James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.

Search Results for: Sundown Towns/

Information about Sundown Towns

Publication of Sundown Towns opened up an entire new area of study in history, sociology, geography, and related fields. Intrigued by their prevalence, Guy Lancaster studied sundown towns across Arkansas for his Ph.D. and it then became a published book. Now that we know that thousands of communities went sundown, there is room for many more, …

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Using the Sundown Towns Database

A database contributed by people across the nation underlies these maps and the tables you can generate. You can help by sending in information you have about towns new to us, or new information about towns we list. Historical Sundown Towns by State This map rests on a database entered by Loewen, Berrey, and students, …

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Sundown Towns in the News, Arts, etc.

Sundown Towns in the Arts Matt Ruff’s novel Lovecraft Country – which was also adapted into an HBO series – pays homage to the legendary fantasy/horror writer H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) while at the same time attacking his severe white supremacy. Sundown Towns prompted the book. “Sundown in Southern Illinois” “Sundown Town” in Fayetteville, AR “No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs” …

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Sundown Towns

Sundown Towns The best introduction to sundown towns – cities, towns, counties, even whole subregions that for decades were all-white on purpose – is of course the book Sundown Towns. It is also available audibly. From Maine to California, thousands of communities kept out African Americans (or sometimes Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans, etc.) by force, …

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Future Research Areas

Because there were thousands of sundown towns and suburbs in the United States, I have not been able to confirm them all. I hope this website helps to nurture a genre of “sundown studies,” because much remains to be investigated. The sheer extent of the problem needs study. Did a given town or county develop …

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Getting Students Doing History

This happy student became a finalist in the National History Day “exhibits” competition. Sixth graders on Springfield, IL, prompted a new “Race Riot Walking Tour.” Middle-school students in Ohio did award-winning local research on sundown towns for National History Day. A lawyer in DE researched the “Reverse Underground Rail Road” and got two new state …

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