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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.

San Fernando Valley

California

Basic Information

Type of Place
Subregion
Metro Area
Politics c. 1860?
Unions, Organized Labor?

Sundown Town Status

Sundown Town in the Past?
Surely
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
2000
2010
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Zoning
  • Realtors

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black
  • Asian
  • Native American
  • Hispanic

Comments

“Before the 1960s, it was the unspoken custom
of Valley realtors not to sell homes to African-
Americans, then living mostly in the Los Angeles
basin. After the Civil Rights movement took hold, this
custom faded.”
-from Wikipedia

In the mid 1940s, the Los Angeles black
newspaper The Sentinel reported a campaign by the
various Chambers of Commerce in the San Fernando
Valley to exclude all non-whites. The paper warned
that Jews and Catholics might also be targeted.