James Loewen's Fascinating New Book and Trying to Shame All-White Enclaves

I've spent the better part of the last two days reading sociologist James W. Loewen's terrific new book, Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.  I try to avoid cliches like "must-read," but the adjective seems apt for anyone interested in race and residential segregation.  Loewen's research is exhaustive and interesting, and stands as a powerful refutation of the idea that contemporary racial segregation results from voluntary choices by private actors.  Loewen documents the prevalence of municipal ordinances that prohibited African Americans from residing in particular towns and shows how these ordinances were supplemented by ugly roadsigns at the town limits stating, "Ni--er, Don't let the sun set on you in [this town]."  Many of these signs stayed up during the 1970s and a handful persisted into the 1990s.  Loewen recounts his own investigations of many sundown towns, but perhaps the most chilling is his account of Villa Grove, Illinois, where at 6pm every evening a siren atop the town's water tower rang out, reminding African Americans to get out of town.  Loewen's interviews confirmed that contemporary Villa Grove's residents understood full well the siren's purpose.  The siren-sounding practice continued until 1999[!] when it ceased, not because of shame or belated signs of conscious among the town's residents, but because residents living near the water tower complained about the noise. 

Loewen proposes a number of remedies to the problem of persisently all-white residential enclaves.  I disagree with some of his proposals, but an interesting part of his project is to draw attention to towns like Elwood, Indiana; Windsor, Illinois; and Corbin, Kentucky, that remained, in the 2000 census, free or almost free of African American residents despite efforts by African Americans to buy homes there and live in peace.  Loewen hopes that residents of these communities will be shamed by the attention, and that this embarssment will cause them to change their tune.  There's plainly something to be said for this approach, though I worry that publicizing these communities' demographics will make them even more of a magnet for white racists.  But it may well be the case that Chicago Tribune and Washington Post cover stories that focus on extreme outlier communities like Elwood will prompt residents of the overwhelmingly white, affluent, largely-gated communities that are springing up all over the country to start asking hard questions about why many of their own communities exhibit so little racial diversity.  For an extended discussion of these issues, including an examination of whether a desire for white racial residential homogeneity explained the residential golf course boom of the 1980s and 1990s, see my recently posted paper here. 

Comments

[slevmore]

Once a town is all white, the problem is hard to solve. As suggested, attention by authors and newspapers might attract racists, keep out African-Americans even more surely (if that is possible), and - more interesting perhaps - signal relatively progressive whites to stay away, which then makes the ongoing segregation even more likely.

It is interesting where we encourage such information/shaming. Schools regularly report demographic information. Restaurants do not. Sometimes I am in a restaurant and I look around and see a greater-than-average minority customer population, and sometimes I am struck by the all-white clientele. I have never seen a restaurant critic comment on this, but more information would surely lead to some more sorting. Without information, each customer, or prospective customer who looks in the window is unsure whether the small sample that is viewed is reliable. In all these cases, I suspect that African-American are more likely to observe and to be well-informed, while many members of the majority remain ignorant and do not spread information. Thes may be examples of where reasonable people could disagree as to whether we would prefer more or less race consciousness.

[Kris]

Read Shelby Steele's "White Guilt", and you will understand both sides of this important yet misunderstood issue

[Jack]

Hey - Just came from the official James Loewen site, and am here because I am trying to contact the guy.
I read his book "Lies My History Teacher Told Me" and have been a fan since, but I just gandered at the list of "Possible Sundown Towns" in Wisconsin. Having gronw up in Hartford, WI, and knowing many many people there (most, in fact, it's a small town) I was not just surprised but actually deeply shocked and saddened that he would print such an irresponsible list in a public place. I can name at least 5 towns, starting with Hartford, West Bend, Port Washington, Cedarburg, and Mount Horeb - Heck, Beaver Dam has a hip-hop club and has for yeeeeears - that do not belong anywhere near that list.
I agree that Wisconsin and many of those towns have their fair share of racists, but if that is the basis for calling someplace a "Sundown Town", than the term is useless.

It looks to me like someone needs to write about "Lies James Loewen Told Me".

Irresponsible history comes from all quarters.....

[lenora]

the book gives an account of what life was likee back in the day. He even goes on to say that the towns named are not still or may no longer be that way. I agree that the list should not have been compiled in such a way to cause people to be biased against them, but in the attempt to get some truths (whether full or part) was valiant

[kate L. Harrison]

I was a history major and anthropology major in college. I took several courses focusing on African-American history, and also took several courses concentrating on Native American culture and the sad genocidal history in this country. Having read through Sundown Towns, I was still shocked and stunned by the book. Mostly, I was angered that this information was and still is not taught, acknowledged, or discussed in schools, media, or our society in general. Along as we will not entertain or address our continuing racism, it will continue to be a fatal flaw in America and all it's institutions. In the end, we are all loosers.