Sundown towns have been a problem in
the United States since the 1890’s. The fundamentals of a sundown town were
that by law, African Americans were unwelcome and not protected by the police
if they were seen in the town after sundown. People were free to attack and
even kill African Americans if they wanted to after dusk in these sundown
towns. According to an article by The Herald Bulletin a town called Alex in
Madison County, Indiana is still struggling with separating themselves with
their past of being a sundown town. The Herald conducted an interview with
Indiana born and raised, Christopher Hayes, an African American man who moved
to Alex, Indiana (a town that was previously a sundown town) in 2011 to live
with his girlfriend. He was quoted saying “If it came to hanging out, I’d
rather venture out than invite them here” talking about how he would have
rather gone to a different town to hang out with his friends because he was so
uncomfortable in his own. This is really sad because it shows that there is
still a huge problem in our society with accepting the First Amendment.
African
American citizens should not still be suffering from the ignorant beliefs of
our ancestors. Elwood, Indiana another town in Madison County is the most
famously known town in the county for being a sundown town. The Herald includes
a quote from the current Mayor of Elwood Todd Jones saying, “when the leader of
a city doesn’t know what ‘sundown town’ means, that should tell you how things
have changed”. He also included that 70% of Elwood voted for President Barack
Obama in the 2008 general election. I see this as a hopeful turn for the better
in cities previously known as sundown towns and our nation in general.
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