sundown town

English

Etymology

After signs posted at town entrances warning that “colored people” (among other terms) were required to leave town by sundown.

Noun

sundown town (plural sundown towns)

1. A place or jurisdiction that prohibits or discourages a certain class of people, typically a certain race or ethnicity, from living there or remaining there after sundown, or, in some cases, from visiting during the day.

   Synonyms: sunset town, gray town, sundowner town

   • 1946 August 8, J. D. Stosz, “Jay Dee's Column”, in The Marysville Advocate‎^[1], Marysville, Kansas, via Newspapers.com, page 11:

     Beattie is a sundown town for tramps since the fire.

   • 1957 November 11, Joseph Ator, “Firm Hand of the Law Stifles Nashville's Strife by Racial Segregation”, in Chicago Daily Tribune‎^[2], via Newspapers.com, section 1, page 2:

     Cousin Paul said: "Of course, this is a sundown town [no Negro residents tolerated], but if Ike sends in the paratroopers, we can always integrate with the bears."

   • 1960, The National Conference and the reports of the State Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights‎^[3], page 330:

     However, according to old-timers, there is a time-honored tradition extending back at least two generations that "this is a sundown town."

   • 1968 August 25, Doug Walker, “Integration Moving on Peaceful Feet”, in Dayton Daily News‎^[4], Dayton, Ohio, via Newspapers.com, page 4-C:

     A dandy example is Fairborn, up until recent years a "Sundown Town" where community forces worked in concert to keep Negroes out.

   • 2016 July 11, Miller Jozwiak, “From 'Go Home' to 'Welcome Home' for local man”, in The Sheboygan Press‎^[5], Sheboygan, Wisconsin, via Newspapers.com, pages 1A–2A:

     [James W.] Loewen compiled an online map allowing people to find out more about the racial history of their towns, identifying thousands of likely and confirmed sundown towns across the U.S.

Translations

place that prohibits certain people from living there

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 日落城鎮／日落城镇 (rìluò chéngzhèn)

• Vietnamese: thị trấn mặt trời lặn

See also

• Jim Crow
• redlining
• segregation

Further reading

• sundown town on Wikipedia.Wikipedia