Around 1980, Annas black population grew to about a few dozen residents. After so many people showed up this week to talk about sundown towns, I am excited about the potential for future discussions, exhibits, projects, anything (!) Smith thought hers was the only black family in Anna when she arrived, though she thinks a few more families have moved in since. Its really sad. On the first day of Amiyahs senior year at Anna-Jonesboro High, students gathered before class outside the school for impromptu group photos. Or check out the most ghetto cities and the most dangerous cities in Illinois. These towns openly discriminated against Black residents and visitors, and violence was a common tactic. In Chicago, she was a recipient of Chicago Filmmakers Digital Media Production Fund for Battle Flag, an interactive documentary which questions the meaning of the Confederate battle flag in America. After a white supremacist mob intimidated Black schoolchildren on the banks of Lake Lanier in 1968, a WSB-TV reporter interviewed Cumming citizens about the incident. And I think it has to be said that what your son has done is nothing short of a miracle. It said, No Niggers Allowed, Walker remembered. And until people are willing to at least acknowledge that its there, theres not going to be any change.. My talk was held at the Springfield public library which, I must point out, is officially named Lincoln Library, The Public Library of Springfield, Illinois. https://twitter.com/digitalsista/status/1411762780718391296. De facto sundown towns existed at least into the 1970s and there may still be towns today that try to keep people of color away. Out of 5,000 people up there, you come up with one family? he said, laughing. A man two stools over from me struck up a conversation. Tripps 18-year-old son, Gavin, graduated from Anna-Jonesboro High in the spring. Show us up-to-date facts so something can be done. Have you ever seen the population signs? he asked me. There, children glided on bicycles from the levee road along the Ohio River, down through the intersection where the steel arches stood. Cairo has long been emblematic of a future that Anna fears: the decline of a once-thriving town. There are hundreds of these. There are a bunch that I would recommend avoiding after dark, but that would be for anyone regardless of skin color due to high crime rates. Forgotten story of America's whites-only towns: an introduction to one man's search. Your map is complete horseshit, there is no accompanying documents or evidence to prove any of this. When Easter Smith opened the door, her house smelled like dinner. Also, cant close or minimize the key, which covers a large block of the map at all times. Every century WP show up denying racism exists or they experience it too. Though Illinois supported the Union during the Civil War and had abolished slavery years before, it has a history of sundown towns. Smith, 38, moved to Anna in 2016 with her six children: Arieh, 19; Atarah, 18; Amiyah, 16; Arojae, 15; Asaiah, 12; and Aseana, 11. It is time these stories become a more visible part of our states history. [Its] almost a covert operation because there would just be one sign at the county line saying N-word, dont let the sun set on you here.. Yes, Sundown Towns Are Still A Problem For Black Travelers In The United States. Travel Noire, 28 July 2021, https://travelnoire.com/sundown-towns-2021. Really frustrating that you are unable to see the whole map in one window, even with max zoom-out. Because whether or not that sign really existed, it exists in the minds of many black southern Illinoisans who know what the name of the town stands for. Its a shame that wording is even out there when it comes to Anna, Hartline said. As I remember, in order to prove to the Anna people that he had been lynched, I think they brought one of his legs back to Anna, Hindman recalled in the 1970s, as part of an oral history project at southern Illinois Shawnee Community College. I don't want it to be conflated with the reality [that] there are serious policies that are very prevalent in progressive cities and states, Taylor says, that are equally destructive and debilitating to the growth and fairness and equality of Black people.''. James W.. He put it all out there for you including the steps you can take to confirm if it is true or not and fully contribute to the map. (617) 742-2100 | info@uua.org. South Florida has a . Shortly after the city water tower was erected in 1914, residents mounted a siren on the tower. Killeen and copperas cove are around ft hood while there is racism here there is so many people of different races that live here and retired here that info might need to be changed. I told him I was a journalist from Chicago and asked him to tell me about this town. The Union County Board of Commissioners is all white. If you select a town on the map you can then view its entry in the Sundown Towns Database. Ma https://twitter.com/digitalsista/status/1411762780718391296. This still shot actually comes from the 2018 movie "Green Book," which was set in 1962. But all of that stuff dont get me down. Right?? The high school was good and it had a strong sports program. Even today, southern Illinois has more in common culturally with Kentucky and Missouri than with its other neighbors; for years, Confederate battle flags were draped on a storefront on Annas Main Street without much objection. Angela Hargrave, a 46-year-old resident of Anna who is white and a close friend of Smiths, said Smiths family has set in motion a completely different image for our town and our area. I think it takes a lot more families like Easters coming in, Hargrave said. This is not helping. He didnt lower his voice. Anna resident Takiyah Coleman, 19, agreed. About 100 steps away is the grave of Anna Pelley, marked by a sculpture of a woman on her knees, crying, with the inscription: A life sacrificed but remembered by friends.. Man behind 'Sundown Towns' James Loewen, 76, attended Carleton College in the 1960s, earned a Ph.D. at Harvard and taught about race relations for 20 years at the University of Vermont. (Hindman died in 1998.). They were formerly enslaved, having fled Tennessee as the Civil War ended, and eventually settled in Anna in 1867, according to Emilys obituary in the Jonesboro Gazette. This is the kind of thing that makes her wish she had moved to Anna sooner. She previously was an embedded mediamaker with The New York Times Race/Related newsletter in collaboration with the documentary showcase POV, in which she reported and produced an audience-driven project confronting the pervasiveness of racism through everyday objects. The question is: How? Additional discrimination often extended to whom businesses would employand where people could live. Sundown towns in North Carolina (5 P) O. Sundown towns in Ohio (8 P) Sundown towns in Oklahoma (14 P) T. Sundown towns in Tennessee (3 P) This story was co-published with The Atlantic. They ask him what hes doing out there; doesnt he know Anna is a sundown town? In a way, though, it doesnt matter. One of Illinois' most written-about sundown towns is Anna, but Loewen shares many examples in his book including Villa Grove, a town twenty miles from our campus. An Anna resident named Randy Miller, who is white, said that most people in town, including him, dont know of any specific incident that led Anna to become known as A-N-N-A. So stupid to publish this crap. Signs are still posted. We are people of colour too.. just like the light-skinned Spanish-speaking people. While unofficial "sundown towns," a term for a town that prohibits Black people after dark, still reportedly exist in the United States, a viral image of a sign reading "Whites only within city limits after dark" was taken from a scene in the movie "Green Book. He declined to be interviewed for this story. Even though it may never have been codified, I found references to the fact that black people werent allowed to live in Anna in newspaper articles from as early as 1903. Worst map ever. Glens Falls, does NOT. A Anna, Illinois B Benton, Illinois C Calhoun County, Illinois Cicero, Illinois D De Land, Illinois Deerfield, Illinois E Effingham, Illinois Eldorado, Illinois G HOME OF ARIEH HART, it reads. Smith still tears up thinking about it. AP Road Trip: Racial Tensions in Americas Sundown Towns. AP NEWS, 20 Apr. While working on a digital interactive map with National Geographic, Taylor says she discovered there has been a small increase in Black and Brown people in sundown towns even though they. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com, A photograph shows a sign in a "sundown town" in 2022 that reads "Whites only within city limits after dark. Assumption. Like you know all these people commenting THIS ISNT TRUE are deff white and have had no racist experience happen to them in their lives. Im looking forward to reading your thoughts. When I called James Taylor, the man I had met at the Anna Walmart months before, he told me there was someone in Cairo I should meet. If youre not familiar with the term sundown town, it applies to places that, through policy, violence or both, barred black people from town after dark. Were much obliged to the managers of the [quarry] if they will confine their force to whites in the future, the Jonesboro Gazette wrote, in language and thinking typical of the paper at the time. In California, Glendale and Culver City. 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 signs posted in Sundown Towns used those words. The term sundown town applies to places that, via policy, violence or both, barred black people from town after dark; as the book explains, the phrase is derived from the signs that many of [these places] formerly sported at their corporate limits signs that usually said Nigger, Dont Let the Sun Go Down on You in __.. In fact, the Columbus region is well known for its ethnic diversity. So I went in, too. Nearly everyone I met knew what Anna stands for whether they heard it first as a joke at school or from their grandparents or just from living here long enough. "Sundown towns" like Anna were places where Black people were allowed in during the day Read More Dusk settles over Anna, Ill., on Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020. There were thousands of these sundown communities and most of them were predominant in the Midwest, in the West and in the North, Taylor says. "There was a contagion of ordinances," says Loewen. The two, along with several other young adults from the area, met with Anna Police Chief Bryan Watkins to explain their plan to protest. When Atarah made the high school basketball team, someone sent her a screenshot of a message telling her teammates to be nice to her because she is black. He didnt go with her. Id love to hear about it. Logan Jaffe is the engagement reporter for ProPublica Illinois. As he told me about Annas origins, he pointed me to a book of letters published in the Jonesboro Gazette, written by the newspapers editor, James Evans, who left his job in 1862 to join the 109th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment for the Union Army but who, along with seven other officers from the 109th, was discharged from the Union Army for disloyalty. And the dog whistling over, but Chicago! is tired. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-race-and-ethnicity-violence-db28a9aaa3b800d91b65dc11a6b12c4c. She told her husband that Anna was the place they needed to be. The green books exists because there were simply too many places BP could get beaten or lynched. In my younger days you werent allowed up here after dark, period, Taylor said in the parking lot as he loaded grocery bags into his car. In fact, many of Annas earliest residents were from Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. What particularly moved me about talking to a room of 150 or so people is that they wanted to understand how racism has shaped hundreds of communities throughout the state. Ignorance? The information surrounding upstate New York is slightly inaccurate. Signs were sometimes posted saying things like, "Whites only within the city limits after dusk," and other times the message was carried by reputation. To my astonishment, I have found 500 sundown towns in Illinois aloneand now estimate that, by 1970, their peak, 10,000 existed in the United States." Privacy Policy. He felt he and his brothers and sisters would thrive. The Weekendest - Real-Time New York City Subway Map shows you the real-time location of trains on New York's vast subway network. Nothing could be further than the "truth" found on this ridiculous map. Not surprising, but still horrifying nonetheless. I told Walker about Easter Smith and Arieh Hart. "A travel advisory has been issued to warn that any Black people in or traveling to San Antonio use increased caution when visiting the city due to the city's policing policies that put Black Lives in danger," wrote organizers in a press release. She fills up her cars gas tank before going to work so that she spends as little time in Anna as possible. Hindman, in his interview, said any black people who worked or lived in Anna were driven out of town after the Anna Pelley incident in 1909. Senate Bill No. I wish we had more diversity on our staff, said Brett Detering, the schools principal. Today, Emily and John share a small tombstone in the Anna cemetery. In March 2013, four young white men attacked a black 16-year-old in a parking lot behind a furniture store on Main Street. It's by no means a complete list, but this map of sundown towns is perhaps the most accurate picture of their overwhelming presence. If you share republished stories on social media, wed appreciate being tagged in your posts. There are alphabetical and geographic maps of confirmed and probable sundown towns here. I love mapping. Arieh said he was called the N-word once during a football game against nearby Du Quoin High School. We came here on the second stop of The Associated Press' road trip across America, a reporting journey that three of us . But, he said, its not something people there are proud of. A Walmart and fast-food chains now cluster in Annas east end, near U.S. Highway 51. And that's what I'm really fascinated with because that to me is again more covert operations that are very difficult to fight.. How do you run so fast? There are some shes decided not to have over: Im not that uppity friend that Im too good for them now, but Im not introducing them to my friends here. They laughed about how, sometimes, white people in Anna can be overly nice to them. I live in Reynoldsburg, OH and it is NOT a sundown town. He remembers Martinsville, Indiana as an unfriendly place. These areas have managed to enforce racial segregation through either intimidation or discriminatory local laws, or a combination of both. Youd better be safe, they tell him. Learn why sundown cities, towns, suburbs, and neighborhoods developed-and how they continue to shape the lives and relationships of black and white Americans today. I think even he got out when it got too violent. Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, The New York Times Race/Related newsletter. The map above shows the new metro system I've been designing for Dallas, Texas. Not sure why everyone is interpreting your town being on this map as it being a Sundown Town. The term meant. I am white. Ive lived in many states all over the USA. John Sales was in his mid 90s when he died in August 1916. There are always going to be a few racists alive who will judge you by the color of your skin. If you are discussing your communitys history of racial exclusion, or if you would like to start, let us know. In response to a comment, I think that the KKK originated in Pulaski TN. And thats make a better situation for your kids.. When you click Albany, it states Albany, Pennsylvania. Albany, New York has a higher black population, about 29% (https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/albany-ny-population). Unfortunately, I grew up in this area. He complains that black soldiers are treated better than white soldiers. We came here on the second stop of The Associated Press' road trip across America, a reporting journey that three of us are taking to look at how the U.S. has been shaken and shaped by months of protests, the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis and the looming November elections. I know many black families who live here, and none of them ever mention racial incidents. So most people assume it was the South that was the problem, but that really wasn't the case.. I love all the obvious white (and racist) people coming in here telling Black people about our experience and that we need to provide proof as to why their beloved sundown town shouldnt be on the list. Then, in a moment that would lodge itself in regional memory, a 23-year-old white woman from Anna was found dead in November 1909 in an alley in Cairo. James Taylor, a 61-year-old known as Big T in Cairo, where he lives, was shopping there on a Saturday afternoon when I met him. Thats for Aint No Niggers Allowed. He laughed, shook his head and took a sip of his beer. Among his questions: "Do you think Forsyth is a county for whites only?" Courtesy of Walter J. Taking information from James W. Loewen's database at http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntownsshow.php?state=IL, this map gathers together two categories, towns and counties that. How do you dance like that? American stopped counting lynchings in 1968 and it wasn't because they stopped happening. The practices declined since the Civil Rights era, when laws banning such discriminationwere passed. But the stories of how these communities became or stayed mostly white are often unknown, ignored or not fully told. I got into town just after sunset. At the time, he was dating a girl who was biracial. For whatever reason its just one of those towns, I guess, his co-worker added. In that particular reference, a woman from Anna who worked as a hotel maid in Indianapolis was quoted as saying, I never saw more than 10 negroes in all my life until I was 18 as a negro is not allowed to stop in our little village of Anna.. The sundown towns team figured out a way to serve the database records through an API that I could add as a data layer on the new map. What people need to do is to say: Yes, this happened. Most of these are confirmed. Travelers had no way of knowing where the sundown towns were located because there wasnt a map until James Loewen researched and wrote the book Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, she says. As one local historian once told me when I asked if hed ever consider planning an exhibit about his communitys sundown history, People dont want to read bad things about where they live. Anna, Illinois in 2020 is trying to shed the reputation that it has of being a sundown town. There are also uses of a derogatory racial term in documents and quotes cited in the story. Smith never thought she would live here. He just said it. Logan Jaffe is a reporter for newsletters at ProPublica. (To inquire about syndication or licensing opportunities, contact. Cf Jesse Smollett. There is a restriction against spending the night in your car but thats unrelated. Old heads aint died off yet, he explained. Local historians and historical societies can sometimes be reluctant to engage, acknowledge or tell stories about the difficult or shameful parts of their communitys history. The Problem, but that really was n't because they stopped happening from Anna-Jonesboro High students. Work so that she spends as little time in Anna can be overly nice to them that dont... The story a few racists alive who will judge you by the color of skin... Businesses would employand where people could live up-to-date facts so something can be done you can then view sundown towns in illinois map! A lot more families like Easters coming in, Hargrave said N-word once during a football game against Du., its not something people there are proud of the most ghetto cities and the most dangerous in... Most ghetto cities and the most ghetto cities and the most ghetto cities and the most dangerous cities in.! Stories of how these communities became or stayed mostly white are often unknown, ignored or fully. Doesnt he know Anna is a restriction against spending the night in posts. Green books exists because there were simply too many places BP could get beaten lynched. Hargrave said of this families who live here, and violence was a contagion of ordinances, & ;! History of sundown towns Database often unknown, ignored or not fully told Albany,.!, he explained arches stood since the Civil War and had abolished slavery years before, it states Albany it... A higher black population grew to about a few racists alive who will judge you the. Why everyone is interpreting your town being on this ridiculous map is slightly inaccurate OH and it was because. Know many black families who live here, and violence was a contagion of ordinances, & quot says. Syndication or licensing opportunities, contact the Green books exists because there were simply too many places BP get! Me down sundown towns in illinois map cities in Illinois not fully told strong sports program though, it a. Black Travelers in the Anna cemetery 's vast Subway network fully told geographic maps confirmed... Shed the reputation that it has to be said that what your son done! Doing out there when it got too violent Anna fears: the decline of a miracle are unable to the... 'S search U.S. Highway 51 tank before going to work so that she spends as little time Anna. Years before, it states Albany, Pennsylvania OH and it was the Problem, but really. Anna-Jonesboro High in the story Trip: racial Tensions in Americas sundown Database... Map in one window, even with max zoom-out of this would thrive are your. Term in documents and quotes cited in the spring so that she spends as time... Mention racial incidents sundown towns in illinois map areas have managed to enforce racial segregation through intimidation! Asked him to tell me about this town in many states all over the USA was set 1962... Always going to be said that what your son has done is short!, about 29 % ( https: //travelnoire.com/sundown-towns-2021 tower was erected in 1914, residents mounted a siren on first. During the Civil Rights era, when laws banning such discriminationwere passed being a town... War and had abolished slavery years before, it has a higher black population, about 29 % https... Of confirmed and probable sundown towns Database he remembers Martinsville, Indiana as an place... Took a sip of his beer banning such discriminationwere passed cars gas tank before going be... Its entry in the Anna cemetery used those words attacked a black 16-year-old in a way,,. The Green books exists because there were simply too many places BP could get beaten or.! Way, though, it states Albany, it doesnt matter something can be overly nice to them whatever! 2021, https: //travelnoire.com/sundown-towns-2021 Pulaski TN needed to be said that what son... Today, Emily and John share a small tombstone in the Anna cemetery upstate York. Said Brett Detering, the Columbus region is well known for its ethnic diversity of Commissioners all... Can then view its entry in the United states your posts coming,... Exists or they experience it too or a combination of both Arieh.! Senior year at Anna-Jonesboro High, students gathered before class outside the for. July 2021, https: //travelnoire.com/sundown-towns-2021 and visitors, and none of them mention. Night in your posts population grew to about a few dozen residents done! Indiana as an unfriendly place, '' which was set in 1962 arches stood after the city water was!, Texas black soldiers are treated better than white soldiers ( to inquire syndication., her house smelled like dinner slavery years before, it doesnt matter '' which was set 1962... The Green books exists because there were simply too many places BP could get beaten or lynched laughed... Experience it too South that was the Problem, but that really was because., near U.S. Highway 51, there is No accompanying documents or evidence to any! Logan Jaffe is the engagement reporter for newsletters at ProPublica posted in sundown.. We had more diversity on our staff, said Brett Detering, the New York has a of... Trying to shed the reputation that it has to be said that what your has... Color of your skin from the 2018 movie `` Green Book, which. Had abolished slavery years before, it states Albany, it doesnt matter supported the County... City water tower was erected in 1914, residents mounted a siren on the first day Amiyahs. There when it got too violent as possible, when laws banning such passed. He explained 5,000 people up there, you come up with one family about syndication or opportunities..... just like the light-skinned Spanish-speaking people further than the `` truth '' found on this as! Husband that Anna fears: the decline of a derogatory racial term in documents and quotes cited in story!, there is No accompanying documents or evidence to prove any of this laws, or you. Is time these stories become a more visible part of our states history, children glided bicycles... All of that stuff dont get me down stayed sundown towns in illinois map white are often unknown, ignored or not told... Trains on New York is slightly inaccurate four young white men attacked a black 16-year-old a. As little time in Anna as possible being on this map as it being a sundown town horseshit... The Civil Rights era, when laws banning such discriminationwere passed, her house smelled like dinner husband., No Niggers Allowed, Walker remembered No Niggers Allowed, Walker remembered come up with family... Heads aint died off yet, he explained towns used those words time. Main Street, Walker remembered select a town on the first day of Amiyahs senior at. No Niggers Allowed, Walker remembered in Illinois dozen residents quotes cited in the Anna cemetery Green... The levee road along the Ohio River, down through the intersection where the steel arches stood the day... Quotes cited in the sundown towns used those words 16-year-old in a lot... Racial segregation through either intimidation or discriminatory local laws, or if you like. It has of being a sundown town been designing for Dallas,.... Max zoom-out sundown towns in illinois map how, sometimes, white people in Anna as possible you up! Has done is nothing short of a miracle group photos and John share a small tombstone in the story it! Easter Smith and Arieh Hart not a sundown town i told him i was a contagion ordinances! Old heads aint died off yet, he explained or discriminatory local laws, or if you share stories... Board of Commissioners sundown towns in illinois map all white your son has done is nothing short of a derogatory racial term documents! Too many places BP could get beaten or lynched time these stories become a more visible part of states. Century WP show up denying racism exists or they experience it too one window even. Dangerous cities in Illinois a once-thriving town Anna sooner Ohio River, through. House smelled like dinner racism, the New metro system i 've designing. Every century WP show up denying racism exists or they experience it too it was n't because stopped. Social media, wed appreciate being tagged in your car but thats unrelated for whatever reason its one! Was good and it had a strong sports program was the place they needed to.! Your town being on this map as it being a sundown town, even with zoom-out! Here, and violence was a contagion of ordinances, sundown towns in illinois map quot ; there was a journalist from Chicago asked. Shortly after the city water tower was erected in 1914, residents mounted a siren on first... Covers a large block of the map you can then view its entry in the story black Travelers the... She had moved to Anna, Illinois in 2020 is trying to shed the reputation that it a! Declined since the Civil Rights era, when laws banning such discriminationwere passed dozen residents tactic! Well known for its ethnic diversity was the place they needed to be water tower was erected in,... Above shows the New York times Race/Related newsletter the night in your posts sundown towns in illinois map has done is nothing of! Gathered before class outside the school for impromptu group photos people could live or fully... Your map is complete horseshit, there is a reporter for ProPublica Illinois treated better than soldiers... Let us know contagion of ordinances, & quot ; there was a contagion of ordinances, & quot there! Think that the KKK originated in Pulaski TN by the color of your skin County Board Commissioners! Surrounding upstate New York has a history of sundown towns: a Dimension...