Customer Reviews

Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

So many American historians tell us what we want to hear. Prof. Loewen tells us what we very much *need* to hear. A sundown town, good reader, is a town that will allow a given race to pass through provided it gets out by sunset. _Sundown Towns_ is the story of how much of small-town America came to be all-white, or so nearly all-white as to make mock of diversity.

Growing up a white Westerner in mostly white towns, I always had the question about race relations: "Why the hell would such a high percentage of black people choose to live in nasty big cities? Why don't they move here? I won't hurt 'em. Their kids would get better educations and they'd do fine." It sounds so easy. Did any of you ever wonder that?

As Prof. Loewen documents with the greatest of care, after the Civil War that's what happened. And then, town by town, said black people were driven out and told never to return. The census figures combined with eyewitness accounts will admit of no other conclusion. Black people ended up concentrated in the only areas that were relatively safe to be black in. The American landscape was an immense minefield for them after 1890: can't stop here for gas, can't even pass through here, can't spend the night here. At some point you just go to Detroit, or wherever, and try and make do.

I live in Kennewick, Washington, which along with Richland (its sister city) was a sundown town until at least the mid-1960s. Every approach I make to delve into the topic is met with cold silence and deep disapproval. People don't return my phone calls, and I see fear in people's eyes. It is obvious that what I am seeing is a shame reaction, the hope that the last witnesses will die off before anyone records the truth. For many of us, _Sundown Towns_ is a family story.

Thank all the gods it's such a well-told one. Prof. Loewen is thorough and meticulous, but never dull. His style is interesting and accessible, never pretentious. He incorporates his own recollections but they do not dominate the narrative. But all the other great qualities of this essential book pale before that greatest one for the historian: it's convincing. This is an addition to our history. It has spurred me to discuss the matter with many people, of all races, and has helped me to understand that parts of the 'sundown town' concept are alive and well today. The moment you read it, your understanding will change--not in a namby-pamby do-gooder way, but in the way that comes from honest comprehension. In the same way _Guns, Germs and Steel_ provoked good dialogue and thought, so will _Sundown Towns_--the difference being that Prof. Loewen need not speculate. He has enough facts to state rather than surmise.

If this country gave out knighthoods, I'd raise hell until James Loewen got one. As it is, I can merely thank him for loving his country enough to tell it the truth.

The author did an outstanding job in chronicling the attitudes of the various towns across America, and why they are the way they are. Many of these attitudes still exist, and what surprised me was that a town within minutes from where I live, was mentioned, as a Sundown Town. The surprise came not about the town, but that the author had not missed it in his review of Sundown Towns in America. This book is a good read for all Americans, and reflects that a lot of work still needs to be accomplished if it is to truly be the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

Wow! This book does a great job of explaining how our villages and towns became so segregated. And until reading it I hadn't really realized how segregated we are.

Loewen starts the book by recapping how our country changed after the Civil War. I had heard of the migration north, but I didn't know that many of the newly-freed slaves actually had their own farms in the midwest. Racism slowly drove them off these farms and into groups in larger cities.

Loewen also explains how whites then responded by moving to suburbs and instituting measures to keep their new communities white. Some 80% of the Chicago suburbs had some type of codes that restricted certain races from settling there.

Loewen also made it clear that the sundown town practice was mainly a northern one. He did a lot of investigation of Illinois towns and found quite a few towns that had taken measures to prevent African Americans from settling or buying property within the town. He did also include examples of the practice existing on the East Coast to restrict Jewish people from WASP areas and on the West Coast to restrict Chinese or Asian immigrants from living outside their neighborhoods.

This book tells a fascinating story of our country and how segregation took hold. Read it!

After the first one hundred pages, I was ready to give this five stars. I have lived or worked in most of the towns mentioned in Southern Illinois, and the book correctly presents a great deal of information. On the other hand, some of the oral histories were quite incorrect. Eldorado has not had a "sundown sign" since 1960 at least, if ever. But the author claims it had such a sign into the 1980's. The mayor of Benton, Illinois remarks were taken out of context and totally misrepresented her, and her comments. These errors and several similar ones could have easily been avoided, making the book much better. The tragedy is that his points are well made and accurate generally, but when errors creep in it allows those who are racist in their attitudes to mount a defense that the book is filled with inaccuracies. If this were the only problem, I would still give the book four and one half to five stars.
The greatest problem with this book is when the author allows his own political views to overshadow reality in assuming that race was the motivation for many southern whites to vote Republican for the past forty years. Saline County (Eldorado, IL), Franklin County (Benton, West Frankfort and Ziegler, IL) and Union County (Anna, IL) are some of the most racist communities in the United States. Yet, these communities rarely even have Republican candidates on the ballot for local elections. The Democrat Party reigns supreme in these communities. Party affiliation is not reflective of racist attitudes. This is the great blemish on what could have been a truly great book. It does shine light on a horrible problem. It is a common reality throughout the United States. Much of the analysis is excellent. But the author's personal biases tarnished the final product.

"Sundown Towns" examines an underappreciated aspect of segregation and racism in the United States. The book provides a useful history of how the racial distribution of towns changed from the Civil War era to the present and how various measures were used to keep towns White or "Caucasian" (a category that was used to exclude a wide variety of peoples). I've lived in or near several towns given prominence in the book and have had family or friends who lived near other places. The book helped answer questions I had living in South Central Indiana in the '80s, where I was struck by the number or "all white" towns and the odd history of the sizable college town where I lived (Bloomington had no non-student African-American community "of record" until large industrial employers like GE came in the 1950s, an odd circumstance for a sizable town, with important commercial and government functions, as well as a major university). The book is particularly damning in its attention to racial segregation and repression in the North and West, although it is rather lacking in attention to the complexity of living arrangements in the South.

The author relies on local historical sources, archives, and oral histories. The oral histories seem to be the most inconsistent, which is recognized, but not fully appreciated. The variation in forces that led to the creation of sundown towns is appreciated but under analyzed. The author tends to jump from his main topic to broader considerations of segregation and this waters down some of the work. There are degrees to which towns really fit the "sundown" definition. Parma, Ohio had a small numbers of Black residents in the 1960s and would not fit in the same class as Cicero or Berwyn. He only touches briefly on the conflation of racism, the neo-feudal character of economies in the South (and many communities elsewhere, particularly small to medium sized towns), and the fear of potentially broad-based movements such as labor unions. Indeed, the importance of the CIO and the rise of industrial unions in the 1930s in bridging racial gaps is given a unthinkable lack of recognition. Efforts to improve civil rights and race relations did not occur in a linear or fully progressive fashion (just as disenfranchisement took place under differing curcumstances and proceeded at different rate in different places).

The book tends to get repetitious through its middle third and there aren't enough reference points to help us remember that Comanche County is in Texas and that the Glendale of interest is an inner ring suburb of Los Angeles. The book also is short on analysis--the author acknowledges variations in the roots of "sundown" sentiments, but doesn't really devote much depth to them. He also seems to have little understanding of the precarious sense of accomplishment and social standing experienced by "white ethnics" and the impact of this on urban race relations. The racism of central and southern Indiana fit well in a larger pattern of xenophobia that outstripped anything one would experience in nearby areas of other states. OTOH, the dynamics are far different in white ethnic suburbs like Warren or Cicero where a variety of factors (including a corrupt and powerful local machine, allied with organized crime in Cicero) set out a different set of dynamics.

The book ends on a rather hopeful note, although the analysis of changing racial attitudes lacks depth and seems to have a poverty of strong examples, although they are not difficult to find. Loewen keeps returning to the example of Mount Ranier, Maryland, a tiny, counterculturish suburb of Washington, DC, although there are numerous larger examples of racially integrated communities in DC and its suburbs. Short shrift is given to the efforts of places of like Shaker Heights and Oak Park, Illinois and the importance of economics at blunting block busting and other tactics that led to re-segregation of cities and suburbs. The irony of some "sundown towns" becoming prideful places of diversity like Oak Park or being colonized by non-Whites other than African Americans get mentioned only toward the end. This irony, as well as the succession of Hispanic ethnic groups in formerly African-American areas in South Central Los Angeles and elsewhere is worthy of further attention. As Loewen notes, racism isn't simply an epiphenomenon of economics or waves of migration, but one cannot consider it without looking at these bigger social dynamics.

The book's primary value is in documenting the institutionalization of racism and its widespread character in the United States, with attention to under apprciated issues such as racially-based lynching in the North. The book touches on experiences of the Chinese and Hispanics that parallel those of Blacks, but the depth is spotty and inconsistent. Much of this material would have worked better if it had been consolidated in a separate chapter highlighting commonalities and differences in the treatment of different "other" races.

"Sundown Towns" is, in equal parts disturbing and fascinating. Through careful research Dr. Loewen has uncovered a hidden chapter in our recent past and sheds light on why such places still exist today. It is a stunning work and highly recommended. I was particularly shocked to see how many Illinois (my home state) towns show up in the book...this in the "Land of Lincoln". This is an important book and should be read by everyone.

SUNDOWN TOWNS is a powerful, compelling, and deeply disturbing exploration of the dynamics of racism in the USA. I have been a diversity trainer and consultant for more than 30 years, and I only knew an infinitesimal fraction of the appalling story of the "ethnic cleansing" that took place in this country between 1890 and 1930. The legacy of Sundown Towns lives and breathes with us every day and in every way. Until we acknowledge this grim and ugly past, we cannot hope to overcome the vast racial divide that exists in the USA. Loewen's research and analysis are a profound wake-up call for all Americans, whether they are black, white, Latino, or Asian-American. It deserves your attention!
Bob Abramms, www.odt.org, Amherst MA

First off, thank you to Professor Loewen for his painstaking research. Biased or not he backs up his information and makes you think as long as your mind is open and willing to absorb.

I'm an African-American, 37, grew up in a all-black neighborhood, but it wasn't always that way. I remember and have pictures of when I was 4 or 5, my next door neighbors were white and at least half of my block had white families. My brother and sister are 9 and 10 years older than me and they remember when the neighborhood was predominately white. They as well as I went to a Catholic school for grade school. They told me stories of racial slurs yelled towards them while walking together to school, but ten years later I never heard any. They had white classmates, I did not. At least not until I went to a different school starting in 5th grade, a predominately white school(about 95%). Believe me, I'll get to my point

While in this mostly black Catholic school I received all A's all the way up until 4th grade. In the 4th grade I received my first B. My father subsequently lost his mind and took me out of the school at the end of the year. He told me he was placing me in a mostly white private school. I really didn't think anything of it until I took the test for admission and barely passed. The admissions office told me I needed to attend summer school just to be admitted in the 5th grade or else I would have had to repeat 4th grade. WHAT THE !@#$. I got all A's, get 1 B in the 4th grade and I may have to repeat? Was this white suburban private school that much tougher than my black, city Catholic school? Well anyway I went to summer school and attended 5th grade but never got all A's ever again. It wasn't for lack of effort, it was because I never had the foundation for learning or skill set for that matter. I grew up in Philadelphia. The public school system has always been a mess. My father thought Catholic school was a step up. It was until he realized in order for me to have a chance I needed to be challenged and make connections.

These white kids parents had loot. Big houses, big cars, prestigious jobs etc. They mostly came from the suburbs, areas not to far from me but not areas where black folks lived. I never knew why until I grew up. I made friends quickly, even spent the night at their houses. I remember the odd looks I received in their neighborhoods from kids who had never seen a black face up close. No one ever called me any names but I did feel tension. One of my white friends even came to my neighborhood and spent the night. He never complained but I could tell he was a tad uncomfortable. Any way the value of schooling with the majority cannot be overstated. I learned how to deal with the upper class white majority something my neighborhood friends never did because they were not exposed.

Fast forward, today I own a DJ/Wedding business and 95% of my customers are white. I know some of my potential customers see color and would never hire a black DJ for a white wedding. then again some do not and hire me. I feel the stares at all my weddings when the crowd walks in, I'm dressed in a tux and people ask me where are their seats, like Im waiting on tables. I tell them I'm the DJ and I'm not sure where they're sitting and this blank stare lasts for about 3 seconds and they just walk away. It's funny but it's not. But by the end of the night it's all good.

I say all this because this book answers a ton of my own personal questions about race relations, things I've heard from family, things I've experienced and why things(neighborhoods) are the way they are. I have been very fortunate but most African-Americans have not been afforded the opportunities I have. Then again my post could have been entirely different had I grown up in an area that was not a racially tolerant as Philly, and Philly has it's own racial issues. I have no hatred of white folks, I was taught well. I would hope this book teaches and makes all races understand what we(Americans)are up against as a society. Open your minds.

Sundown Towns goes a long way towards explaining the US' pervasive racial problems by examining a phenomenon many white people had thought dead and gone: sundown towns (cities or neighborhoods where racial minorities were not allowed to live or even be present after dark).

It would be tempting to dismiss Loewen's research as merely anecdotal, but obviously more concrete evidence can rarely be found: even the most racist townships took care to mask their anti-black and minority rules through sleight of hand and legal double speak, and city limit signs that used to warn minorities not to linger after dark have now mostly vanished, but there is simply too much material here to ignore. And the honest reader will have to admit that much of what Loewen writes about sounds familiar. We've all heard excuses for why blacks and whites tend to live separately: the blacks like it that way, they don't care about good schools and nice houses, etc, etc. We've also heard plenty of "blame the victim" stories indicating that it is black laziness and racial inferiority that prevents them from moving to the suburbs. And we've all heard other whites making disparaging comments about minorities and not protested, thus becoming tacitly complicit.

Reading some of Loewen's stories about the race riots and lynchings that helped create the sundown towns, reminded me of some of the histories of the Nazi rise to power in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s. So many of the methods for dealing with despised groups, whether whites against blacks or Nazis against Jews, are terrifyingly similar: economic boycotts, terror bombings, sabotage, etc. And the language used by so called "white patriots" warning of the threat posed by black migration to an area reminded me of nothing so much as the screams of Osama bin Laden and his followers for the annihilation of the West to defend Islam. (Yet another reminder that we humans are all indeed "brothers under the skin!")

I already knew I lived near one of the more infamous sundown counties, but as I read this book I began to suspect that some other communities and neighborhoods I'm familiar with may be sundown as well, and that's something I intend to investigate for myself.

As a Southerner with long ancestral roots in the former slave owning regions, I have always been aware of the dark history of race relations there. It was with some surprise (and I hope a forgiveable amount of satisfaction at seeing such hypocrisy revealed at long last) that I read that sundown towns were and are far more pervasive in the North and West, and that the Southern states, far from being exceptions to a rule of general tolerance, were merely the most prominent examples of nationwide intolerance.

Loewen provides some excellent reasons for why sundown towns are bad for their residents as well as the people they keep out: the cultural aridity, the fostering of racial stereotyping, the unwillingness to try new ideas or customs. And he ably restates what the Supreme Court said in the Brown decision back in 1954: segregation has a degrading, scarring emotional and physical toll that makes it completely unacceptable.

Lowewen suggests some interesting methods for confronting and hopefully putting an end to the sundown phenomenon, including a call for a Residents' Rights Act that I fear will take a seismic shift in national politics to ever have a chance of becoming law. (To start with we'd need a President and Vice-President who don't live in sundown towns themselves!) More realistic suggestions emphasize action by concerned volunteers willing to research and ask the difficult questions needed to shock the many out of their complacency.

This isn't a comfortable book to read, but it may come to be considered as important as Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma in helping Americans deal with the quandaries of creating a truly equal multi-racial society

Professor James Loewen's Sundown Towns will, I daresay, be the standard, comprehensive book on this subject for a long time. It is an extraordinary account of the assault, killing, removal, and settlement prevention of African-Americans in counties, villages, towns , cities, and suburbs all over the country, primarily not in the South, especially during 1890-1940, but continuing into the present. His discussion of the societal consequences for everyone is illuminating.

I have been active in historical venues for many years. My paternal lineage is in Alabama, my maternal in Ohio. I am not naive about the boundless possibilities of racism from whatever sources. Nevertheless, I was shocked by this book, and, I must say, angered about many years of criticism of the South by persons and organizations from elsewhere in this country when atrocities were, and are, rampant there also.

Dr. Loewen conducted vast research in the literature, both local and national. This volume is a source book in its footnotes and bibliography. His extensive visitations and interviews greatly strengthen his conclusions. He has also often been careful to indicate when documentation is thin.

My principal criticism is that Sundown Towns should be Volume I of a two-volume set. From reading this book one might conclude that racism is only white when actually it knows no bounds. Many of the sundown towns had no legitimate gripe which renders their racism especially shocking. Racism aside, people do have legitimate concerns about crime, education, government operations, and other public issues, none of which, however, justify exclusion by race. Until these issues are dealt with as well and honestly as Loewen has done with sundown towns, his book will not have the impact that it should. People respond better when all their concerns are treated fairly, honestly, comprehensively, and not with political correctness. As a proud resident of an inner city neighborhood in the South, I can assure you that we live daily with all sides of these issues.