Lost Black History
By Don Valentine
SunDown laws are another blemish to our great union’s history. When President George W. Bush spoke at the opening of the African American museum he said, “A great nation does not hide its history. It faces its flaws, and corrects them.” We have a responsibility to know our Black history, so we can share it with the younger generations. We were not taught about Sundown laws in school. That does not suggest that our kids can’t learn about it from us! The current trend toward “Erasing” history to teach just the pretty parts is a Clarion call for our action. If we don’t know Our History, we are doomed to learn “His-Story!
Sundown laws began during the post Civil war reconstruction era. Simply put Negros must be off the street by Sun Down or face dire retribution. Blackpast.org defines it as, “ Sundown Towns are all-White communities, neighborhoods, or counties that exclude Blacks and other minorities through the use of discriminatory laws, harassment, and threats or use of violence.” The primary target was Black people, but included Jews and Hispanics in some areas. The delivery of the Sundown rule had zero ambiguity. In its most glaring form, signs were posted at the city limits. One in Alix, Arkansas, in the 1930s, read, “N****r, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On You In Alix.” A common refrain would be signs posted around town stating, “Whites Only After Dark!”
Acclaimed writer Candacy Taylor’s latest book, “Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America”, discusses this sad era. “The Sundown town was really a way that the North and West patrolled and monitored race without having the dirty signs of saying Colored or Whites only.”
This racist practice was not just limited to the South. Surprisingly the majority of these laws were in the Midwest. The exact number of cities advocating this evil policy is speculative. Historians estimate there were up to 10,000 Sundown towns in the United States between 1890 and 1960.
HAZARD: Discret practice of Sundowner rules are still applied in some areas. The NAACP in 2027 issued warnings to Black travelers to be wary of Sundown towns for the entire state of Missouri.
I’m not just the writer of this article, but a personal witness to this abuse in 1987. After my first year of law school in Washington DC, I drove home to California. My friend and I stopped in Denver to enjoy the night. We got stopped for “DWB” and then my plates, plus ID were verified. There were a total of 4 squad cars involved. When we had been excused a cruiser followed us to the Denver city limit. Prior to researching this article, it was a mystery to why we got treated that way! That gave me yet another real life view of being Black in America.
