Details
Synopsis
Uncovering a hidden chapter of American history, Richard Loewen examines the phenomenon of "sundown towns"--communities that restricted the rights of African Americans either through violence or legislation. Many of these towns, usually in the North, actually posted signs warning African Americans not to be found in the town after dark. Loewen's history identifies a time period from 1890 through 1940, "the Nadir," in which African Americans lost ground, suffering greatly through a series of systemic deprivations. The movement of people to the cities in large numbers, often called "the Great Migration" by historians, is explained by Loewen's research: people's lives were endangered on a large scale, and they had few options.
Loewen provides examples of town after town where violence was used or where laws were established restricting people's rights, and he shows how communities actually used the idea that they were all white to attract more whites. He cites case after case of lynchings, burnings, and beatings, some by mobs, others clearly sanctioned by authorities. In some cases, African Americans were simply expelled. He includes maps, charts, and tables to illustrate and support his findings. And he explains how these methods were used first against Chinese people in California, and later against Hispanic arrivals in America's suburbs. SUNDOWN TOWNS provides a new way of looking at the way our cities were populated and at the growth of the suburbs. As he did in his earlier LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME, historian Loewen offers an unsettling but enlightening view of the history we share.
| Size | | Length: | 562 pages | | Height: | 9.3 in | | Width: | 6.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.8 in | | Weight: | 34.4 oz |
Publisher's Notes
First Line: "Anna is a town of about 7,000 people, including adjoining Jonesboro. The twin towns lie about 35 miles north of Cairo, in southern Illinois. In 1909, in the aftermath of a horrific nearby "spectacle lynching," Anna and Jonesboro expelled their African Americans. Both cities have been all-white ever since. Nearly a century later, "Anna" is still considered by its residents and by citizens of nearby towns to mean "Ain't No Niggers Allowed," the acronym the convenience store clerk confirmed in 2001."
Industry Reviews
"Admirably thorough and extensively footnoted....As the first comprehensive history of sundown towns ever written, this book is sure to become a landmark in several fields...."
Publishers Weekly (07/25/2005)
"[A]n account that challenges modern beliefs about race and racism."
Booklist (09/01/2005)
"The singular contribution of Loewen's book is to show that white Northerners were every bit as effective in enforcing segregation as the Southern architects of Jim Crow. Loewen hopes to jar white readers from their sense of racial innocence by uncovering a painful, neglected history of systematic racial exclusion....While his chronicle of racial incidents can be numbing and repetitious, the cumulative impact is undeniable."
(02/27/2006)
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