Sundown town
They were towns that practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation or violence.
[3][4] Some of these modern practices include racial profiling by local police and sheriff's departments, vandalism of public art, harassment by private citizens, and gentrification.
The earliest legal restrictions on the nighttime activities and movements of African Americans and other racial minorities date back to the colonial era.
The general court and legislative assembly of New Hampshire passed "An Act to Prevent Disorders in the Night" in 1714:[8][9] Whereas great disorders, insolencies and burglaries are oft times raised and committed in the night time by Indian, Negro, and Molatto Servants and Slaves to the Disquiet and hurt of her Majesty's subjects, No Indian, Negro, or Molatto is to be from Home after 9 o'clock.Notices emphasizing and re-affirming the curfew were published in The New Hampshire Gazette in 1764 and 1771.
[10] Following the end of the Reconstruction era, thousands of towns and counties across the United States became sundown localities, as part of the imposition of Jim Crow laws and other segregationist practices.
In most cases, the exclusion was official town policy or was promulgated by the community's real estate agents via exclusionary covenants governing who could buy or rent property.
[14][15][16] Outside Oregon, other places looked to laws and legislation to restrict Black people from residing within cities, towns and states.
One example is Louisville, Kentucky, whose mayor proposed a law in 1911 that would restrict Black people from owning property in certain parts of the city.
Some city planners and real estate companies exercised their private authority to uphold racial segregation at the community level.
[21] In addition to discriminatory housing rules, violence and harassment were sometimes used by locals to discourage Black people from remaining in their cities after sundown.
Any Black people who entered or were found in sundown towns after sunset were subject to harassment, threats and violence, including lynching.
Loewen speculates that the case caused some municipalities in the South to become sundown towns: Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky saw drastic drops in African-American populations living in those states following the decision.
[24]: 23 [26] In 2021, the state of Nevada passed a law prohibiting the appropriation of Native American imagery by the mascots of schools, and the sounding of sirens that were once associated with sundown ordinances.
She argues that immigration laws and ordinances in certain municipalities could create situations similar to those experienced by African Americans in sundown towns.
The Green Book also advised drivers to wear, or have ready, a chauffeur's cap and, if stopped, relate that "they were delivering a car for a white person.
