Author Q&A
By Michael Causey, WIW Board Member
There’s a lot of labor in a labor of love. Just ask former professor—turned
full-time writer—James W. Loewen. Recognized as
an outstanding researcher with a knack for uncovering some gems of hidden
history, Loewen, perhaps best known for his Lies My Teacher Told
Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone,
1996), is back with another book that should upset some of what Gore
Vidal famously and sarcastically calls “the agreed upon facts.”
Loewen’s new book is called Sundown Towns (New Press,
2005). The well-researched and argued thesis of the book is that since
the 1890s, and not primarily in the South, formal and informal “warnings” have
kept African-Americans from living in thousands of towns nationwide.
I spoke with Loewen in September, just as he was beginning a book tour
for Sundown Towns. He'll be at Politics & Prose in Washington,
D.C., on Sunday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m.
MC: This book was clearly a labor of love for you.
Why do you consider this an important topic and book?
JL: I knew these sundown towns existed as early as
1962 when I was a student at Carleton College in Minnesota. There were
many students from Minnesota there, and those from Edina—the
wealthiest and most prestigious suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul—as
well as from other suburbs, told me that Edina had "Not one Negro
and not one Jew." Then I learned of Darien, Conn., famous for
its "gentleman's agreement" to keep out Jews, and, of course,
blacks. And I learned of Anna, Ill., whose residents, as well as residents
of nearby towns, know it to mean, "Ain't No Niggers Allowed." Everyone
thinks this kind of thing happens only in the South, but in fact the
traditional South has almost no true sundown towns. The attitude in
the South is often: Why make the labor force leave? For example, I
found evidence of six sundown towns in Mississippi, but far more in
Illinois
MC: But the extent of sundown towns surprised you?
JL: Yes. I expected to find maybe 10 such towns in
Illinois, my home state, and perhaps 50 nationwide. Instead, I believe
I have found about 472 in Illinois alone and probably 10,000 or so
nationwide. In many states, the majority of towns were or are sundown
towns.
MC: This is a controversial subject. What kind of reaction
are you getting?
JL: The reviews have been favorable, and the feedback
from historians and sociologists has been very positive. I recognize
that this is an explosive book.
MC: What about towns you call out by name as being
sundown towns?
JL: I’m beginning to get some negative reaction
from some of those towns. Some are outraged, and deny they ever had
the policy, but I don’t think they are very convincing. The census
data is clear in many cases, backed up by oral history and other evidence
that is detailed in the book. When relying on oral history evidence,
I tried to get more than one person to confirm it, and I usually could.
MC: That’s much the way a reporter will operate,
isn’t it? You look for written or other physical evidence, but
often have to go with a few verbal sources.
JL: That’s right.
MC: You offer the start of a solution to address this
civil rights wrong. Talk about that.
JL: I think every former sundown town should at the
minimum do three things: 1) Admit it. 2) State that it was wrong and
apologize. 3) Make clear that the town is open and welcoming to all.
MC: At the outset we talked about this being a labor
of love with a lot of labor. How much work did you put into Sundown
Towns?
JL: Off and on it took about six years of research,
and I began writing in earnest in 2003. Taking away unrelated work,
such as traveling to speak to groups about my previous books, I’d
say it was the better part of two years hard work. I was able to do
some of the research when I was on speaking engagements. Many of the
sundown towns or other historical sites were near where I would speak,
so I would do research then, too.
MC: And you went through 11 drafts of Sundown Towns?
JL: Yes, but that is in part because I had a competitor
working on this topic and I wanted to finish before him! No one has
written about this topic in 100 years, and then I learned someone else
was doing it, too. So I may have rushed the writing a little and forced
more drafts on myself. So when people are nice enough to say my books
are well written, I tell them it didn’t come easily!
MC: For a time, you juggled a full-time job with writing.
How did you write before you left the University of Vermont?
JL: I took early retirement from UVM in 1996. I now
find it much easier to write without the daily responsibilities of
teaching. There was always something to do. In those days, I finally
realized I had to be rigorous about setting aside time to write amidst
my “day job.” So I set aside two afternoons per week as
my writing time. I treated those like any other important appointment
so I didn’t break it lightly as other duties tried to encroach
on it.
MC: There’s the old saw that everyone has a half-finished
novel in his or her desk drawer. What about someone who has an interest
in a topic or wants to write history? What’s your advice to our
WIW members who want to be like you?
JL: I spend a lot of time talking with would-be writers
in the broad nonfiction area, such as new graduate students hoping
their doctorate work can become a book. Unfortunately, a lot
of them seem to think that what you need to do is develop a new slant
on something. I had one student talk to me recently about a book he
wanted to do on jazz and how consumerism impacted the music. To be
honest, I was never entirely clear about his focus. But he’s
a good example of what I am talking about. I would suggest that new
writers focus on new topics. Develop new information rather than a
new slant on old stuff. My gosh there are all kinds of possibilities.
My new book only scratches the surface of sundown towns. I’d
love to see a book devoted solely to a sundown town like nearby Chevy
Chase, Md. Why did it stay white so long? What difference did
it make to residents? How did it change their attitudes towards racial
issues? There are still so many things to be learned and written about! |