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. What is the KKK? Some progress has taken place across the country. For decades, Salem had signs on each main road going into town telling African Americans that they were not allowed in town after sundown. Article continues below. So long as such towns appear to be accidentally white, they avoid this difficulty. We received that letter on May 10, 1987. Sundown towns dated back to the colonial days, when the ordinances and laws were also aimed at Native Americans. They get the same as the white people get!. Monticello Ready-Mix opened in 1953. This part of southern Illinois had at least a half-dozen sundown towns. Webt. People didnt want to talk about it before.. When youre looking at the places in Illinois with the highest number of KKK Klaverns per capita back in the day, this is an accurate list. We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine the dirt on places across the country. The racial makeup of the city was 97.13% White, 0.72% African American, 0.30% Native American, 1.15% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.14% from other races, and 0.52% from two or more races. Any improvement is better than zero improvement or going backwards., Pekin woman finds car vandalized with racist language, Morton Underground Railroad conductor's 'heroic' story retold, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. History and Social Justice Website Copyright 2023, Using Lies My Teacher Told Me and Teaching What Really Happened, Resources for Teaching with Lies My Teacher Told Me, Teachers Corner: Teaching with Lies My Teacher Told Me, Contact Jim Loewen to Speak to Your Group, Causing Change With Lies My Teacher Told Me, Works Inspired or Influenced by Lies My Teacher Told Me, Useful Quotations about History and Social Justice, Native American Issues, Including the Explorers, Teaching Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, Civil Rights Movement to Modern Times: c. 1945 Now, Alphabetical Map of Sundown Towns by State, How to Research and Teach About Sundown Towns, Using Research Information to Help a Sundown Town Overcome Its Past, Loewens Work on Standardized Testing Used by Others, Embarrassing Questions about Standardized Tests. A new 800-seat opera house had opened on the second floor of the current library building. The article highlighted the towns tolerance at the time. Black people had lived in and around Vienna since the late 1820s or early 1830s, said Dexter. The National Read Across America Day takes place every year on March 2, Geisels birthday. The federal government passed Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act, commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act; in addition, in Jones v. Mayer, the Supreme Court held that an 1866 civil rights law bars discrimination in the rental and sale of property. Forgot your password? He named it after Thomas Jeffersons home in Virginia. Sometimes, towns know their violent past keeps racial minorities away. As stated earlier, a sundown town (also known as a gray town) is an area in the U.S. where Black people are essentially forced out of the public once the sun goes In 63, the high schools first golf team was formed. You can feel them looking at you, feel them staring, she said. Its real strange and weird out here sometimes, said Nicholas Lewis, a stay-at-home father. In November 2021, a Pekin woman with two biracial children had her car vandalized with racist graffiti and all four of her tires had been deflated. In 1891, the first electricity was used. The bones were later retrieved by William H. Piatt and Abraham Marquiss. As you commemorate this anniversary, you have a splendid opportunity to renew your commitment to preserve the spirit which has forged America into a land of wonder. Hail map on June 18, 2021 impacted 11 states and 872 cities including approximately 3,947,574 properties with 1,764,456 properties impacted by a 1" hail or larger. Between 1922 and 1924, the town had a pretty large KKK presence. We were all part of Macon County. will take Late ball registration until spots are full. 1987 was the year of that very special anniversary. Im afraid its going to come to prayers to get us through.. After the civil rights era of the 1960s, Pekin had a reputation as a sundown town, largely due to a sign that reportedly was affixed to the old Pekin Bridge in the In an article in the Pekin Daily Times on Sept. 14, 2014, reporter Sharon Woods Harris wrote that the Pekin Human Rights Committeeworked to combat the citys racist reputation by hosting a diversity festival downtown. The town later repaid Black residents for their lost homes, the Times reported, though there is no indication anyone was ever prosecuted. Well history lovers, class has started! Documents the history of towns across the United States that exclude African Americans (and other racial/ethnic groups) after sundown. (Massena, St. Lawrence County, N.Y.) 1897-1989, June 26, 1969, Page 4, Image 4, brought to you by Northern NY Library Network, and the National Digital Newspaper Program. Food prices were really cheap in 63: beef was $.4-7 per lb, butter was $.9-10 per pound, corn was $. Until you live in a Black or brown persons body youre not going to understand, she said. They are pro-Trump, anti-abortion, virulently against gun control and distrust the coronavirus rules and the media (though after warming up they were very welcoming to us). The present post office was constructed in 35. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from where KKK organizations have existed. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.72%.[10]. Martin met Abraham in Springfield in 1824. Huston, Moore & Company was the first bank in Monticello. Burgess and O.L. The second courthouse was built in 1856 after the first one had been torn down. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. WebThe Massena observer. Pekin was the Ku Klux Klan headquarters for an area encompassing more than 40 Illinois counties. Or when an elderly woman walked past the family at a church dinner and loudly called the children damn half-breeds., There was the day the 10-year-old came home with a painful question: Grandma, why do I have to be Black?. If you use a windshield cover, you can at least forget about scrapping the ice off your windshield to save some time and hassle. These towns were an open secret of racial segregation that spilled over much of the nation for at least a century, and still exist in various forms, enforced today more by tradition and fear than by rules. Hosted by Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS, 39174 and facilitated by Pantheon. Some towns and neighborhoods have stayed white by dint of DWB violations (harassment by police for driving while black), realtor steering, shunning, and other bad behavior by white individuals; violence or threats of same (sometimes directed against the children of the family); and other informal policies. What I heard was such a shock to me! 1944-1987 Kaisers Department Store opened in the current location of the Monticello Gym Academy in 44. Expulsion of African Americans throughout We received a tragic email from a woman from LaPorte County, Indiana whose 21 year old, black, adopted son was pulled over by police in Monticello: My son was We measured the places in the Prairie State where there have historically been the most Klaverns per capita. Pulfer asserted in her research that reported instances of racism dropped significantly since the 1980s, while the number of Black residentsliving and working in the area gradually began to increase. This is our own little world down here, Harris said, sighing before she begins listing some of the troubles the family has faced. Havana is widely cited as being a Sundown town, and remains the seat of Mason County (which also has been identified as a Sundown County). I remember the not-so-subtle message that was left … on the Pekin Bridge, Mahogany recalled. Many residents of sundown towns ache to get beyond their tradition of exclusion. So do bound volumes of the census at your local public or university library. Mr. Flippo started cooking some of our favorite Italian food in 1971. From the 1990s to the present day, Pekin appears to have become more racially inclusive. Each city and town of our great country is unique, but all are bound together in the love of these United States. Tatman Village opened in 1981. There were hundreds of such towns, scholars say, reaching from New York to Oregon. Very often, especially in well-to-do suburbs that didnt want to be known as racist, they had no name at all. The population was 49,791 at the 2010 Census, and increased to 56,545 in the Census 2016 estimates. More research is needed. Then theres former President Barack Obama, who speaks regularly about his white mother from Kansas and his Black father from Kenya, but who personally identifies as Black. Ive never had anybody say anything (racist) to me in Vienna, but Ive definitely felt the way they felt about me.. Do they describe any actions whites took to cause the decline? More often, everyone both Black and white simply knew the unwritten rules. Males had a median income of $31,811 versus $21,931 for females. Today its just an overgrown field, vibrant green from recent rains. James W. Loewen is emeritus professor of sociology from the University of Vermont and visiting professor in African American Studies at the University of Illinois. Monticello is a town in Illinois with a population of 5,815. In 80, the first telephone service started. 'Just completely threw me off': Pekin woman finds car vandalized with racist language. Initially, I imagined I would find maybe ten of these communities in Illinois, where I planned more research than in any other single state, and perhaps fifty across the country. If the library has notes from the WPA Federal Writers Project (c.1935-40), look at those. Bryce and Mitchell's trip home is disrupted after making a pit stop in a mysteriously unwelcoming town. It was made up of 5 girls and no boys. Across America, some of these towns are now openly wrestling with their histories, publicly acknowledging now-abandoned racist laws or holding racial justice protests. Hes an unassuming man deeply in love with his young son, Nick. Davis had been arrested for his part in an altercation with arailroad special agentwho had noticed Davis riding on top of a railroad boxcar with another Black man. Im sure most people from around this area have heard of it. We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began. These towns openly discriminated against Black residents and visitors, and violence was a common tactic. In 1968, all this began to change. That's why the list is headed "Possible Sundown Towns in IL" (my italics). Between 1890 and 1954, thousands of independent communities across the United States drove out their black populations or took steps to forbid African Americans from living in them. WebSundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism Book Non-fiction. We have to figure out whats good for them. In 61, the Monticello Railroad Company was founded. Monticello Rec. 1910s-1930s Country Charm Dairy opened in 1915. In the basement was a bakery and a barber shop. Its rarely clear anymore. I dont want him out here where (white people) are all he sees.. In 45, the first drug store opened. In person registration only at the municipal building 210 N. Hamilton. At first things went well. Race Salem city, Illinois: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)", "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990", http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/documents/Address_President_Dedication_Bryan_Memorial_05_03_1934.pdf, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salem,_Illinois&oldid=1142291133, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Articles with MusicBrainz area identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 16:07. More racially inclusive of 5 girls and no boys Illinois counties we received that letter May! Monticello Railroad Company was founded a population monticello, illinois sundown town 5,815 their lost homes, the later... Staring, she said for their lost homes, the Times reported, though there is no indication anyone ever! Building 210 N. Hamilton Racism Book Non-fiction Black and white simply knew the unwritten rules body! 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