Historical Shadows: The Links between Sundown Towns and Contemporary Black–White Inequality

Abstract

I contribute to our understanding of black–white inequality in the United States by assessing the legacy of “sundown towns.” Sundown towns are places that restricted who could live there based on ideas about race. The often-violent tactics employed to create and maintain all-white spaces reshaped dramatically the demographic and social landscape of the non-South. I extend previous research on sundown towns by examining their association with contemporary black–white economic inequality. In addition, I advance a new theoretical perspective to explain how the history associated with sundown towns contributes to contemporary inequality, namely large-scale segregation. To assess the contemporary impact of sundown history, I employ a dataset on places connected to sundown towns in the eastern Midwest and county data from the 2008–2012 American Community Survey (ACS) period estimates. In addition, I use standard ordinary least squares (OLS) and spatial data analysis techniques to provide a multifaceted assessment of the contribution of sundown towns to contemporary black–white inequality. This analysis extends our understanding of the social impact of historical legacies and emphasizes the importance of the protection of white advantage and large-scale segregation when explaining the (re)production of black–white inequality in the United States.

Race, Ethnicity, and Twenty‐First Century Rural Sociological Imaginings: A Special Issue Introduction*

“…While the overarching aim of these projects was to construct a white nation and serve the interests of white populations, they also instilled an enduring racial imaginary in which rural spaces were for white people. These racial ideas, structures, and practices survive through inherited legacies that continuously shape rural spaces in both subtle and overt ways (Du Bois 1999;Duncan 2015;O'Connell 2019;Quisumbing King et al 2018).…”

Vehicle Stops and Group Position: How Missouri Agencies Use Place and Race to Explain Disparities

“…Post-emancipation, Black Codes and Jim Crow laws were instituted to retain Whites’ socioeconomic and political control and regulate the movement and daily lives of the Black populace (Alexander, 2010; Bass, 2001). Sundown town ordinances—laws barring Black presence in White neighborhoods after dusk—were also used to constrain Black mobility (O’Connell, 2019). The use of legal institutions to control the movement and location of racial and ethnic minorities continued via Great Migration-era construction of urban ghettos and into the present-day with redlining and housing discrimination practices (Massey & Denton, 1993; Onwuachi-Willig, 2016; Rosen, 2014; Rosen et al, 2021; Rothstein, 2017).…”

“…The use of legal institutions to control the movement and location of racial and ethnic minorities continued via Great Migration-era construction of urban ghettos and into the present-day with redlining and housing discrimination practices (Massey & Denton, 1993; Onwuachi-Willig, 2016; Rosen, 2014; Rosen et al, 2021; Rothstein, 2017). Racial and ethnic segregation and spatial exclusion fulfilled the White majority’s need for control, and such goals were (and still are) achieved by the use of police; when racial and ethnic minorities attempt to enter predominantly White areas, they are often subjected to police contact (Bass, 2001; O’Connell, 2019). Brunson (2007), for example, uses qualitative interviews of young Black men to highlight the direct and vicarious experiences they have with police harassment and violence.…”

Legacies of Racial Violence: Clarifying and Addressing the Presence of the Past

“… 1. In comparison, the work of O’Connell and her colleagues has been especially helpful in its ability to consider the variable and conjoint legacies of multiple forms of historical violence (see, e.g., O’Connell 2019a, 2019b; Reece and O’Connell 2016). …”