A sundown town is a municipality or neighborhood within the United States that practices or once practiced a form of racial segregation characterized by intimidation, hostility, or violence among White people directed toward non-Whites, especially against African Americans. The term "sundown town" derives from the practice of White towns then erecting signage alerting non-Whites to vacate the area before sundown. Sundown towns might include entire sundown counties or sundown suburbs and have historically been strengthened by the local presence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a White supremacist organization. Discrimination practices commonly found in sundown towns became federally illegal during the 20th century.

Although the United States has a history of expulsion of African Americans from certain communities dating to the 18th century, sundown towns became common during the nadir of American race relations after the Reconstruction era ended in 1877 and through the civil rights movement in the mid-twentieth century. The period was marked by the lawful continuation of racial segregation in the United States via Jim Crow laws. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 codified enforcement of federal law abolishing restrictive housing covenants.

Sundown towns could issue written warnings to non-Whites by way of signage, city ordinances, housing covenants, and notices posted in local papers or directly on the homes of non-White families and their employers. Violent means of expelling minorities from their communities may include the realization or threat of firing gunshots and dynamite into their homes, burning down their homes, placing bombs and performing cross burnings in their yards, mobbing them, lynching them, and massacring them.

Definition and scope

A sundown town is an all-White community that shows or has shown hostility toward non-Whites. Sundown town practices may be evoked in the form of city ordinances barring people of color after dark, exclusionary covenants for housing opportunity, signage warning ethnic groups to vacate, unequal treatment by local law enforcement, and unwritten rules permitting harassment. Sundown towns in the United States include present communities that do not "socially accept" people who are not White. Although African Americans are primarily the focus of sundown town claims, Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans, Native Americans, and Mexican Americans have also been subject to this discriminatory practice.

Legally, municipalities cannot currently enforce restrictions or discrimination against people by race or other protected classes, but this has not always been the case. The 1948 United States Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer outlawed the legal enforcement of restrictive housing covenants. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited housing discrimination and defined equal protection, enforcement of such provisions would not be codified until the Civil Rights Act of 1968. As such, any location that is listed below is not an indicator of that place practicing traditional sundown town rules today.

Sundown communities by state

Alabama Arab, Alabama, historically had signage warning Black people to leave the town before dark and did not permit Black persons during the daytime either. Cullman County, Alabama, did not allow Black people by law from the 1890s to the 1950s. Reprinted in Notices were posted on roads leading out of the county that read, "Nigger, read and run, don't let the sun go down on you in Cullman County." According to former Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives Tom Drake, "there used to be signs on the railroad track, at the county line and all that. 'Nigger, don't let the sun set on your head in Cullman County.'"

Arizona Bisbee, Arizona, a mining town that strictly enforced racial segregation, completely banned Chinese residents and forced Mexican workers into lower-paying jobs. This atmosphere of intense hostility turned violent in July 1919 when local police and armed white residents attacked Black soldiers who were visiting town for a holiday parade.

Duncan, Arizona, operated as a sundown town, utilizing formal ordinances, signage, and the threat of violence to enforce racial exclusion. Records from 1949 specifically highlight the town's history of using violent expulsion and official actions to prevent Black residents from living in the community.

Kingman, Arizona, is a town where residents describe a long-standing culture of anti-Black hostility, including reports of a sign at the city limits that warned Black people to leave before sunset. This environment of racial intolerance persisted for decades, evidenced by the town's extremely low Black population and ongoing reports of racist language and hate symbols among students in the late 2000s.

Prescott, Arizona, maintained a hostile environment for Black people, which included the use of explicit, violent warnings at city limits telling them not to let the sun set on them there. Beyond these threats, the town’s long-standing reputation as an exclusively "white man’s town" was upheld through systemic social and housing practices that discouraged Black residency well into the 20th century.

Scottsdale, Arizona, was the spring training camp for the Boston Red Sox. When Pumpsie Green joined the team in 1959, he was not housed in the hotel with the rest of the team. The Red Sox claimed the hotel was full; however, historical accounts note that Black people could not live in Scottsdale after dark, requiring Green to reside in Phoenix.

Tempe, Arizona, home to Arizona State University, was considered a sundown town from its founding in 1871 for 90 years. Tempe allowed Black people to work but not reside in the town. Warren and Carol Livingston became the first Black people to buy property in Tempe in 1965.

Youngtown, Arizona, was known for excluding Black, Brown, and Indigenous people through violence, threats, and the use of police action.

Arkansas

Bonanza, Arkansas, forcibly expelled "nearly all" Black residents between April 27 and May 7, 1904, by inducing terror through "as many as 500 [gun]shots" into the homes of Black residents. Boone County, Arkansas, is a county containing Harrison (see below) and Zinc, home of Knights of the Ku Klux Klan leader Thomas Robb. Clay County, Arkansas, forbade Black people as late as 1945. Craighead County, Arkansas, forbade Black people as late as 1945. Greene County, Arkansas, forbade Black people as late as 1945. Harrison, Arkansas, was the site of two race riots in 1905 and 1909. In 1905, a White mob broke into the local jail to kidnap two Black prisoners, drive them outside the city, and whip them while threatening them to leave. In 1909, Charles Stinnett, a Black man, was sentenced to hang for the alleged rape of a White woman, and Harrison's White community expelled more Black people in its aftermath. Stinnett died from strangulation as a result of a botched hanging fifteen minutes after it began. Hickory Ridge, Arkansas, segregated Black housing to a "slum" west of the Cotton Belt Railroad. In 1910, as a response to a rape allegation, residents expelled Black people by throwing dynamite into their houses. Horatio, Arkansas, residents posted notices on the front doors of 17 Mexicans employed at a fruit company to leave town or face violent consequences on or about April 12, 1905. The community had been excluding Black people from living there for years before. Marked Tree, Arkansas, was reported by The Commercial Appeal in 1896 in an article stating that around eight years prior, the town had been a place where "no negroes were allowed to live in Marked Tree, and a delegation of citizens was organized to drive them out." Mena, Arkansas, wrote in a newspaper about how it had "No Negroes". Sheridan, Arkansas, forcibly expelled "nearly all" Black residents between April 27 and May 7, 1904. Springdale, Arkansas, had signs at the city limit stating Blacks needed to leave by sunset. Reports of when these were last seen vary from as early as the 1950s to as late as 1976.

California Antioch, California, residents burned Chinatown and banned Chinese people after sunset when one doctor's report on April 29, 1876, pointed to Chinese sex workers for spreading venereal disease. Beverly Hills, California, was planned as an "all-White suburb" along with Culver City, Palos Verdes Estates, Tarzana, and others. Burbank, California, barred members of the Civilian Conservation Corps from locating a Black-owned business in Griffith Park in the 1930s on the grounds of an "old ordinance of the cities of Burbank and Glendale which prohibited Negroes from remaining inside municipal limits after sun down." Culver City, California, was planned as an "all-White suburb" along with Beverly Hills, Palos Verdes Estates, Tarzana, and others. Gone With the Wind producer David Selznick was concerned by the pushback from African Americans alleging racism in the movie's screenplay, after it was filmed in Culver City during its time as a sundown town. Deed restrictions exist today that disallow the ownership, transfer to, or leasing of any property to people of color, but these restrictions remain unenforcible. El Segundo, California, along with neighboring Manhattan Beach and Hawthorne, existed as a sundown town. The city allowed real estate covenants to restrict the ownership of property to white people exclusively, and disallowed the presence of people of color after dark. This trend continued well into the 1960s, even after laws were revised to allow Black community participation. By 1970, census data shows that the African American population in El Segundo grew from less than 1% to only 3%. Glendale, California, was a sundown town at least until the 1960s. In 2020, Glendale's city council passed a resolution that formally apologized for its past sundown town status. Hawthorne, California, had a sign during the 1930s that read, "Nigger, Don't Let the Sun Set on You in Hawthorne." Hawthorne's former status as a sundown town was mentioned by the Los Angeles Times in 2007. Hemet, California, was once a sundown town where Black visitors were allowed to work during the day but were not allowed to stay the night. Manhattan Beach, California, was influenced by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s to condemn Black-owned businesses and restrict Black home ownership, as well as their use of the beach. Bruce's Beach was a popular African-American beach resort in the town from 1912 to 1924 when the city used eminent domain to close it.Murphy, Michelle (June 2006). "Parks and Recreation Commission Recommends Changing Park Name" (PDF). The Manhattan Beach Observer. Manhattan Beach Residents Association. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 27, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2009 In 2021, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve returning the county land to the heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce. The complex process of transferring the parcels to their great-grandsons was completed in 2022. In January 2023 the Bruce family announced their decision to sell the beach back to the county for $20 million."Bruce's Beach". Los Angeles County | Chief Executive Office. October 26, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2022. Palos Verdes Estates, California, was planned as an "all-White suburb" along with Beverly Hills, Culver City, Tarzana, and others. The Commonwealth Trust Company filed the Palos Verdes Protective Restrictions in Los Angeles County in 1923. These restrictions established rules for the developer and all land owners, including the limitation of all non-white people to occupy or use property. Palos Verdes specifically excluded Mexican-Americans from living in the estates, yet Mexican-inspired architecture was mandated in most of the area.