Home » South Carolina » Salem

James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

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

Salem

South Carolina

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?
Don't Know
Sign?
Don’t Know
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 192 0
2000
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

Former South Carolina Resident re: Salem
1990, 192 total, 0 bl.
In Oconee Co., had a “sundown town” reputation in the 1980s. In general, I think one way to approach this would be to go back over the literature on racial violence and look for accounts of out migration in response.
Although I was not reading for this specifically, I am pretty sure that George Wright mentions a few cases of this in his _Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865 1940_ and Terence Finnegan does also in his dissertation, “At the Hands of Parties Unknown,” which covers Mississippi and South Carolina. I wonder, also, if it would be useful to consider rural districts that may not have such clearly defined boundaries as a town does but that maintained an all white status nonetheless.

Former Seneca Resident re: Salem:
I am originally from Seneca, SC (located approximately 15 minutes from Salem). I grew up in Seneca and lived there till about 1997. As far back as I can remember, I’d always heard that Salem was a prejudice town and that black people were not allowed.
I mostly heard this from friends, other students in high school (I graduated from Seneca High School in 1993), and my parents may have mentioned it a few times. Seneca and surrounding towns (except Salem) had a good ratio of blacks to whites. I remember there being what seemed like half black and half white in my high school. A lot of the black folks that I went to school with believed Salem to be very prejudice and would never go there. They were fearful of what might happen if they went there. After I graduated I worked for a manufacturing company (at the time called Dynacast) and worked with a fellow that lived in Long Creek SC. He would always tell me about how Salem was not a place for black people. He even recalled there being a sign in Salem that made reference to “whites only” but had been torn down. Unfortunately I have not kept in contact with this person over the years.
Everyone around me that I associated with during that time seemed to have the same prespective about Salem (black or white). That was 6 to 7 years ago. I have not heard anything about Salem since I moved away from SC. I certainly hope that things have changed in Salem.