Paper on Sundown Towns: A Dark History of Segregation & Exclusion

How Sundown Towns Started and Were Maintained

Sundown towns started at the end of the Reconstruction Era, following several racial practices. The main reason why they started was because of the imposition of Jim Crow policies and laws (Loewen, 2018). They started since there existed official town policies emphasizing excluding them from the town boundaries. Also, some community real estate agents emphasized exclusionary agreements. The covenants enabled them to identify who could own property in the towns. Some policies were observed and enforced by whites through intimidation and harassment from police officers.

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Through the increase of policies oriented to excluding the segregated communities from the towns at sundown, they were able to maintain the cities and neighborhoods. An example is when black Americans were banned from Oregon territory altogether (Loewen, 2018). The policies enabled African Americans to receive lashing or lynching if they failed to leave by sundown. The law enforced was the "Peter Burnett Lash Law" (Loewen, 2018). The judicial systems in these towns participated in maintaining the towns since some Supreme Court judges such as Peter Hardeman Burnett supported the sundown town laws.

Even though slight changes were made to replace the lashing laws with forced labor, many of the sundown town laws were not changed and amended. The minorities still were not supposed to be within the town boundaries at night. Apart from Oregon, other regions practiced other laws to restrict black Americans from residing within the towns, states, and cities. An example is when the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, proposed a law of denying any black individual from owning property in some sections of the city (Loewen, 2018). Therefore, these laws were the ones that maintained sundown towns.

In Which Parts of the U.S. Were Sundown Towns Most Common?

Following the widespread violence and racial injustices, it becomes impossible to establish the actual number of sundown towns. However, most sundown towns were common in the southern states of the U.S. The sundown town status ensured and meant more than preventing black Americans from living in these towns. In southern states, any African American who was found or entered the towns after sunset could be subjected to threats, harassment, and violence (Loewen, 2009). They could also be lynched.

In Which Parts of the South?

The number of sundown towns increased in the early 20th century since there existed more than 10,000 sundown towns in the late 1960s in the southern states (Loewen, 2018). Nonwhites had to vacate from the city limits before dusk, or they could be risking to be arrested or picked up by a gang of whites. Even though the sundown towns were widespread across the country, the majority were in the municipalities of Illinois. Sundown towns ranged from Glendale, Calif to Levittown, New York (Loewen, 2018).

The Rise of Jim Crow in the Early Twentieth Century

They were both local and state laws that enforced and emphasized racial segregation in most parts of the United States, especially the Southern states. Jim Crow laws were enforced by southern state legislatures and democratic parties in the early 20th century after being dominant in the late 19th century (Loewen, 2018). They were intended to remove and disenfranchise the economic and political gains that were linked to black individuals in the reconstruction period.

The target of the Jim Crow laws was to marginalize black Americans through racial strategies like holding their jobs, and denying their human rights such as the right to vote, and their children access to education (Loewen, 2018). Additionally, they were denied many opportunities as the African Americans who defied the laws could be jailed, arrested, and fined. In some situations, they could face death and violence.

Key Moments or Events in the Jim Crow Laws

In the early 20th century, violence increased, and it meant danger in the lives of black American individuals. The critical moments of the Jim Crow were the vandalizing and destruction of black schools and houses by groups of violent white individuals. Bands of white people such as the Ku Klux Klan emerged to torture, lynch, and attack black Americans during night hours. There also existed other events where black citizens were forced off their lands to settle elsewhere other than the South (Loewen, 2009). Through this, there followed a great migration of black citizens from the South.

How was it maintained?

The main events were maintained after every city in the South cherished the Jim Crow laws put in place. At first, big cities had not emphasized nor were they entirely beholden to the laws; hence many black citizens achieved freedom in the cities. Through this, there occurred massive migration to these big cities. Due to this, white city dwellers asked for more Jim Crow laws to deny black individuals opportunities. Through this, it resulted in violence, lynching, and bands of whites came into existence.

The difference between Jim Crow Laws in the North and the South

Even though no state was immune to the laws, the North did not exercise the Jim Crow-like policies like the South. While the South did not give black citizens opportunities such as owning property, the North did. While the South destroyed black neighborhoods and schools, the North segregated theirs by assigning Whites-only schools and businesses. An example can be drawn from segregationist Allen Thurman from Ohio, who openly promised to bar black Americans from voting and nearly lost the governship (Loewen, 2009). It shows that Jim Crow laws were less intense in the North.

Effect of Migration on Racial Violence and Relations

Migration affected racial violence and race relations since it led to violence being widespread. Following the unbearable situation in the South, some black individuals started moving to new places such as the North, where Jim Crow laws were not extreme. However, due to excessive numbers migrating, the effect was transferred to the northern states. Racial violence started increasing in the North (Loewen, 2009). As a result, suburban developments implemented after the Second World War in both the South and North affected race relations, and legal covenants to prevent blacks from obtaining mortgages due to the existence of red-lined neighborhoods. The neighborhood was termed such following racial violence.

Lynching Change in the Early-To-Mid Twentieth Century

The intensity of lynching reduced from the early to the mid-20th century in both the southern and northern states. It started with the ordered integration of individuals into the military by President Harry Truman in 1948 (Loewen, 2009). Also, following the rule by the Supreme Court in 1954, describing how educational segregation had been abolished and unconstitutional, the era of violence had started diminishing. In the mid-20th century, lynching had decreased, and President Lyndon Johnson ended the Jim Crow laws in 1964.

Reference

Loewen, J. W. (2018). Sundown towns: A hidden dimension of American racism. The New Press.

Loewen, J. W. (2009). Sundown towns and counties: Racial exclusion in the South. Southern Cultures, 15(1), 22-47. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26214270