1 of 1 copy available
From 1999 to 2004, Professor Loewen investigated the records of thousands of towns to identify those that were all white on purpose—some of which remain so to this day. Loewen reveals that, though normally regarded as a Southern phenomenon, these so-called sundown towns were in fact abundant in the North.
In unflinching detail, Loewen traces the rise of these towns across America, chronicling their violent histories.
"James Loewen's new book will bring shock, then indignation, then wonderment as to what we can do to justify calling ourselves a decent society."—Howard Zinn, author
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
February 1, 2015 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781490659114
- File size: 743673 KB
- Duration: 25:49:19
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
The term "sundown towns" refers to areas in the U.S. that excluded minorities, mainly African-Americans. Signs on roads entering such places read DON'T BE SEEN HERE AFTER DARK. By taking personal histories, the author documents hundreds of these small cities, which contributed to the perpetuation of racism throughout the twentieth century. Supplied with little more than tedious data and statistics, narrator Norman Dietz has scant opportunity to heighten listeners' interest with anything other than modulation of his tone and word emphasis. His slow, distinct speech makes the presentation easy to understand, but the history of residential segregation repeated a thousand different ways doesn't deserve 26 hours to tell. The technical contexts may serve social scientists, but few general readers will tolerate such excess. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from July 25, 2005
According to bestselling sociologist Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me
), "something significant has been left out of the broad history of race in America as it is usually taught," namely the establishment between 1890 and 1968 of thousands of "sundown towns" that systematically excluded African-Americans from living within their borders. Located mostly outside the traditional South, these towns employed legal formalities, race riots, policemen, bricks, fires and guns to produce homogeneously Caucasian communities—and some of them continue such unsavory practices to this day. Loewen's eye-opening history traces the sundown town's development and delineates the extent to which state governments and the federal government, "openly favor white supremacy" from the 1930s through the 1960s, "helped to create and maintain all-white communities" through their lending and insuring policies. "While African Americans never lost the right to vote in the North... they did lose the right to live in town after town, county after county," Loewen points out. The expulsion forced African-Americans into urban ghettoes and continues to have ramifications on the lives of whites, blacks and the social system at large. Admirably thorough and extensively footnoted, Loewen's investigation may put off some general readers with its density and statistical detail, but the stories he recounts form a compelling corrective to the "textbook archetype of interrupted progress." As the first comprehensive history of sundown towns ever written, this book is sure to become a landmark in several fields and a sure bet among Loewen's many fans.
-