Home » Texas » Pasadena

James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

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

Pasadena

Texas

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?
Don't Know
Sign?
Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Don’t Know

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 3436 12
1950 22483 29
1960
1970
1980
1990 119636 1162
2000
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

“One last ‘rumor’ that I often heard was that Pasadena, TX had a sign that warned blacks, but used a much more derogatory term, to be out when the sun went down. Ironically, if this is true, Pasadena’s population today is probably 50%, or more, minority.”

A Washington Post reported interviewed a black man who had moved to Pasadena a “neighbor came over and asked, ‘When are you moving out?’ The man,
bemused, replied, ‘We just moved in.’ The neighbor replied, ‘I didn’t ask when you moved in, I asked when
are you moving out?'” At least one dead cat was thrown on the families lawn. They lasted six months.

August 2007
I was a police officer in Pasadena for three years (1966-69) There were no signs at that time.

I once stopped a black man for speeding, and introduced myself in the usual manner, “Good evening, sir, I’m Officer Haire with the Pasadena Police…”

“Oh, lawd. I’m in Pasadena? Please, let me go, an I promise that I’ll never come back.”

On another occasion I had finished booking a prisoner in the Harris County jail, and returned to my paddy wagon just as a black trusty was moving it away from the loading dock.

I got into the passenger seat, and jokingly said, “Home, James.”

He replied, “Man, I’d rather spend the rest of my life in the Harris County Jail than ten minutes in Pasadena, Texas.”

An interracial couple moved in briefly, and were harassed by police every time they left the house.

I was personally never involved in harassment.