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O. Owosso, Michigan. Categories: Sundown towns in the United States by state. History of racism in Michigan.
Historical Database of Sundown Towns. Welcome to the world’s only registry of sundown towns. Just click on a state to see an alphabetical list of all the sundown towns we know about, think may been sundown towns, and have managed to get up onto the site.
A sundown town refers to a municipality or neighborhood within the United States that practices or once practiced a form of racial segregation characterized by intimidation, hostility, or violence among white people directed toward non-whites, especially against African Americans.
Michigan has a history of sundown towns, where African Americans were unwelcome after dark. Some known examples include Grosse Pointe Park, Zeeland, and Warren. However, comprehensive documentation of such towns is limited.
Michigan Sundown Towns. Detroit is ringed by sundown towns. This site was created by Matt Cheney, revised by OddBird, copyrighted by James W. Loewen and heirs (Nick Loewen), and is maintained by Phil Huckelberry and Stephen Berrey.
So-called “sundown towns” existed from coast to coast -- including in Michigan.
A Michigan resident shared her experience in Howell in 2002: “I’m sure Howell, MI is a Sundown town. In 2002 I was traveling in my vehicle returning from a business trip in a separate car with [colleague]. He suggested we stop on our way home somewhere between where we both lived for a drink and a few appetizers ….
This map comes from the only database of Sundown Towns created at the History and Social Justice project at Tougaloo College in MIssissippi. “A sundown town is not just a place where something racist happened. It is an entire community (or even county) that for decades was ‘all white’ on purpose.”
Sundown Towns examines the origins of racially exclusive towns, why they remain “hidden in plain view” (p. 192), and ultimately posits a few tentative steps toward remedying the large number of towns that remain “all white on purpose” today.
Michigan has had its share of notorious sundown towns throughout its history. In fact, according to research by James W Loewen in his book Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, there were at least 14 confirmed sundown towns in Michigan as recently as 2019.