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James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

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

Poquoson

Virginia

Basic Information

Type of Place
Independent City or Town
Metro Area
Politics c. 1860?
Don’t Know
Unions, Organized Labor?
Don’t Know

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Possible
Was there an ordinance?
Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
Sign?
Don’t Know
Year of Greatest Interest
1952
Still Sundown?
Probably Not, Although Still Very Few Black People

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 4278 26
1970 5400 25
1980
1990 10728 84
2000
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

A soldier stationed nearby from 1993-1997 reported “being told by the base housing office that because I was black, I should not look for a home in Poquoson (a few miles away) because they actively tried to keep the town “lily-white”. They didn’t even want Blacks driving through to look at homes in the town. A few Blacks moved in and were regularly harrassed..”

Testimony of a former resident: “My high-school diploma was from a town that didn’t even exist until 1954 [sic], when the desegregation ruling was put out, and so the white section of York County, Virginia separated into a small town called Poquoson. Apparently, until 1975 the town limits had signs saying ‘Nigger, don’t let the sun set on your black ass here.'”

“The southern portion of the Poquoson District in York County was incorporated in 1952 to retain control over its schools. The city form of government was adopted in 1975.” (from the City of Poquoson home page, http://www.ci.poquoson.va.us/history.htm)

* The statistics for 1990 show that the black percentage is much less than that of other subdivisions of York County.

More research needed.