Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism

In this historical study, James W. Loewen documents thousands of American municipalities that purposely excluded African Americans and other racial groups through violence, discriminatory laws, and social intimidation. He challenges the misconception that segregation was a phenomenon restricted to the Jim Crow South, proving instead that exclusionary "sundown towns" emerged more frequently in the Midwest and West between 1890 and 1968. Loewen analyzes census data and oral histories to track how local ordinances and informal threats forced non-white residents to leave before sunset, creating long-term patterns of white residency.

Urban planners, historians, and residents of suburban communities read this book to understand the artificial origins of modern residential demographics. Readers gain a clear framework for identifying the legal mechanisms and social pressures that shaped their own neighborhoods. By the end, they identify how past expulsions and restrictive covenants continue to influence current property values, school district boundaries, and political affiliations. The text provides the historical evidence necessary to recognize that contemporary neighborhood homogeneity is often the result of deliberate policy rather than collective preference.