# Pre-Civil War Free Black Towns in the South **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359 "2019-09-17T02:36:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/1 "2019-09-17T02:36:50Z")
On Monday Night Football just now, the broadcasters talked about Nick Chubb being a descendant of a free black man who founded a town in Georgia called Chubb Town. The town’s population apparently consisted only of free African Americans, and at least based on what the broadcasters seemed to suggest, it was self-sufficient with a store, post office, etc. This fascinates me, as I thought it would be impossible in the South before the Civil War. Wikipedia doesn’t give much information about it. Did the white Southerners allow the town to operate? Was there any friction? Were there similar towns in the South during that period? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/2 "2019-09-17T02:43:22Z")
There’s a [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chubbtown,_Georgia). ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/3 "2019-09-17T03:13:44Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > This fascinates me, as I thought it would be impossible in the South before the Civil War. Wikipedia doesn’t give much information about it. Wikipedia does say that the town was founded in 1864 so hardly _pre_-civil war. ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/4 "2019-09-17T08:00:30Z")
A good source here is [_Sundown Towns,_](https://www.amazon.com/Sundown-Towns-Hidden-Dimension-American/dp/1620974347/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=sundown+towns&qid=1568707039&s=gateway&sr=8-1) by James Leowen. The title refers to the old practice of some towns (mainly in the Midwest, not the South) that no black would be allowed inside the town limits after dark. But he also describes how some blacks tried to respond to that by founding all-black towns, and the whites did everything they could to shut those towns down. Well worth a read. It even covers posts WWII suburbanization, e.g., the Levittowns – James Levitt was Jewish, but he would not sell to Jews, because then the better class of white gentiles would not want to live there, and of course selling to blacks was right out. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/5 "2019-09-17T10:18:40Z")
[Eatonville, Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eatonville,_Florida), founded in 1887, home of Zora Neale Hurston. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/6 "2019-09-17T11:19:56Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There’s a [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chubbtown,_Georgia). Yes, if only the OP had known this and made us aware of it… ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/7 "2019-09-17T14:49:51Z")
> [@Alpha\_Twit](#): > > Wikipedia does say that the town was founded in 1864 so hardly _pre_-civil war. Thanks. I swear I knew that. That said, it’s still interesting that it was founded during the war, when pro-slavery white southerners would presumably take even more issue with a free black town in Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/8 "2019-09-17T15:02:45Z")
It’s not all that surprising. Sherman was sacking Atlanta by mid-year, and the NW part of Georgia was in Union hands through most of 1864. I’m not sure how much the Union Army cared what pro-slavery white southerners thought of a free black town at that point. Might even help guard it, if it was part of the logistics train to feed the advancing column. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/9 "2019-09-17T16:40:00Z")
According to Nick’s father, the eldest Chubb was friends with the local Sheriff who looked out for Chubb town. He also said that the local whites were friendly and would trade with the residents. There were other towns for free black people after the war or during the war in occupied territory, but I couldn’t find anything before the war. ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/10 "2019-09-17T16:49:48Z")
post-Civil war there were several all-Black towns, esp in Fla and Oklahoma, but as movie Rosewood shows, many of them were attacked and destroyed by Whits ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-civil-war-free-black-towns-in-the-south/840359/11 "2019-09-17T17:44:13Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > This fascinates me, as I thought it would be impossible in the South before the Civil War. Wikipedia doesn’t give much information about it. Did the white Southerners allow the town to operate? Was there any friction? Were there similar towns in the South during that period? From the warped perspective of a racist, it may be enough that the black people aren’t living in a white town, that the segregation may make the existence of the town acceptable. Perhaps even desirable.