I understand that many of our readers might be tired of hearing about and reading about Michael Brown Jr., Eric Garner and the movements that erupted in Ferguson, New York and across the nation. What astounds me is that so many forget the basis of the outbreaks. And for those who do not know, here are some very significant facts to absorb.
James Loewen is the author of “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism,” in which he describes “Sundown Towns” as predominantly white communities in which people of color are not welcome, particularly past sundown. Before the publication of “Sundown Towns,” the idea that many towns barred African Americans was not widely known.
Loewen reports that beginning in roughly 1890 with the end of Reconstruction and continuing until the fair-housing legislation of the late 1960s, whites in America created thousands of whites-only towns, commonly known as “Sundown Towns.”
At times, Loewen notes, communities drove out their black residents over a period of months or years by creating an atmosphere of unrelenting hostility, usually accompanied by sporadic threats of violence and brutal police harassment. Often, however, some precipitating event – usually the accusation that a black person had assaulted a white man or raped a white woman – sent the white community into a frenzy. Mobs lynched the accused and then systematically drove all African Americans from their homes.
Loewen said he thinks Ferguson was a Sundown Town, based on a statement in the published history of its neighbor, Kinloch, a majority-black town.
According to John A. Wright, Ferguson blocked the main road to Kinloch, the tiny black suburb to its west, with chains, trying to keep out black residents. Wright observed that in the years from 1940-1960, while Ferguson’s white population grew by almost 400 percent, its black population was cut by 60 percent. Meanwhile, the black population of the St. Louis metropolitan area doubled, from just under 150,000 to just under 300,000.
Did you know the history of Ferguson and if not, are you surprised? Is Ferguson and was it a “Sundown Town”? With the nation watching, will things change?
Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday night at 10 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 5:30 p.m. on KNLC-TV Ch. 24. I can be reached by fax at 314-837-3369 or e-mail at berhay@swbell.net.
