Vanderburgh County, Indiana

Sundown towns.

Let’s talk about it.

Vanderburgh County, Indiana is number 102 on the list. Remember, the sundown infrastructure says ..it doesn’t matter who the majority population was, what matters is who held the power to push us out or box us in. I talk about this greatly in my upcoming book. Anyway…

In Evansville We were here. We worked here and

We built here. We had A city inside a city. But let’s back up…. I

“A race problem in Evansville that’s not addressed”

BEFORE THE DARKNESS

Indiana, by their constitution, was a sundown state.

But, In the early years, our ancestors were scattered throughout Evansville. We hadn’t yet been boxed in.

So, In 1855…eight freedom seekers tried to escape slavery by making their way to Evansville. Nope. They were captured and sent back with a big ole congratulations and thank you to the men that captured em.

Then in 1857, racial tensions exploded. The first race riot broke out. And according to newspapers…

our ancestors fought back y’all!

Now, mind you, they’d been fu… messing with us for a long time. As soon as we fight back, the newspapers call it a riot. The newspaper said the whites were soo mad that we fought back. The sheriff was like yo….they gonna start lynching y’all, and he was right. But not yet.

Just a few years after the first riot, Evansville was ready to fully lean into Indiana’s expulsion mindset.

Newspapers across the country shared the message that we had five days to leave the city.

Five days. Can you imagine waking up and reading that? Not only that…another man advertised that he wanted to trade 800 or 900 acres of his Evansville land…for a Black family.

That tells you exactly how some people in Evansville still viewed us.

So the sun started to set right around emancipation. For a 2nd time, in 1862 Evansville tried to push us out again!!

they tried again. This time not just through the newspaper, Chile They put up posters.

They wanted to make sure we knew we weren’t welcome. But it was just too many of us. That didn’t stop them from trying. Either way, we had to learn our place ….

Evansville, 1865. Two Black men were taken from jail. Dragged away by a mob. And lynched from a light post. Afterward, newspapers reported that the whites in Evansville would beat our ancestors whenever they got the chance. Our ancestors started leaving. Reports say, Some went and hid in the woods to get away from the violence. Then came another lynching…

By 1878, the sun had fully set in Evansville Indiana.

Four Black men. Taken from jail and lynched in the jail yard. The older man was cut into pieces. Mob rule had taken hold of Evansville Indiana. And by 1880 mobs were attempting more lynchings.

One crowd of around one hundred people tried storming the jail. And That same year, Willis Poole was killed after insulting a white woman’s outfit.

And In 1898 a robbery sparked another mob organized by a minister, mind you! The mob went looking for someone to unalive. By the docks, they found our ancestors. Shots were fired. Strange fruit was planted. Mr. John Adkins was hit. He tried to get away. So, the last thing he did was to him on the river.

In Evansville Indiana, the crime didn’t matter, but the target did like in 1899.

Thirty of our ancestors were brought to Evansville to work in the mines because white miners were on strike. So Labor was needed, right. Well, when they got there..They were ambushed.

Shots were fired from both sides of the road as they turned to go to the mine

Several Men were wounded and Some were unalived. And according to newspapers…

our ancestors armed themselves, you hear me!

They knew what was coming. Then suddenly, the newspaper called it a riot. Funny how that works, right.

BAPTISTTOWN

By 1900 the great migration was taking place nationwide. We became 64% of the population in Evansville (Richmond redline maps)

and as we arrived we were boxed into segregated into 3 districts. 54% of our ancestors lived in Baptisttown.

When we migrated to Evansville in the early 1900s

Baptisttown in Evansville Indiana was our city inside the city. It was life.

Historians have documented that The railroad tracks became a dividing line. A physical boundary.

A racial boundary. A reminder of where we were expected to stay to find safety after dark.

Then in 1901…after the lynchings in Rockport—

and if you missed that story, go watch Sundown #101—anyways, towns all along the Ohio River became even more aggressive towards us. And

Evansville was one of them. Just like in Rockport, in Evansville, our ancestors were rounded up.

Forced before judges and Made to prove they had the right to be there.

They called us “obnoxious Negroes.”

Mmm. Who exactly decides who’s obnoxious? When grown white men form mobs and chase our little Black boys for miles. Right. And in 1903, everything exploded.

July 1903, One Black man shot a cop, y’all.

The sun had already set here. And it was getting dark. Like Real dark. A mob formed. They couldn’t find who had shot this cop, So everybody became targets. Reports say Thousands of shots were fired. Many of our ancestors were beaten nearly to death. Then, the whites started looting for ammunition and stuff y’all. A crowd of two thousand stormed the jail looking for somebody—anybody—to lynch.

They threatened our Baptisttown.

They Threatened to blow it up.

Then they marched into the community….. shooting. More than forty people wounded. Twelve people were unalived.

For two days this happened.

This was mob rule in the sundown infrastructure.

AFTERMATH

Newspapers across the country covered it.

One Florida paper noted that our ancestors started leaving Evansville. The newspaper said lol the “poor wretches have nowhere to go” they said …don’t y’all come down south, cause we’ll lynch ya quick… but, in the other hand, up north, they punish y’all by the dozens come on back down south lol Like this is what the paper said.

SEGREGATION BECOMES STRUCTURE

By 1909 in Evansville Indiana deed restrictions formally locked our ancestors out of many neighborhoods. We couldn’t rent or own in their neighborhoods. Redlining was already happening before the redlined maps were drawn. The sundown infrastructure was already functioning.

Then in 1921 the klan showed up. Because it’s Indiana ofc they did.

By 1928 in Evansville Indiana our ancestors attended Lincoln High School. The Black high school. We had Segregated education. Segregated opportunities. And Segregated futures.

THE GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT