Home » Florida » Old Homosassa

James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.

Old Homosassa

Florida

Basic Information

Type of Place
Independent City or Town
Metro Area
Politics c. 1860?
Unions, Organized Labor?

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Possible
Was there an ordinance?
Don't Know
Sign?
Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Don’t Know

Census Information

The available census data from 1860 to the present
Total White Black Asian Native Hispanic Other BHshld
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

“According to the legend I was taught by inhabitants
of Homosassa, just a few short years before I moved
there in 1990 there was a sign that had been
repeatedly posted and torn down on the only road that
leads to Old Homosassa. The sign reportedly stated,
‘Nigger, don’t let the sun set on your ass in Old
Homosassa!’
“Also reported by people who had moved there a
short time before I arrived, a civil war had raged
between residents of Old Homosassa and the local
newspaper. Apparently, a young black man had been
hired to mow the lawn of one of the town banks just
outside of Old Homosassa and in ‘Homosassa Proper.’
Some rednecks in a pick up truck drove by the bank
and fired a few shots off at the terrified worker, all the
while shouting racial slurs at him. The incident was
reported in the local rag, which prompted commentary
from readers. As most normal people would be, they
were outraged that such an incident would take place
in their fair county, and felt that the offenders should
be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. [Other
Old Homosassa residents] rose to defend their
citizens’ actions… they flooded the newspaper’s
central office with arguments in defense and even
support of the incident.”
-former Old Homosassa school teacher