Editing Elwood, Indiana (section)

===Sundown town===
By the 1880s, Elwood had become a [[sundown town]], prohibiting [[African Americans|Black people]] from residing within the town. In 1897, when a number of Black families attempted to settle in the town and were driven out, ''The Evening Times'' in Washington, D.C., reported that for more than two decades Black people had not been "permitted to remain any length of time."<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 27, 1897 |title=Race Troubles in Indiana |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024441/1897-08-27/ed-1/seq-5/ |work=[[Washington Times-Herald|The Evening Times]] |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |page=5 |via=Chronicling America |quote=There is a race war brewing in Ellwood [sic]. The citizens always have been averse to allowing negroes to live there. For the past twenty years occasionally a colored man or woman would come, but he would not be permitted to remain any length of time. Recently a number of negro families have located here. Within the last few days the entire negro population would have been notified to leave the city. Four of them, have been driven out this week, and the remainder have been given until Saturday night to move. Trouble is anticipated should any families refuse to comply with the demands. |access-date=February 18, 2019 |archive-date=February 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218082049/https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024441/1897-08-27/ed-1/seq-5/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This prohibition remained in place for most of the 20th century.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

At the rally for Wendell Willkie, noted above, which drew around 150,000 people to the city, some prominent Black reporters, such as Marse Callaway of [[Baltimore]], were allowed to briefly stay in a hotel downtown, but others were unable to stay the night due to the community's sundown status.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History & Social Justice: Elwood, Indiana |url=https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundowntown/elwood-in/ |access-date=April 28, 2022 |archive-date=May 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517040734/https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundowntown/elwood-in/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Other Black people were discouraged from attempting to attend the rally at all due to the sundown signs posted at the city limits.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Loewen |first=James W. |title=Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racisim |publisher=The New Press |year=2005 |isbn=9781620974346 |location=New York}}</ref> These signs and policies remained in place for decades afterwards.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Bibbs |first=Rebecca R. |date=April 3, 2016 |title=Madison County Communities Strive to Overcome 'Sundown Town' Reputation |url=https://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/madison-county-communities-strive-to-overcome-sundown-town-reputation/article_51e21ccd-63bc-5cea-a47b-3278d3eb3020.html |access-date=April 28, 2022 |work=[[The Herald Bulletin]] |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720214141/https://www.heraldbulletin.com/news/madison-county-communities-strive-to-overcome-sundown-town-reputation/article_51e21ccd-63bc-5cea-a47b-3278d3eb3020.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Ray Stannard |title=Following the Color Line: An Account of Negro Citizenship in the American Democracy |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday, Page & Company]] |year=1908 |location=New York}}</ref>

By the late twentieth century sundown policies were less strictly enforced, although as recently as 2002 law enforcement in nearby [[Marion, Indiana|Marion]] considered Elwood to still be unwelcoming of Black people.<ref name=":0" /> In 2015, after [[Goshen, Indiana]], passed a resolution acknowledging its history as a sundown town, Elwood's own past became a topic of discussion. The mayor of Elwood stated that while he had had no knowledge of the racially exclusionary policies of Elwood's past, he would address them if they were part of Elwood's "lingering reputation".<ref name=":1" />