Sundown Towns
A Hidden Dimension of American Racism
by James W. Loewen

From inside front cover:

In this major new exposé, bestselling historian and sociologist James Loewen sets his sights on a shameful facet of twentieth-century American race relations: the thousands of towns and cities across the nation that excluded African Americans and other minority groups after sundown. This type of racial exclusion is often equated with the Jim Crow South but, as Loewen's explosive and revelatory book demonstrates, the sundown town was, in fact, a Northern invention created by waves of lynching and riots in nearly every state north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

In vivid detail, and relying on extensive first-person testimony and local history, Sundown Towns charts the violent birth and subsequent expansion of these all-white communities. Loewen shows that in many areas a majority of all towns kept out African Americans while many others barred Jews, Chinese Americans, and Native Americans as well. The first book on this important topic, Loewen's work reveals that, despite the passing of civil rights legislation decades ago, many sundown towns and neighborhoods remain intentionally all-white to this day.

James W. Loewen is the bestselling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me and Lies Across America, both from The New Press, among many other books and articles. He is a regular contributor to the History Channel's History magazine. Loewen is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Vermont and lives in Washington, D.C.

Sundown Towns
A Hidden Dimension of American Racism
by James W. Loewen

ISBN: 156584887X
Publisher: The New Press
Publication Date: 2005
Format: Hardcover, 562 pages
Book Type: New