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The Most NOTORIOUS Sundown Towns in America
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Feb 14, 2025
#blackhistory #history #blackexcellence A look at some of the worst sundown towns in America. Subscribe to our channel so you don't miss any future videos! Check out the books we love and recommend in our Black Excellence Book Club: https://www.blackexcellence.com/store/ Some links are affiliate links, which means we earn a very tiny commission if you make a purchase. __________________________________________________________ Sharing interesting and noteworthy stories in Black culture. All content provided by Black Excellence Media, LLC is for entertainment purposes only. None of the information or advice provided is to replace professional advice. Website: https://blackexcellence.com
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Sundown towns are dark and painful
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Legacy of American History places where
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African-Americans and other minority
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groups were systematically excluded from
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living working or even being present
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after Sunset these towns often found
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across the United States enforc
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segregation through intimidation
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violence and discriminatory policies
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driving black residents out and ensuring
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that African-Americans were not welcome
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in their communities after dark Sundown
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towns were more than just Geographic
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locations they represented a system
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racial exclusion that reinforced white
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supremacy and contributed to Decades of
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systematic racism Sundown towns began to
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emerge in the late 19th and 20th
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centuries a time when Jim Crow laws were
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spreading across the South and similar
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forms of racial exclusion were taking
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root in other regions these towns used a
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combination of formal policies social
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pressures and sometimes outright
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violence to drive black residents away
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in many cases black Americans were told
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they had to leave town before Sundown or
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risk facing harassment job loss physical
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violence or even lynching these towns
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existed across the Midwest and north and
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even parts of the west where racial
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discrimination had less overt legal
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backing than in the South though many
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Sundown towns have since dropped such
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policies officially their legacy remains
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embedded in the social dynamics racial
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divides and Community structures that
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persist today the Midwest where a lot of
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my family was from was home to some of
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the most notorious Sundown towns in
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America places like Illinois Indiana
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Ohio and Michigan were known for
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enforcing exclusionary practices against
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African-Americans the crazy thing is
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that these cities were everywhere I mean
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even I was shocked by how prevalent
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these towns were because you hear about
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this town was A Sundown town or maybe
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that town was A Sundown town and assume
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that these were not that common nope
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very common blacks couldn't go outside
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after dark in a lot of cities Across
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America and obviously we don't have time
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to go through all of the Sundown towns
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in America but let's just look at some
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of them starting in the midwest cisero
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Illinois right down the street from my
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grandparents house Cicero became known
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for its aggressive anti-black policies
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in the early 20th century
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African-American families who attempted
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to move into the town were met with
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hostility intimidation and even violence
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in 1951 a race riot broke out in Cicero
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where a mob of thousands of white people
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violently protested a black bus driver's
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family just for moving into the city of
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course they allow black people to work
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in the city but not live in the city as
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late as 1966 I mean imagine how recent
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that is until
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1966 people could work in the city but
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they couldn't live there in the city of
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aora Indiana they actually had a sign
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that read inward don't let the sun set
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on you in Aurora that sign was removed
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before 1937 Dearborn Michigan had an
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outspoken supporter of segregation as a
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mayor from 1942 to 197 78 Lacrosse
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Wisconsin waited all the way till 2016
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to apologize for its Town's history of
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Being A Sundown Town Maran Ohio home of
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the US president Warren G Harding
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enacted a policy to remove its black
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population in 1920 I mean Sullivan
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Missouri was practically A Sundown town
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until 1990 it had a Sundown Town sign
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warning black people against being
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present in town after dark as late as
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1990 while Missouri is 12 % black
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Sullivan is .2% black not even a percent
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somebody needs to figure out who the
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black person is that they allowed in the
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city the KKK actually held a rally in
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the Sullivan area as protest broke out
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in Ferguson Missouri in response to the
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police shooting of Michael Brown now
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let's go down south in many parts of the
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Borderlands of the South and Midwest
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such as in Oklahoma Sundown towns Thrive
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through violence and social control
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towns like Durant Edmund nor Blackwell
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and Aiden in Oklahoma had Sundown signs
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warning black people to not even be
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present after sunset or had rules
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against black people owning property
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there VOR Texas had an all-white
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population until a judge desegregated
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its public housing project in 1993 and I
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bet you thought most black people were
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just not allowed in but black residents
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were actually expelled from the town 70
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years prior to that and the town was a
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KKK stronghold other towns in in Texas
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like Elmo and even a whole County like
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kamanche County expelled black residents
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and kept them out for decades you have
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your nerve naming a town kamanche and
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then kicking out brown residents you
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know what I've never understood I think
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United States and maybe if you're from
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another country you could write it in
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the comments is United States the only
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country who conquers a group of people
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and then names streets after them and
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can you tell me why they do this it
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doesn't make any sense you kill Millions
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of Indians and then you name high
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schools after them whole towns after
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them can someone tell me why or do they
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do this anywhere else did the Romans
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conquer like I don't know who the Romans
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conquered but did they name streets and
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signs after them after they were done
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isn't this kind of Twisted in the head
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leave a comment let me know what you
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think Arab Alabama good old Arab did not
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allow black people after or before
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Sunset and had signs warning about that
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just the day like the whole day if you
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can't be there after sunset or Before
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Sunset so that just means don't come in
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they should have just had a sign saying
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don't come in Bonanza Arkansas I had
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family members that love the show
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Bonanza did you have family members that
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love the show Bonanza anyway bananza
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Arkansas violently removed almost all
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black residents in 1904 by shooting as
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much as 500 gunshots into black homes
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Harrison Arkansas was home to two race
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riots in the early 1900s and and a
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notorious Sundown Town aoy Florida had
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to issue a formal proclamation in
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2018 that it was no longer a Sundown
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town are we understanding like are we
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hearing this correctly they had to issue
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a formal proclamation in just 2018 of
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course there's no surprise that this was
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the site of a 1920 Massacre that nearly
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wiped out all of its black population
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incoming Georgia a group of men dubbed
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Night Riders terrorized and drove away
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black residents and even threatened
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white Farmers that hired black help on
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their farms and on to the West did you
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know that the world famous Beverly Hills
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was planned to be an all-white suburb
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Glendale California Was A Sundown town
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until the 1960s the city council passed
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a resolution in 2020 that formerly
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apologized for its history even the city
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of Hawthorne had a sign in the 1930s
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that read inward don't let the sunset on
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you and Hawthorne were they just passing
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out these signs did they just give them
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out like when you start a city would you
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like your inward don't let the sunset on
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you in this city or that City now
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Hawthorne is almost 25% black tempy
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Arizona was once a Sundown town I didn't
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even know the sun goes down in Arizona
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it's so freaking hot the city allowed
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black people to work there but not to
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live there from its founding in 1871
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until again in the 1960s Medford Oregon
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was considered a Sundown town before 19
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1963 the impact of Sundown towns extends
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far beyond the land they occupy these
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towns were responsible for years of
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racial exclusion violence and social
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control leaving behind Community shaped
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by segregation and distrust black
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families who had lived in these towns
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were displaced forced to find homes in
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areas where they could live and work
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without fear of persecution today some
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of these towns have moved towards
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integration but the scars of segregation
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of course remain even today many black
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Travelers are CAU cous about avoiding
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these Sundown towns if you made it all
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the way to the end of this video thank
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you so much don't forget to like
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subscribe and leave a comment I love to
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get back to my comments and we'll see
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you on the next one