S2, E1 – What Are Sundown Towns, with author James Loewen

On the first episode of our second season, we were extremely fortunate to interview Dr. James Loewen about his book “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.” We asked the essential question: What are Sundown Towns? 

Dr. Loewen is a talented author, historian, and sociologist. He is best known for his 1995 book, “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong” (Reprinted in 2009).  In 2005, Loewen published “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism” which focuses on communities throughout American where African Americans, Jews, and other minorities were forced or strongly encouraged to leave town prior to the sun setting.  An Illinois native hailing from Decatur, Dr. Loewen earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University.  He has taught at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, the University of Vermont, and the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.

Sources: Audio included in our podcast for this episode comes from the following.

• Freesound.org
• The Injustice Files – What are Sundown Towns? From executive Producers Keith Beauchamp (his voice is heard in the podcast) and Al Roker. You can watch this show which is featured on the ID network.
• BBC Travel Show – How the Green Book Helped Black Travellers in the U.S. Check out various clips from the show here.

Be sure to join us as we try to learn all we can about this topic. Subscribe to our blog and get all new content sent directly to your inbox.  Follow us on social media (we are on Twitter and Facebook) and search iTunes or wherever you find podcasts to subscribe to our Forgottonia Project podcast.

Additional/Future links to our research over Sundown Towns:

• Season 2 – Podcast 01: Sundown Towns: How to Know If Your Community Was a Sundown Town? Part 1
• Season 2 – Podcast 02: Sundown Towns: What is the Legacy of Sundown Towns in Rural America? Part 2
• Season 2 – Blog 01: Sundown Towns: What are Sundown Towns?
• Season 2 – Blog 02: Sundown Towns: Why Studying Sundown Towns Matters?
• Season 2 – Blog 03: Sundown Towns: What We Learned from Our Town’s Beautiful and Complicated History
• Season 2 – Blog 04: Sundown Towns: How To Research Your Town’s Sundown History