list of sundown towns in missouri

Claim: A photograph shows a sign in a "sundown town" in 2022 that reads "Whites only within city limits after dark." An undated newspaper clipping from Rogers (Benton County), probably between 1910 and 1920, tells of the terror that African Americans might encounter in sundown towns even during the day. A spread from Willetts book, A Parallel Road, includes a sign from a sundown town, photographer unknown.. When a tribute gift is given the honoree will receive a letter acknowledging your generosity and a bookplate will be placed in a book. But I try not to be racist, Stevens said. And in 2020, a group called the Defund San Antonio Police Department Coalition issued a travel warning for San Antonio, labeling the city as a sundown town. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Some towns are still all white on purpose. In 2010, the U.S. census said there were 1,434 people in Vienna. 480 pages. Vienna is one of hundreds, possibly thousands, of mostly white towns across America that were known as sundown towns where Black people could pass through during the day but had to be gone by nightfall. Its area, population and other key information are listed below. Not all towns are thoroughly confirmed. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. Category : Sundown towns in the United States by state Using the Sundown Towns Database - History and Social Justice Shirley Manning, a high school student there in 196061, describes the scene: The local boys would threaten with words and knives Negroes who would come through town, and follow them to the outskirts of town shouting better not let the sun set on your black ass in Mena, Arkansas, and they often bumped the car with their bumper from behind. Activist organizations have used the term more recently. of the week they remained away. Current Sundown Towns in the U.S. - Distractify I dont think she was being racist toward me. The aftereffects of it, even though they still do exist. While sundown towns still effectively exist in the United States, a viral image used to illustrate that point came from a movie that was set in the 1960s. Then, election law changes and Democratic violence made interracial coalitions impractical. If, for example, if a black family tried to move in, encountered considerable hostility, and left, that would qualify the town as sundown. Note that some sundown towns kept out Chinese Americans, Jews, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, even Mormons. Sundown towns in Arkansas range from hamlets like Alix to larger towns like Paragould (Greene County) and Springdale (Washington County). Harrison remained a sundown town at least until 2002. Pre-European Exploration, Prehistory through 1540, European Exploration and Settlement, 1541 through 1802, Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860, Civil War through Reconstruction, 1861 through 1874, Post-Reconstruction through the Gilded Age, 1875 through 1900, Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940, World War II through the Faubus Era, 1941 through 1967, Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform, 19682022, in 1859, Arkansas required such persons to leave the state, https://www.academia.edu/237967/_Negroes_Warned_to_Leave_Town_The_Bonanza_Race_War_of_1904_, https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/. Several Arkansas counties and towns show a slowly diminishing number of African Americans between 1890 and 1940 because they did not allow new black people in, and those who remained gradually died or left. There Are Still 137 Sundown Towns Across 21 States - Democratic The city put up an almost life sized chalk statue of a colored man at the city limit line, he had an iron bar in one hand and was pointing out of town with the other hand. Fearing for their lives, most remaining African Americans left. During this Nadir of Race Relations, lynchings peaked, and unions drove African Americans from such occupations as railroad fireman and meat cutter. The decision was in response to a bill designed to limit discrimination lawsuits by making changes to the Missouri Human Rights Act. Smokey Crabtree, longtime resident of Fouke (Miller County), wrote in 2001: As far back as the late twenties colored people werent welcome in Fouke, Arkansas to live, or to work in town. The Green Book is an amazing cultural artifact that operates both as a condemnation of the history of America and its horrific legacy of racial oppression while at the same time being a powerful document illustrating the creativity and resilience of Black Americans, said, Willett. Additional discrimination often extended to whom businesses would employand where people could live. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-race-and-ethnicity-violence-db28a9aaa3b800d91b65dc11a6b12c4c. Louisville: University Press of Colorado, 2019. Hays City is probably the single best example of a sundown town, says historian Brent M.S. As early as 1843, Arkansas denied free blacks entry into the state, and in 1859, Arkansas required such persons to leave the state by January 1, 1860, or be sold into slavery. Book Non-fiction. 30 miles). What's considered a sundown town might vary depending on who you speak to, but Tougaloo College in Instead, I have found more than 440 in Illinois and thousands across the United States. Much of this area had been Unionist during the Civil War. Yes, Sundown Towns Are Still A Problem For Black Travelers In The United States. Travel Noire, 28 July 2021, https://travelnoire.com/sundown-towns-2021. Im very in tune with my energy and sensing when Im not welcomed in an area or a room, so its like certain areas, you do get that vibe and that feeling where youre like, I probably shouldnt be here, Williams said. Racial Cleansing in Arkansas, 18831924: Politics, Land, Labor, and Criminality. Oregon Black Laws Bullshit! an older white man shouted at Vaughn, after she said Black people arent treated equally. It is and will always be Their chilling stories have been joined more recently by the many elite (and some not so elite) suburbs like Grosse Pointe, Michigan, or Edina, Minnesota, that have excluded nonwhites by kinder gentler means. When I began this research, I expected to find about 10 sundown towns in Illinois (my home state) and perhaps 50 across the country. If you know of a town that has gotten over its past, also tell us so, with specific data if you have it. History and Social Justice What was more chilling to me was that my study partner said to me that everyone not only knew about the sign, but just because it was covered didnt mean it wasnt still in place. Too Close to the Mirror. Sundown towns have achieved this stability by a variety of means. Some of these places may be counties or neighborhoods rather than towns. You can feel them looking at you, feel them staring, she said. Sundown towns, or grey towns, were all-white neighborhoods in the United States that used discriminatory local laws, intimidation, or violence to keep their town all Sundown Missouri Map - United States Sundown Towns Still Exist in the U.S. Distractify, 28 Apr. Rate and review titles you borrow and share your opinions on them. The few other African Americans in Sheridanpreachers, independent business operatorssuddenly found themselves without a clientele. Williams said he didnt believe the cashier who suggested he leave town before sundown did so with malicious intent. Pekin's legacy includedKu Klux Klan activity and a high school's nickname abolished more than 30 years ago that was a racial slur used to refer to people of Chinese origin. Now, it would not pay to be anything but a Democrat. Racial tensions in America's 'sundown towns' - Columbia Daily Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Its area, population and other key information are listed below. Sundown In the Viennaarea, near the borders of both Missouri and Kentucky, young Black people were raised to be aware of which towns they should avoid. Our eighth-grade history project involved removing many layers of billboard ads off an old billboard to reveal a sundown-town sign. The book Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, written by sociologist James W. Loewen, was originally published in 2005. sundown town History and Social Justice Website Copyright 2023, Using Lies My Teacher Told Me and Teaching What Really Happened, Resources for Teaching with Lies My Teacher Told Me, Teachers Corner: Teaching with Lies My Teacher Told Me, Contact Jim Loewen to Speak to Your Group, Causing Change With Lies My Teacher Told Me, Works Inspired or Influenced by Lies My Teacher Told Me, Useful Quotations about History and Social Justice, Native American Issues, Including the Explorers, Teaching Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, Civil Rights Movement to Modern Times: c. 1945 Now, Alphabetical Map of Sundown Towns by State, How to Research and Teach About Sundown Towns, Using Research Information to Help a Sundown Town Overcome Its Past, Loewens Work on Standardized Testing Used by Others, Embarrassing Questions about Standardized Tests. We wanted to take a close look at systemic racism, trying to understand how something that is so crushingly obvious to some people can be utterly invisible to others. By David F. Krugler. This map rests on a database entered by Loewen, Berrey, and students, the worlds only registry of sundown towns. Ive never had anybody say anything (racist) to me in Vienna, but Ive definitely felt the way they felt about me.. In Mississippi County, for example, according to historian Michael Dougan, a red line that was originally a road surveyors mark defined a dead line beyond which African Americans might not trespass to the west. consumed. I wanted to get in touch with my nature side and I wanted to explore the rural American South, said Williams. I think theyre overreacting a little bit.. Hosted by Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS, 39174 and facilitated by Pantheon. 2018. By 1930, the regions total black population had shrunk to half its pre-Civil War total. It is an entire community (or even county) that for decades was all white on purpose. [10] Loewen, Sundown Towns, 95-96. . Contact Ade Onibada at ade.onibada@buzzfeed.com. A sundown town as explained by James W. Loewen, a former sociology professor at the University of Vermont and author of Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, refers to a town, neighborhood, or community with a wholly white population, created intentionally by systematically keeping out ethnic minorities. This story is part of the BuzzFeed News Travel Week series. While the assertion that sundown towns still exist in America is generally accurate, the above-displayed example does not show sign on display in the United States in 2022. Sundown towns have shown astonishing tenacity. The CALS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. For all your administrative procedures, you can go to the village hall of Sundown at the address and schedules indicated on this page or contact the Town hall government by phone or by email depending on your fearful of losing two or three of these. Some whites Its when you veer off to the back roads that don't connect to the highway, that's when you find yourself in trouble.". We meet the inspiring educators associated with, In June of 1892, Homer Plessy was arrested for violating Louisianas Separate Car Act. The practices declined since the Civil Rights era, when laws banning such discriminationwere passed. But businessmen refused The village of Sundown is located in the state of Missouri, in Ozark County. According to Loewens rolling database, at least 60 of Kentuckys 782 towns are believed to be or previously have been considered sundown towns. But these towns arent just in the South. In places still seen as sundown towns, many Black people now follow their own rules: Avoid them if possible, and lock your car doors if you have to drive through. Find the sundown towns in your state and/or submit more information to the author using this map: Select map to visit the interactive map on Loewens website. The Rogers Historical Museum has done an exemplary job of preserving an example of this suppression. strong, chained him to the ridgepole and burned James Loewen 484 pages. If the brutal criminals of that race. This is their story; it is the first book ever written on the topic. James W. Loewen. I was shocked by it never heard it before. WebUnited States's Largest Cities Map. These towns openly discriminated against Black residents and visitors, and violence was a 2018. Negroes Are Leaving Paragould by Hundreds: Racial Cleansing in a Northeast Arkansas Railroad Town. Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 41 (April 2010): 315. Vaughn and her grandmother were among the 50 or so people who turned out for the rally, along with about 25 counter-protesters. ], From Maine to California, thousands of communities kept out African Americans (or sometimes Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans, etc.) As noted in this video report from The Associated Press, there are several places in the United States that still operate as hidden sundown towns: Buzzfeed News reported on the continued existence of sundown towns in 2021: In 2017, the NAACP issued a travel warning for the entire state of Missouri, a first for the organization. In Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, sundown towns were created in waves of violence in the early decades of the 20th century and then maintained well into the contemporary era. Beyond the observations detailed in his photobook and his own research into sundown towns, Willett is cautious about dividing the country into areas where Black people can and cant go when recent events have highlighted that racism can be found everywhere, making the reality much more sinister. In a TikTok that has now been viewed 2.5 million times, Williams told his followers that on his return home, traveling along Route 119, he visited a small service station in Kentucky to refuel and grab some snacks. List of Sundown Towns in the U.S. by State (Infographic) | Charlotte ten blacks to the Negro minister that were branded as Their chilling stories have been joined more recently by the many elite (and some not so elite) suburbs like Grosse Pointe, MI, or Edina, MN, that have excluded nonwhites by kinder gentler means. Jaspin, Elliot. When I was going up there last fall, all you saw was Trump signs, All Lives Matter type of things, or Blue Lives Matter. It wasnt everywhere, but thats part of the reason why I dont have a lot of road trips around the US to go see sights.. "A travel advisory has been issued to warn that any Black people in or traveling to San Antonio use increased caution when visiting the city due to the city's policing policies that put Black Lives in danger," wrote organizers in a press release. Sundown MO - information about the village and its administration Maryville had a brutal spectacle lynching by fire of, Raymond Gunn, black, in 1931 in Nodaway County. A few years The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. Today, public accommodations are generally open. By Eve L. Ewing. In the preface of the re-printed 2018 edition, Loewen noted that while sundown towns are on the decline, some former sundown towns have shifted from overt to systemic racism through policies such All fourteen were probably sundown counties; eight have been confirmed. We are an independent company dedicated to providing valuable information to the citizens and residents of the country. Fouke, AR: Days Creek Production, 2001. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2014. 100 miles from Sundown, MO (or Dougan, Michael. If anything I got the energy that she was looking out for me so I believed her and got out of there, he said. The photography professor told BuzzFeed News how ideas around freedom and traveling had long been assumed by Americans as rights, rather than privileges, but thats not the case for Black people. prosecuted anyone. This project is funded in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant award. Our website is not affiliated with or sponsored by any government office in the country. Loewen said the number of sundown towns is much higher than the general public would guess. Arkansas Odyssey:The Saga of Arkansas from Prehistoric Times to Present. Later, she insisted that her name was Alecta Caledonia Melvina Smith, but she also let white people call her Aunt Vine, which played along with the inferior status connoted by uncle and auntie as applied to older African Americans and helped her survive in an otherwise all-white community. Other spots in Illinois with reputations as sundown towns or of racial discrimination include Benton, Effingham, Salem, Vienna and Granite City in southern Illinois. (The state of Missouri offered no public response to the NAACP but did make a Black woman the face of its tourism campaign last year.). . Were the ones who test it out first, we give our reviews, and so I think were a really great resource, because its honest, she explained. Historian Patrick Huber calls the expulsions by which Ozark communities became sundown towns defining events in the history of their communities. Nevertheless, despite that importance, or rather because of it, most sundown towns have kept hidden the means by which they became and stayed white. That line apparently continued northeast into the Missouri Bootheel and southwest to Lepanto (Poinsett County), delineating more than 2,000 square miles. feel for the surrounding community. remained by 1930, because several colored families This category lists populated places in the United States that at any point practiced a form of segregation known as a sundown town. We have come to a parting of the way with the Negro, he shouted. But the other side of that is I didnt really explore Wisconsin a whole lot because of what I heard about being Black in other areas, said the 26-year-old. All white is in quotes because some towns allowed one black family to remain when they drove out the rest. The , With extreme weather all over the United States and in the news, yet with little, Zinn did not merely record history, he made it: as a professor at Spelman College. Nichols, Cheryl Griffith. In 1990, 151 of the 164 black residents were over 18. Some towns still merit the term, however. That led to near-sundown. D. Doniphan, Missouri. Also, institutionalized persons (in prisons, hospitals, colleges, etc. Only 16 The contentious matter of where to stop and what areas are accessible for Black motorists is embodied by The Negro Motorist Green Book, written by postal worker Victor Hugo Green and first published in 1936. It sets us back in race relations because the whole rest of the country is like, Yeah, were all right. Sundown towns are communities in which Black people were not welcome. That tells about me: Im eighty-two and fairly well read, yet never saw this slogan before. They talked calmly about race. But such reputations can be self-maintaining. Jan. 12, 1931. The only reason my mom wasnt chased out of town was that she was considered my dads squaw. This billboard stood covered, but people knew it was there until 2000 when it burned and was replaced by a sturdier billboard. Look over the information provided and come to your own conclusion. They are all over the US and concentrated particularly in the Midwest, he says. Unsurprisingly, African Americans chose to leave. Rogers Historical Museum, Rogers, Arkansas. They were called grey towns, in some parts of America, sunset towns in others. M. Monett, Missouri. Across America, some of these towns are now openly wrestling with their histories, publicly acknowledging now-abandoned racist laws or holding racial justice protests. Sixteen of them were Black. Back in those days colored people were run out of Fouke, one was even hung from a large oak tree. In one of countless white supremacist massacres in U.S. history, white supremacists destroyed a thriving Black community in Oklahoma, known today as the Tulsa Massacre. Anyone breaking the rules could risk arrest, a beating or worse. local area, make sure you check out some of these places to get a The village of Sundown is located in the state of Missouri, in Ozark County. Gunn was marched to the school Chicago is also a problem, all them Black folks.. In Harrison, for example, James Wilson met the 1909 mob at his door with a shotgun and protected his house servant, Alecta Smith. booking a flight between airports, or a list of smaller surrounding towns if you're doing a road trip. local cities, including the distance and information on each town. But many also still have tiny Black communities living alongside residents who dont bother hiding their cold stares of disapproval. White Mans Heaven: The Lynching and Expulsion of Blacks in the Southern Ozarks, 18941909. Dan and Phyllis Morse note that race relations remain strained in that region, a polite way of saying that African Americans still do not and perhaps cannot live safely in that area a century later. Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council. What Sundown Towns Represent For Black Drivers Today. Travelmath helps you find cities close to The Cotter Expulsion of 1906 and Limitations on Historical Inquiry. Baxter County History 38 (April, May, June 2012): 2629. Similarly, Mena (Polk County) had a small black population until February 20, 1901, when a mentally impaired African American badly injured a twelve-year-old white girl. Moreover, in 1864, the loyalist Arkansas faction passed a new state constitution that abolished slavery but excluded African Americans from moving into the state. Despite being warned not to, Khan hired an African American to work at his motel in 1982; his transient clientele gave him a form of economic independence. At best, Black Americans have experienced less mobility than White Americans and at worst they have been met with intimidation, fear, profiling, and physical harm or death, said Willett. Similar proportions obtained in Indiana, Missouri, Oregon and probably many other states. Category:Sundown towns in Missouri - Wikipedia At first things went well. schools. Sundown towns in Illinois: Where they were, what they are 43 would require employees prove that their protected characteristics were a motivating factor for being discriminated against when previously the requirement was that simply showed it was a contributing factor., The NAACP also referenced anecdotal examples of hate crimes, and data which showed Black motorists were 75% more likely to be pulled over and stopped and searched by police enforcement than their white counterparts. Today, the legacy of sundown towns continues to cast a shadow on the tradition of the great American road trip, creating additional challenges for Black motorists who dare to journey off the beaten path. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Froelich, Jacqueline, and David Zimmerman. This list appears in the following group(s): Missouri. Even in Vienna things are changing but ever so slowly. demanded, so all blacks did not leave. ArkansasA Study in Suppression. In These Colored United States: African American Essays from the 1920s, edited by Tom Lutz and Susanna Ashton. In June 2020, he made the seven-hour journey by road with a non-Black friend to visit Virginias hidden gem, Devils Bathtub. A big city usually has a population of at least 200,000 and you can often fly into a major airport. A few weeks after his arrest, Latham escaped from jail. the 30s, but there was still enough residual ambiance Additional white households now include black children, especially interracial offspring of white mothers from the community and black partners from elsewhere. [him] to death as the schoolhouse itself was This map rests on a database entered by Loewen, Berrey, and students, the worlds only registry of sundown towns. By James Loewen. Race isnt a big problem around here, said Bill Stevens, a white retired prison guard with a gentle smile. You'll get a map of the We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began. Because there were fewer travelers during the pandemic last summer, White said she was able to indulge in the road trip experiences she wouldnt have otherwise considered. Entire counties went One choir member was black, and a couple put her up for the night, but we worried lest our house get blown up, remembered the wife. Category:Sundown towns in the United States Shiloh Museum of Ozark History. It was hailed as the Black travel bible and was considered a quintessential aid for Black people traveling across the US. You can also look for cities Some multi-county areas also kept out African Americans. Monett Commercial Club, official stationary, 1932-34; digital image, Memorabilia of Missouri ( https://sites.rootsweb.com/~cappscreek/images/stationary2.jpg : accessed 7 June 2021). A database contributed by people across the nation underlies these maps and the tables you can generate. Never walk in Greenwood or you will die, a black Arkansas college student said in 2002. kori. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. For additional information: By James Loewen. Ferguson, MO, was a sundown town between 1940 and 1960. New Brunswick, CT: Rutgers University Press, 1996. Donations made to the CALS Foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes. Give a donation in someones name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. Very often, especially in well-to-do suburbs that didnt want to be known as racist, they had no name at all. Sociologist Gordon Morgan, trying in 1973 to uncover the history of African Americans in the Ozarks, wrote, Some white towns have deliberately destroyed reminders of the blacks who lived there years ago. To this day, other than by oral history, sundown towns are hard to research, because communities took pains to ensure that nothing about their policy was written.

Lamentations 3 Explained, Windsor County Family Court Calendar, Articles L