sundown town

After signs posted at town entrances warning that “colored people” (among other terms) were required to leave town by sundown.

sundown town (plural sundown towns)

1. A place or jurisdiction that prohibits or discourages a certain class of people, typically a certain race or ethnicity, from living there or remaining there after sundown, or, in some cases, from visiting during the day.

   Synonyms: sunset town, gray town, sundowner town

   • 1946 August 8, J. D. Stosz, “Jay Dee's Column”, in The Marysville Advocate‎, Marysville, Kansas, via Newspapers.com, page 11:

     Beattie is a sundown town for tramps since the fire.

   • 1957 November 11, Joseph Ator, “Firm Hand of the Law Stifles Nashville's Strife by Racial Segregation”, in Chicago Daily Tribune‎, via Newspapers.com, section 1, page 2:

     Cousin Paul said: "Of course, this is a sundown town [no Negro residents tolerated], but if Ike sends in the paratroopers, we can always integrate with the bears."

   • 1960, The National Conference and the reports of the State Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights‎, page 330:

     However, according to old-timers, there is a time-honored tradition extending back at least two generations that "this is a sundown town."

   • 1968 August 25, Doug Walker, “Integration Moving on Peaceful Feet”, in Dayton Daily News‎, Dayton, Ohio, via Newspapers.com, page 4-C:

     A dandy example is Fairborn, up until recent years a "Sundown Town" where community forces worked in concert to keep Negroes out.

   • 2016 July 11, Miller Jozwiak, “From 'Go Home' to 'Welcome Home' for local man”, in The Sheboygan Press‎, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, via Newspapers.com, pages 1A–2A:

     [James W.] Loewen compiled an online map allowing people to find out more about the racial history of their towns, identifying thousands of likely and confirmed sundown towns across the U.S.

• Jim Crow
• redlining
• segregation

• sundown town on Wikipedia.Wikipedia