A sundown town refers to a municipality or neighborhood within the United States that practices or once practiced a form of racial segregation characterized by intimidation, hostility, or violence among white people directed toward non-whites, especially against African Americans. The term "sundown town" derives from the practice of all-white towns erecting signage alerting non-whites to vacate the area before sundown.[1] Sundown towns might include entire sundown counties and sundown suburbs and may be strengthened by the local presence of the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacy organization.[2]
A sundown town is an all-white community that has shown hostility toward non-whites. Sundown towns in the United States include past and present communities that do not socially accept people who are not white. Although African Americans are primarily the focus of sundown town violence, Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans, and Mexican Americans have also been subject to this practice.[3]
Legally, municipalities cannot enforce restrictions on discrimination of people by race or other protected classes, but this has not always been the case. The 1948 United States Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer outlawed the legal enforcement of restrictive housing covenants. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited housing discrimination and defined equal protection, enforcement of such provisions would not be codified until the Civil 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[4] and did not permit Black residents during the daytime either.[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 former Speaker 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.'"[10]
Tempe, Arizona, allowed Black people to work but not reside in the town from its founding in 1871 until 90 years later.[11] Warren and Carrol Livingston became the first Black people to buy property in Tempe in 1965.[12]
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 to hang 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 the Cotton 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]
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 spreading venereal disease.[21]
Jay, Florida, once had signs aimed at Black people that warned, "don't let the sun set on you in Jay."[24] 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.[24] Jay's history is portrayed in the 2024 documentary Welcome to Jay.
De Land, Illinois, board of trustees members acknowledged in 2002 that the municipality had passed a sundown ordinance for African Americans decades ago.[25]
Pekin, Illinois, was a sundown town unwelcoming for non-whites.[26] Prior to the American Civil War, Pekin had been a pro-slavery place.[27] It once hosted rallies for the Ku Klux Klan, including one in August 1924 that attracted 25,000 to 45,000 attendees.[28]
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.[30]
Mayfield, Kentucky, brothels owned by Black women around 1907 displayed signs saying, "Niggers Read and Run", a message described by The Paducah Sun as "a polite hint to their colored brethren that their company is not wanted".[31]
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."[37]
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".[38] When threats to those people went unanswered, unnamed parties blew up a Black restaurant with dynamite, seriously injuring one occupant.[38]
Blackwell, Oklahoma, once had a sign that read, "Negro, don't let the sun set on you here."[39]
Dougherty, Oklahoma, was described by The 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."[40]
Marlow, Oklahoma, once had signs stating, "Negro, don't let the sun go down on you here."[41][42] On December 17, 1923, an all-white mob confronted a white hotel owner and his Black porter before fatally shooting them.[43]
Vidor, Texas, kept an all-white population until federal judge William Wayne Justice desegregated its public housing project in 1993.[45] Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly wrote in December 1993 that Vidor not only had no Black residents but that it seemingly had "no trace of black culture".[45] Swartz went on to say that Vidor expelled its Black population 70 years prior, noting that the Houston Chronicle described it as "a Klan stronghold" and that The New York Times called it "a hotbed of Klan activity."[45] 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."[45]
^"The Race Problem". The Free Press. Ozark, Alabama. December 8, 1898. p. 2. Archived from the original on August 31, 2024. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. It is our recollection that it was once 'against the law' for a negro to live in Cullman in this state.
^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. Retrieved March 3, 2019 – via Newspapers.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. Retrieved March 11, 2019 – via Newspapers.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. (2 March 1945). "Backward Glances". The Paris News. Paris, Texas. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com. On the survey from Bird's Point, Mo., to Jonesboro, 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.
^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 – via Google 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.
^"Blacks Aroused by Curfew Law". The Daily Oklahoman. Monroe City, Missouri. August 9, 1907 [First published on August 8, 1907]. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com. For amout three weeks the whites have not allowed negroes to appear on the streets of Monroe City. Printed notices were posted notifying the negro population that they must not be uptown after 8 o'clock at night.
^"Blacks Aroused by Curfew Law". The Daily Oklahoman. Monroe City, Missouri. August 9, 1907 [First published on August 8, 1907]. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com. Seven years ago Paris, the county seat of Monroe county, drove out more than one-third of its negro population, while Stoutsville, eight miles southwest of Monroe City, has not allowed a black to remain in town after nightfall for twenty-five years. A sign prominently displayed a short distance from the railroad station reads: 'Mr. Nigger, don't let the sun set on you in Stoutsville.'
^"Negroes Are "Shy" of Blackwell". Blackwell Journal-Tribune. November 11, 1925. p. 2 – via Newspapers.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.
^"South Dakota Town Bars Negroes". Dallas Express. Sioux Falls, South Dakota. November 29, 1919 [First published on November 27, 1919]. p. 6 – 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.