Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism

Abstract

In a massive, well-documented study, James W. Loewen has woven demographic data, local history, and oral interviews into an account of sundown towns in the United States. Loewen exposes the pervasiveness and longevity of the towns that were, and in some cases remain, “all white on purpose” (p. 5). Sundown Towns examines the origins of racially exclusive towns, why they remain “hidden in plain view” (p. 192), and ultimately posits a few tentative steps toward remedying the large number of towns that remain “all white on purpose” today. In what Loewen claims is the only booklength study of the subject, he demonstrated that sundown towns exist throughout the nation. According to Loewen, “probably a majority of all incorporated places kept out African Americans” (p. 4, italics in original). Although “White Americans encounter sundown towns everyday but rarely think about them” many of these towns were consciously maintained through a combination of violence, zoning, restrictive covenants, and harassment (pp. 245–57). Sundown towns limit equal access to housing, exacerbate prejudice, and stifle the growth of towns and suburbs (pp. 301, 358–60). As a remedy, Loewen suggests a combination of raising public awareness, African American activism, local action, and a residents' rights act, “that makes it an entire towns' interest to welcome African Americans” (p. 440).