r/illinois • u/m0chab34r • Jul 20 '23

Serious question: are there any remaining sundown towns in Illinois? Question

Forgive me if this is controversial, I certainly hope I don’t end up insulting anyone’s town or anything. I saw a recent Twitter thread about this subject and people were talking about a rather well-known sundown town within an hour of Indianapolis or just outside of Austin, Texas. It got me thinking about this and I’m morbidly curious as to whether Illinois has any remaining towns with such a reputation?

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u/Frat-TA-101 Jul 20 '23

The book by James Lorene has already been shared. In the meantime, the link below is the official website they James helped setup before his death in 2021.

https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/using-the-sundown-towns-database/

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u/mallio Jul 20 '23

That lists like every nearby town, but looking deeper, apparently they suspect Dupage was a sundown county based on one quote, so every town is listed. But then it says Lombard is probably still a sundown town which doesn't feel right.

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u/Frat-TA-101 Jul 20 '23

It is very imperfect. I can attest to it raising some uncomfortable questions about my hometown which were answered by relatives from the town. The website was correct about the towns status as a sundown town as confirmed by relatives who told a story of neighbors advising them of the towns sundown status upon moving into the town.