Partnership Spotlight: The Sunup Initiative and the Monuments Workshop
The Sunup Initiative is a community-driven organization based in Corbin, Kentucky, dedicated to acknowledging the town's history as a Sundown town and addressing present day racial justice in the region. Partnering with the University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center, the Monuments Workshop is sponsoring student research assistants and community artists to showcase the history of Black Appalachians in and around Corbin, and to compile and make accessible materials about the expulsion and the subsequent legal trial. The student workers also collaborate with Sunup Initiative members on regional community events that acknowledge and celebrate the importance of Black culture in the Central Appalachian region.
Sundown Towns and the 1919 Expulsion
"Sundown towns" were communities in the United States that practiced racial segregation by enforcing informal or formal policies that prohibited African Americans and other people of color from living in or even being present within town limits after dark. The term “sundown” refers to the fact that these towns typically posted signs or had unwritten rules stating that Black people or other minorities had to leave by sundown, or face violent consequences. While these towns existed primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the effects of such practices persisted well into the 1960s and 1970s.
Sundown towns contributed to the systemic racial segregation of the United States, creating lasting disparities in wealth, opportunity, and social mobility for African Americans and other marginalized groups. Today, many communities that were once sundown towns still have racially homogeneous populations, and the historical legacy of exclusionary practices can still be seen in economic disparities, educational inequities, and social divisions.
During the summer of 1919, a wave of racial violence led to the forced expulsion of African American residents from Corbin. This tragic event resulted in the displacement of many Black families, as white mobs systematically targeted the community. The Sunup Initiative is actively working to raise awareness of this history, fostering reconciliation and dialogue, and providing a platform for reflection and healing through educational programs, community discussions, and public art projects.
New Directions and Collaborations
As part of the Monuments Workshop partnership, leaders from the Corbin group met with Taylor Stewart, the founder of the Oregon-based Sunrise Project, an organization working to recognize and repair the legacy of Sundown towns across rural Oregon. In 2024, the Sunrise Project was awarded funding from the Mellon Foundation Monuments Project, which also funds the Monuments Workshop. Additionally, the Appalachian Center, UK students, and members of the Rural Urban Exchange (RUX), worked to develop a pilot project extending the Corbin-based project into surrounding communities in Estill County, Kentucky. Documented in Dr. George C. Wright’s book A History of Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940, the pattern of racial violence and expulsions in Kentucky extends beyond the most well known towns, and often follows patterns of railroad expansion related to infrastructure building and employment of Blacks in Kentucky. The Sunup Initiative pilot project is working to help local communities understand their history and honor the contributions and lives of Black, rural, Appalachian Kentuckians.