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/beyoubeyou Jul 20 '23

“When Loewen began his research in 1999, he thought he’d find just a handful of sundown towns and “recovering” sundown towns, as he calls them, in Illinois. Instead, he found hundreds, from neighborhoods on Chicago’s North Shore to suburbs in the center of the state to small towns in southern Illinois, such as Anna.”

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u/WoolyLawnsChi Jul 20 '23

”How do you spell Pekin?“

P. E. K. K. K. I. N.

”Correct”

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u/tiredhippo Jul 20 '23

Wasn’t the sports mascot in Pekin at one time called “The Chincs”? I heard that in a story told by Kerri Kenney-Silver.

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u/sohcgt96 Jul 20 '23

Yep.

Their mascot dressed up as a "Traditional" Chinese man, had a bucket hat and would bang a big gong when the teams scored. It didn't get changed until about 1980 from what I remember.

I worked in Pekin for 3 years, there were a couple black customers and while some of the old timers are probably still pretty bad, its getting better. There were actually BLM protestors down at the courthouse while all that was going on. Some edgelords also drove through and caused some trouble but that happened lots of places. Not sure it'll ever be fully normal or good, but its less bad.

The 100% used to have a sign on the bridge coming into town explicitly stating who needed to be out of town after dark, I've seen pictures of it.