don't let the sun go down."[111]
Monroe City, Missouri, had a curfew in 1907 for Black people to leave the city streets by nightfall.[112]
St. John, Missouri, had a sign posted as late as 1939 that read, "Negro, don't let the sun set on your head here."[113]
Stone County, Missouri, was described along with Taney County in a 1904 news article as a place where Black people were "the last most woefully unwelcome in these two counties, where no negroes have been allowed to live for many years."[114]
Stoutsville, Missouri, forbade Black people from staying in the town after dark for at least 25 years prior to 1907. It once displayed a sign not far from the railroad station reading, "Mr. Nigger, don't let the sun set on you in Stoutsville."[112]
Taney County, Missouri, was described along with Stone County in a 1904 news article as a place where Black people were "the last most woefully unwelcome in these two counties, where no negroes have been allowed to live for many years."[114]
Gardnerville, Nevada, sounded a siren at 6:00 PM that was intended to warnNative Americans to vacate the area.[116][117][118] The practice was ended in 2023 by SB 391, which passed before the Nevada legislature and was signed into law by the governor.[119]
Minden, Nevada, had sirens that sounded at 6:00 PM as a warning to Native Americans to leave the area no later than 6:30 PM.[120] Minden's sundown ordinance went into effect in 1908, was expanded in 1917, and was eventually repealed in 1974.[120] The siren was briefly turned off in 2006, the same year that a resolution passed to designate the siren to honor local volunteers, but local backlash pushed Minden to turn the siren back on two months later.[120] TheGeorge Floyd protests of 2020 brought new attention to sundown town sirens, and though legislation was furthered in the state to end sundown sirens statewide, Minden argued against Nevada's proposed legislation because the siren was first activated after its sundown ordinance was instituted.[120] Upon passage of Nevada's SB 391 in 2023, the siren was legally silenced.[121]
Hoboken, New Jersey, had only one Black family in 1901, to which aBrooklyn Daily Eagle article attributed to there being "no way for negroes to earn a livelihood in the city" and "a sort of unwritten law in the town that negroes are to be barred out."[122]
Levittown, New York, was once a place where "Blacks and other minorities had no chance of getting in, because [founder] Levitt had decided from the start to admit only whites."[123]
Carrboro, North Carolina, was once "a sundown town dangerous for Black people to venture into at night past the railroad tracks."[124] Carrboro's former mayor Robert Drakeford, first elected in 1977, called it a "sundown town" in a retrospective news article.[125] Carrboro was named forJulian S. Carr, a White supremacist Democrat who never resided in Carrboro, who infamously remarked during the 1913University of North Carolina dedication of the Confederate monumentSilent Sam that he had horsewhipped "a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds."[125] In recent years, Carrboro has attempted to distance itself from its past, attempting to rename the municipality or honor another person named Carr.[125]
Pinebluff, North Carolina, forbade Black people from staying in the city overnight, according to a 1909 article. It read that, "negroes are not allowed to live within the corporate limits" of Pinebluff.[128]
Southern Pines, North Carolina, was described in 1898 as a place where "no negro is allowed to live or do business." A separate part of Southern Pines called "Jimtown" was set aside for Black people to live in, and when visiting the main part of the city, they were expected to be "models of quiet and orderly behavior."[129]
Ada, Oklahoma, began allowing Black people to open restaurants, barber shops, stores, and hotels by court order as to offer places where "negro witnesses might stay during the [court] session".[136] When threats to those people went unanswered, unnamed parties destroyed a Black restaurant with dynamite, seriously injuring one occupant.[136]
Bartlesville, Oklahoma, was described in 1907 as a place where "only a short time ago that negroes were not allowed to either live or die in Bartlesville."[137]
Blackwell, Oklahoma, once had a sign that read, "Negro, don't let the sun set on you here."[138]
Dougherty, Oklahoma, was described byThe Daily Ardmoreite in a May 7, 1900, news article: "Negroes are not allowed to live in the corporate limits of Dougherty and none are allowed in town except on business and not for any cause are they allowed here after night."[140]
Durant, Oklahoma, was a place where "notices had been posted for the Negroes not to let the sun go down on them in said towns" in 1904.[141]
Edmond, Oklahoma, once had exclusionary housing covenants based on race, with one reading, "No person of any race, other than the Caucasian or American Indian shall ever own, use, or occupy any land or structure in this addition except that this covenant and restriction shall not apply to nor prevent occupancy of domestic servants of a different race domociled (sic) with an owner or tenant."[142]
Glencoe, Oklahoma, residents in 1901 responded to a group of 40 Black railroad workers with threats of "a visit from vigilants with ropes" for arriving in the historically all-White town, which prompted theUnited States Marshals Service to intervene in fear of a race war.[143]
Holdenville, Oklahoma, was a place where "notices had been posted for the Negroes not to let the sun go down on them in said towns" in 1904.[141]
Marlow, Oklahoma, once had signs stating, "Negro, don't let the sun go down on you here."[147][99] On December 17, 1923, an all-White mob confronted a White hotel owner and his Black porter before fatally shooting them.[148]
Norman, Oklahoma, was once a sundown town where Black people could not live or work[149] and "dared not be seen after dark".[150] A 1902 article described it as a place where "the negro is thought less of here than the Indian[...]They are hounded and driven out, mostly by the ultra abolitionists and hoodlums of the town."[151] It remained a sundown town until the early 1960s, and Black people were discriminated in the housing market until the late 1960s.[152]
Stroud, Oklahoma, erected a sundown sign which read, "Nigger, don't let the sun go down on U", following white mob attacks on Black people in Stroud on August 24, 1901.[153][154]
Medford, Oregon, had a reputation of being a sundown town unwelcoming to "negroes and other racial minorities" prior to 1963.[157] According to theMedford Mail Tribune, "In some cases of record, many years ago, police officers were assigned to see that no such individuals were permitted to remain here overnight."[157]
Crossville, Tennessee, was a sundown town into the 1950s.[160] It once had a sign reading, "Nigger, don't let the sun set on you here."[160]
Erwin, Tennessee, in 1918, had a mob murder a Black man, which forced the Black population to watch his body being burned, and then expelled all 131 of the town's Black men, women, and children; the Black population never returned.[161][162]
Alvin, Texas, was described as a place where "practically no negroes [we]re allowed to live" in 1933.[166]
Bibb, Texas, erected signage in 1886 reading "No negroes allowed in this town."[167]
Comanche County, Texas, residents expelled its Black population in 1886, ordering "all negroes to leave the county on penalty of death, and in De Leon, Bibb, Snipe Springs, Whittville, and Fleming signs [we]re hung out: "No negroes allowed in this town."[167] A 1901 account from a former Comanche County resident recalls that the meeting "resolved to give every negro in the county one week's notice to leave the county, and committees of men from different sections of the county were appointed to carry out the will of the white people."[168]
Dalhart, Texas, had a sign in 1934 reading "Black man don't let the sun go down on you here."[169]
De Leon, Texas, erected signage in 1886 reading "No negroes allowed in this town."[167]
Elmo, Texas, expelled its Black population and prohibited any new Black residents with an 1892 ordinance.[170]
Fleming, Texas, erected signage in 1886 reading "No negroes allowed in this town."[167]
Leggett, Texas, set rules for Black people including instituting a curfew, banning Black churches, and banishment for Black Americans visiting post offices or railroad stations.[171]
Terrell, Texas, was described in 1892 as a place where "very few negroes are barely tolerated, and in many sections everything is done to discourage negro immigration."[170]
Vidor, Texas, kept an all-White population until federal judgeWilliam Wayne Justice desegregated its public housing project in 1993.[172] Mimi Swartz ofTexas Monthly wrote in December 1993 that Vidor not only had no Black residents but that it seemingly had "no trace of black culture".[172] Swartz went on to say that Vidor expelled its Black population 70 years prior, noting that theHouston Chronicle described it as "aKlan stronghold" and thatThe New York Times called it "a hotbed of Klan activity."[172] Its 1993 desegregation was met with "several months of terror at the hands of various white supremacist groups, unrelenting negative news coverage of the town, and as of last September, the restoration of Vidor to its monochromatic state."[172] In the 2020 Census, more than 1,100 residents reported being at least partially of a non-white racial group.[173]
Whittville, Texas, erected signage in 1886 reading "No negroes allowed in this town."[167]
Kennewick, Washington, residents and law enforcement reportedly harassed and stopped people of color in the city during the daytime and nighttime.[174] The city's racial discrimination practices were reported byThe Spokesman-Review in 1954 as a contributing factor to its decision not to construct a community college.[175] Despite protests from theNAACP in 1963, its sundown town status prompted the Washington State Board of Discrimination to indict Kennewick for racial discrimination on July 9, 1963.[176][177][178]
^Z. B. "No title".Scottsboro Progressive Age.Scottsboro, Alabama. Reprinted in"A Bit of Gossip About Things Away from Home".The Tribune-Gazette.Cullman, Alabama. March 2, 1899. p. 7.Archived from the original on August 31, 2024. RetrievedMarch 3, 2019 – viaNewspapers.com.In Cullman there are many handsome homes kept up in the best city style, and the people are so hospitable and social that visitors cannot help but fall in love with the place. Many of the older people speak no English at all, and will not allow it spoken in their families, and negroes are not allowed to live there at all. It seems very strange to find such a town in Alabama.
^Mark, Jay (February 21, 2014)."Black History More Readily Available with Curator's Book".The Arizona Republic.Tucson, Arizona. p. Z10.Archived from the original on August 30, 2024. RetrievedNovember 4, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.Blacks were slow to settle in Arizona. At the time of Tempe's founding in 1871, only 155 were recorded throughout the territory. ... For its first 90 years, Tempe was considered a 'sundown town' where Blacks were welcomed for agricultural and other daily labors. But they were encouraged to live elsewhere.
^abcNeville, A. W. (March 2, 1945)."Backward Glances".The Paris News.Paris, Texas. p. 4.Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedSeptember 3, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.On the survey fromBird's Point, Mo., toJonesboro, Ark., I had a Negro cook. As Negroes were not allowed to live in Clay, Greene and Craighead Counties, Ark., my cook was a curiosity to the children. The women used to bring the children to camp to see him.
^Jennings, Bill (December 11, 1992). "Left-Hander Finds Many Who Impress".The Press-Enterprise (Hemet-San Jacinto ed.).Riverside, California. p. B1 – viaNewsBank.It must have bothered a few attending the stellar affair because in those days Hemet was pretty well a sundown town, meaning blacks could work over here during the day but they had better head for Perris or wherever at dusk.
^Suburban Wall, documentary, 1971;Invisible Wall, documentary, 1981; "Not a Genuine Black Man: Or How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs" Brian Copeland, 2006
^"Beckhard Hits Negro Bathing Beach Project".St. Petersburg Times.St. Petersburg, Florida. May 17, 1937. p. 6.Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. RetrievedMarch 10, 2019 – viaNewspapers.com.Text of [town councilman Bruno] Beckhard's statement follows: 'In the first place Gulfport has never receded from the position it took when most of the men were fishing and women and children were left alone, that no negroes would be allowed within the town limits after sundown. This is not a matter of statute, it is merely a condition that no St. Petersburg negro questions.'
^"Down in Florida".Marengo Republican-News.Marengo, Illinois. January 23, 1941. p. 1.Archived from the original on September 12, 2024. RetrievedMarch 3, 2019 – viaNewspapers.com.'Believe it or not, we have 'black-outs' here. Negroes are not allowed to live in the city. They must live either in the country or on the R.-R. right-of-way.'
^ab"How Northern Settlers Solve the Negro Problem".The Lexington Gazette.Lexington, Virginia. March 28, 1900. p. 1 – viaChronicling America.In the colony of Fitzgerald, in Georgia, there are very few negroes, and not one allowed to live in the city of Fitzgerald. The founders of this colony and the builders of this city are all Western people, and many of them old Union soldiers. But they met and solved the race problem by keeping the races separate and drawing, not only the color line, but the land line on the negro.
^Loewen, James W. (November 2005)."Sundown Towns".Poverty & Race. Poverty and Race Research Action Council. Archived fromthe original on August 9, 2014. RetrievedOctober 3, 2024.
^Loewen, James W. (2018).Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism (2018 ed.).New York City:The New Press. pp. 1–2.ISBN9781620974346.signs that usually said "Nigger Don't Let the Sun Go Down on You in ____."Anna-Jonesboro had such signs on Highway 127 as recently as the 1970s.
^Nolte, Robert (September 8, 1966)."'Victory' Means Little to Cicero".Billings Gazette.Billings, Montana. p. 7. Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedOctober 3, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.Although he says the Cicero march was a victory, residents of Cicero probably feel no different about Negroes than they did one week ago. (Negroes are not allowed to live in Cicero, but ironically, 15,000 of them work in the suburb's factories and stores five days a week.){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Loewen, James W. (2005).Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.New York City:The New Press. p. 100.ISBN978-1-62097-454-4.Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedSeptember 10, 2024 – viaGoogle Books.Most of these towns, especially in the Midwest, were not close to any black population concentration and would not have confronted any inundation by African Americans had they failed to pass an ordinance. Consider De Land, for instance, a small village in central Illinois, population 475 in 2000. Present and former members of the De Land board of trustees agreed in 2002 that it had passed such an ordinance decades ago.
^"Illinois Race War".The Silver Standard. Vol. XVI, no. 33.Carbondale, Illinois. June 21, 1902 [Originally published June 17, 1902]. p. 6.Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedOctober 3, 2024 – via Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
^ab"Professional Witnesses".The Ohio Democrat.Logan, Ohio. August 26, 1898. p. 6.Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. RetrievedFebruary 18, 2019 – viaChronicling America.The citizens of Sandoval, Ill., will not allow any negro to live in their town. Several weeks ago two strange negroes were employed by a new carpenter who was not acquainted with the color-line law of the place, but it did not take him long to learn it when seventy-five of the 'best people' of the town waiting upon him and threatened to lynch the negroes if they did not leave at once.
^"And This in Illinois".Rock Island Daily Argus.Rock Island, Illinois. July 17, 1893. p. 4.Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. RetrievedFebruary 18, 2019 – viaChronicling America.At Sandoval, thirteen miles east of here, owing to the scarcity of labor, two strange negroes were engaged by some carpenters to help finish a house. Negroes are not allowed to live in that place, consequently a party of seventy-five waited upon them, threatening to lynch them if they did not move at once. Things were finally compromised, the men agreeing to leave town as soon as the building is finished.
^"Race Troubles in Indiana".The Evening Times.Washington, D.C. August 27, 1897. p. 5.Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. RetrievedFebruary 18, 2019 – viaChronicling America.There is a race war brewing in Ellwood [sic]. The citizens always have been averse to allowing negroes to live there. For the past twenty years occasionally a colored man or woman would come, but he would not be permitted to remain any length of time. Recently a number of negro families have located here. Within the last few days the entire negro population would have been notified to leave the city. Four of them, have been driven out this week, and the remainder have been given until Saturday night to move. Trouble is anticipated should any families refuse to comply with the demands.
^"Negro in Indiana".The Nashville American.Evansville, Indiana. July 7, 1904. p. 12.Archived from the original on August 27, 2024. RetrievedMarch 3, 2019 – viaNewspapers.com.Feeling against the negroes in Southern Indiana is becoming more intense each day, especially since the assault on a White girl last week. There are thousands of negroes in this city, and those living along the river refuse to work. In Howell, a small station below here, negroes are not allowed to live, all strange negroes being driven out of the town by the marshal. The color line has been drawn tightly since the race riot of one year ago to-day, when several White people were killed.
^"One Place on Earth Too Hot for a Negro".The Richmond Climax.Richmond, Kentucky. August 5, 1903. p. 2.Archived from the original on November 2, 2023. RetrievedOctober 13, 2024 – viaChronicling America.At Linton, Ind., in 1896, a coal company imported 300 negroes to take the places of strikers in one of the mines there. The negroes organized a company and drilled with rifles on the streets. One of them shot a White boy and the entire White population, aroused at midnight by fire bell, raided the negro quarters and drove every one of them from the city. Several of them were shot. Since that time not a negro has been allowed to live in the town. On July 6, Alex. Sanderson, aTerre Haute caterer, was employed to serve the banquet at the institution of a new lodge of theElks. He took his cook and waiters with him and while the lodge work in the hall was going on several hundred miners assembled in the street and threatened to dynamite the hall unless the negroes were sent out of town. They were hurried into a cab and driven toJasonville, where they were put on the train for Terre Haute. Six policemen hung on the carriage and beat back the crowd while the negroes were driven out of town.
^"No Colored Men There".Indianapolis Journal. October 22, 1894. p. 8 – viaChronicling America.During a month's sojourn in Ripley county I visited several towns without seeing a single Afro-American, and at Osgood, the largest town in the county, was informed that negroes were not allowed to live there, and that there was not a colored family within quite a number of miles of the town.
^"John Hay".Richmond Daily Palladium.Richmond, Indiana. August 20, 1898. p. 2.Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. RetrievedApril 28, 2022 – viaChronicling America.John Hay, the new secretary of state, was born in Salem, this state, about sixty years ago. That place has the unenviable distinction of being the only town in Indiana where negroes are not allowed to live.
^"Removal".The Richmond Item.New Albany, Indiana. October 24, 1903. p. 10. RetrievedApril 28, 2022 – viaNewspapers.com.She had seen many Indians in the pioneer days, but until she reached this city had never seen any person of African descent, as negroes are not allowed to live in Washington county.
^"News and Comment".The Coffeyville Daily Journal.Coffeyville, Kansas. October 12, 1916. p. 3.Archived from the original on October 9, 2024. RetrievedMarch 3, 2019 – viaNewspapers.com.In trying to prove that a negro wasn't killed in Altoona last week Editor Butcher of the Tribune says 'Negroes are not allowed to live in Altoona.' Clad Thompson believes that one wasn't.
^"Wise and Otherwise".The Freedonia Daily Herald.Fredonia, Kansas. October 14, 1916. p. 2.Archived from the original on October 9, 2024. RetrievedMarch 3, 2019 – viaNewspapers.com.Commenting on the complaint of the Altoona Tribune that a negro killing had been credited to Altoona when it should have read North Altoona, and the further suggestion by the Tribune that negroes are not allowed to live in Altoona, the Kansas City Star says neither are they allowed to live in North Altoona, evidently.
^"Negroes Hold a Town".The Minneapolis Journal. October 3, 1901. p. 1 – viaNewspapers.com.The little town of Centralia, Kan., is in the hands of a mob of negroes. The cause of the trouble grew out of the action of a number of citizens of Centralia, making an attack on the home of a negro by the name of Whitmire and firing several shots through the roof of his house and finally destroying his home and compelling the negroes to flee in the night for safety. No negroes are allowed to live in the vicinity of Centralia. The negroes returned in large numbers and rode up and down the streets firing their guns at random, driving all the whites indoors.
^"A.P. Roundtree Esq".The Kansas Baptist Herald. May 20, 1912. p. 1 – viaNewspapers.com.One of the leading colored men in southeastern Kansas is Mr. A. P. Roundtree, formerly ofTopeka, Kans. He now resides at Groweburg [sic], a mining camp in which no negroes were allowed to live. Mr. Roundtree learned of this condition, went immediately to the company and agreed to furnish them all of the skilled colored miners needed, and that they would move into the camps, at once, if the company consented. Consent was given and Mr. Roundtree lead [sic] the colored miners to victory.
^"Letter from Kansas".Daily State Chronicle.Burlingame, Kansas. September 30, 1890 [Originally published September 17, 1890]. p. 1.Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. RetrievedNovember 3, 2024 – viaChronicling America.Among other things, I asked a burly fellow why there was not a single negro in the town of Scranton. He said: "Because we made it too hot for 'em here." I asked him how they managed it. He replied: "We jist tell 'em to GIT and they GITS."
^"Race Troubles: Whites and Blacks Not Living Harmoniously in Kentucky".Indianapolis Journal.Indianapolis. December 27, 1896. p. 4.Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. RetrievedNovember 3, 2024 – via Chronicling America.There came near being a general fight between whites and negroes at Elva, Marshall county, last night. Elva is near the Calvert City section, where no negroes are allowed to live, and where seven or eight were recently shot by a mob of white men. The negroes were employed by theStandard Oil Company. Last night two negro tramps met a white man in the road and asked him if he knew where Calvert City was. He said that he did, but it was not very healthy there for negroes. This enraged him, and they both assaulted him with clubs and seriously hurt him.
^"To Protest Eviction: International Labor Defense Plans Mass Meeting Friday Night".The Cincinnati Post. Vol. 99, no. 87. Scripps-Howard Newspapers. April 11, 1930. p. 1 – viaNewsBank.The Labor Defense believes the Negro innocent of the crime and that he was 'framed' for daring to go thru Crescent Springs, Ky., where, according to the Labor Defense, Negroes are not allowed to live.
^"A White Man's Town: Citizens of Doniphan Determined No Blacks Shall Live There".The Sunday Journal.Indianapolis. July 29, 1900. p. 1.Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. RetrievedNovember 3, 2024 – viaChronicling America.The importation of a large number of negroes into Doniphan nearly precipitated a race war. No negroes are allowed to live in the town and on their arrival the citizens undertook to drive them out. Several colored men were roughly handled and a number of white men and negroes were injured. Sheriff Morrill came to the rescue and an armed posse is now guarding the colored laborers. The citizens are determined the negroes shall not be allowed to remain and further trouble is expected.
^"Negroes Killed or Driven Away".Chicago Daily Tribune.Chicago. August 21, 1901. p. 1 – viaNewspapers.com.Most of the refugees are making through the woods toJoplin, as Monett, the nearest town, has for years refused to permit a negro to reside there. Across the main street of Monett for years there has been a sign reading: 'Nigger, don't let the sun go down,' and no negro has been permitted to remain inside the corporation after dark.
^"Colored Folk Shun Hoboken".Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 29, 1901. Archived fromthe original on September 27, 2024. RetrievedNovember 3, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.Hoboken, that unique suburb of New York, which has been maligned by many and spoken of derisively from Maine to California, has one claim to distinction: It has only one negro family within its borders. This is all the more remarkable because its neighbor, Jersey City, is full of colored people and outlying sections also have a large quota. ... Of the hundred and one reasons given for the diminutive size of the negro population of Hoboken, probably the correct one is that there is no way for negroes to earn a livelihood in the city.... There seems to be a sort of unwritten law in the town that negroes are to be barred out. This feeling permeates of everything. The Hobokenese are proud of the distinction conferred on their town by the absence of negroes.
^"As the Crow Flies".Stevens Point Daily Journal.Stevens Point, Wisconsin. May 11, 1909. p. 1.Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedSeptember 30, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.Pine Bluff is governed by a mayor and board of commissioners, and negroes are not allowed to live within the corporate limits. There is a colored settlement near by, however, and a number of negroes are employed in the village, but in the day time only. Even the servant girls go home after supper and return in time to get breakfast.
^"State Press".The Semi-Weekly Messenger.Wilmington, North Carolina. November 18, 1898. p. 4.Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. RetrievedOctober 3, 2024 – viaChronicling America.Southern Pines, in Moore county, this state, is a typical northern community. It was built, is settled and is governed by people from the northern and New England states, and it is interesting to know how the negro is treated there. ... Southern Pines was founded by eastern capitalists as a resort for invalids and hundreds go there every winter seeking restoration of health. Its founders, notwithstanding their birth-place and traditions, did not allow any sentimental notions about the negroes to enter in their plans. No negro is allowed to live or do business in Southern Pines. They are all congregated in a place called 'Jimtown', and when they visit the town proper, are models of quiet and orderly behavior.
^Walker, Doug (August 25, 1968)."Integration Moving on Peaceful Feet".Dayton Daily News.Dayton, Ohio. p. 4-C – viaNewspapers.com.A dandy example is Fairborn, up until recent years a 'Sundown Town' where community forces worked in concert to keep Negroes out. ... He explained that two years ago real estate operators may have actually [been] afraid of some type of censure from their fellows and the community if they sold to negroes. Now the situation is reversed. The same formidable pressures would be brought to bear if they declined to sell to Negroes. ... He cites a shift of attitude on the part of the military at Wright-Patterson Air Force base, which has terrific influence on the economic and social life of the community, as partly responsible for the new atmosphere.
^Fairbanks, Robert B. (Winter 1978)."Cincinnati and Greenhills: The Response to a Federal Community, 1935–1939"(PDF).Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin.36 (4): 239. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on February 17, 2019. RetrievedFebruary 17, 2019.Eager for the new town to be accepted not only by these few but by the entire metropolitan community, federal officials dedicated themselves to abiding by 'community standards' in their new town. As a result, the suburban town project which had been planned for the needy, ignored the neediest. Although the two chief administrators of the greenbelts,Rexford G. Tugwell andWill W. Alexander, believed in equal benefits for blacks, prejudice prevailed and blacks were excluded from Greenhills.
^Loewen, James W. (2005).Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.The New Press. pp. 13, 197, 281.ISBN156584887X.In 1920,Warren G. Harding ran his famous 'front porch campaign' from his family home in Marion, Ohio; a few months before, Marion was the scene of an ethnic cleansing as whites drove out virtually every African American. According to Harding scholar Phillip Payne, 'As a consequence, Marion is an overwhelming[ly] white town to this date [2002].'
^"Fear Crowd As Suspect Faces Girls".The Cincinnati Post. Vol. 70, no. 5 (home ed.). Scripps-Howard Newspapers. July 5, 1912. p. 1 – viaNewsBank.Negroes are not allowed to live in Reading or stay there after dark and the attack stirred residents to greater indignation than that aroused by several other attacks in the same locality.
^"Negro Suspected of Murder".Daily Inter Ocean.Chicago. September 4, 1900. p. 5 – viaNewspapers.com.A posse is hunting [Hezekiah] Scott, and he may be harshly dealt with if captured. Negroes are not allowed to live in Waverly. Scott tried to settle there, and [railway conductor William] Woods was one of those instrumental in driving him out. For this, it is said, Scott had sworn vengeance.
^"Negroes Are "Shy" of Blackwell".Blackwell Journal-Tribune. November 11, 1925. p. 2.Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedSeptember 17, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.'Negro, don't let the sun set on you here.' A sign containing the above command, which years ago was sufficient warning to negroes to stay away from Blackwell, and the fear which it brought to those going through this city has not been entirely forgotten yet.
^ab"Considers Conspiracy Law".The Wagoner Echo.Wagoner, Indian Territory. November 19, 1904. p. 5.Archived from the original on September 10, 2024. RetrievedNovember 3, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.Now in Durant and other towns in the Central District, and for that matter, inHoldenville,Ada and other towns in the territory notices had been posted for the Negroes not to let the sun go down on them in said towns.
^"Race War Feared".Stark County Democrat.Canton, Ohio. News-Democrat Wire Service. June 25, 1901. p. 6.Archived from the original on September 24, 2024. RetrievedSeptember 24, 2024 – viaChronicling America.United States marshals have been ordered to Glencoe, Oklahoma, to try to prevent a race war. People have never allowed negroes to live or stop there. When theSanta Fe Railway company brought forty negro laborers there to work they were visited by a committee of citizens who warned them to leave under penalty of a visit from vigilants with ropes, if they failed to go further. Trouble is feared.
^"Ban Placed on Negroes".Scott County Kicker.Benton, Missouri. September 5, 1903. p. 2.Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. RetrievedNovember 3, 2024 – viaChronicling America.Because the ban has been placed on the negroes by the citizens of Greer county, Okla., there will be an estimated loss of 5,000 bales of this year's cotton crop. Greer county, which, until a few years ago, was a part of Texas, is one of the big cotton producers of the territory. This year the farmers raised 20 per cent. increased acreage and a 15-per-cent. increase yield, but there is a labor famine. The growers have been threatened by the citizens in general upon every attempt to import negroes, but unless the necessary laborers are secured in the immediate future the financial loss will be great. The growers now have a movement on foot to bring 100 Mexican families to pick the cotton crop. Since the organization of Greer county no negroes have been allowed to live within its boundaries.
^"Colored Man Loses His Suit".The Sunday Inter Ocean.Chicago. September 17, 1899. p. 19 – viaNewspapers.com.Negroes are not allowed to live or work in the town of Norman, containing 2,000 population. Last winter a negro went there to put a tin roof on a building. He was attacked by a mob and cruelly beaten. He brought suit for $20,000 against the town, claiming that the police officers failed to protect him.
^Mathis, Nancy (October 14, 1979)."Rights Commission Changes Norman".The Sunday Oklahoman.Oklahoma City. p. 24A – viaNewspapers.com.'Norman was a very traditional Southern town,' [Norman Human Rights Commission chair Richard] Kenderdine said, explaining reasons for the opposition. Until the early 1960s, Norman was known as a 'sundown town' where blacks dared not be seen in public after dark, he said. And even in the late 1960s, blacks had trouble buying homes in Norman, he said.
^"South Dakota Town Bars Negroes".Dallas Express.Sioux Falls, South Dakota. November 29, 1919 [First published on November 27, 1919]. p. 6.Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedSeptember 19, 2024 – via Chronicling America.There will be no race question to bother the residents of Lemon [sic] in the immediate future. This is due to the fact that Negroes are not allowed to live in Lemmon. Several Colored men recently appeared here, and the citizens did not loke their looks the newcomers were quickly requested by some of the young men of the town to seek new fields. The Negroes lost no time in replying with the 'request.' It is believed they were from some of the larger cities.
^abRowan, Carl T. (March 1, 1951)."How Far From Slavery? Segregation Is 'Great Debate'".Minneapolis Morning Tribune.Minneapolis. p. 1 – viaNewspapers.com.I have been in Crossville before—but not for long. No Negroes are allowed to live here. On a tree near the city limits is this sign: 'Nigger, don't let the sun set on you here.' Since it is early morning and the sun long has set, I remain aboard the bus for the 20-minute stop here. I do see two Negro passengers going down a corridor into the kitchen for sandwiches, however. But even in this all-White community (one Negro family lived just outside it eight years ago, but has moved now) I can write about progress in the south—progress that would be noticed only by a Negro grown sensitive to the little shades of race relations.
^Loewen, James."Showing Erwin in TN".Sundown Towns in the United States.Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedAugust 20, 2020.The Negro population, which was very small, was located in two areas in Unicoi County: Sam's Gap, descended from slaves owned by Josiah Sams, and Erwin, where they were railroad laborers. In 1918, unrestrained, ghoulish, mob violence eradicated the Negro population in Unicoi County. Charles Edward Price Papers, Box 1, Folder 6, Blacks in Unicoi County, TN.
^Earnest, D. C. (January 14, 1904)."Convict Labor in Mines".The Galveston Daily News.Galveston, Texas. p. 2.Archived from the original on October 3, 2024. RetrievedSeptember 21, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.It must be remembered that the labor situation at Alba and surrounding territory is different from that which prevails at any other lignite or coal mine in the entire State of Texas; this is due to the fact that the citizens of Alba and that community will not permit either negroes or Mexicans to work there. This makes the owners of the lignite mines at Hoyt, Tex., entirely dependent on white labor; whereas at other mines in Texas both negro and Mexican labor is permitted to enjoy the legal right to work.
^Vian, Jourdan (December 11, 2016)."La Crosse Mayors Acknowledge City's Inequitable Past".Star Tribune.Minneapolis. p. B8.Archived from the original on November 1, 2023. RetrievedNovember 3, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com.The proclamation came a little over a month after Kabat apologized for La Crosse's history as a 'sundown town,' a city or village with either formal or informal codes that pushed black people out of the community after sundown, after a presentation from sociologistJames Loewen at La Crosse City Hall. Loewen was invited by theUniversity of Wisconsin–La Crosse and the city's Human Rights Commission.
^"City Must Prepare to Welcome Negroes into Community: Hildahl".The Sheboygan Press.Sheboygan, Wisconsin. September 27, 1963. p. 2 – viaNewspapers.com.One Optimist claimed that loan requirements of theFederal Home and Housing Agency will force Sheboygan to sell homes to Negroes 'and when that happens the lid is going to blow off.' The same Optimist asserted that present city officials deny that Sheboygan has an ordinance preventing Negroes from living in Sheboygan. But, he claimed, Sheboygan adopted such an ordinance in 1887 – 'that no Negroes will be housed in Sheboygan – and it is still on the books.'
^Jozwiak, Miller (July 11, 2016)."From 'Go Home' to 'Welcome Home' for Local Man".The Sheboygan Press.Sheboygan, Wisconsin. pp. 1A –2A – viaNewspapers.com.[James] Loewen's testimonies are remembered, secondary accounts. The Sheboygan Press archives also tell a story of discriminatory local discourse and policy. The very rumor of a sundown ordinance prompted then-Mayor John Bolgert in 1959 to outright deny that Sheboygan had any sundown laws. He cited as proof that black people were able to live in the city when they were playing baseball for the local minor league team. The same story reported a local pastor as saying there was no prejudice toward black people because there were none here.
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