Swift River is a sundown town, so named because of an ordinance passed that articulates that no Black persons are permitted in town after dark—i.e., that Black residents and other people of color must live apart from where they worked or shopped. Beginning in the late 19th century and largely in reaction to the emigration of many Black Americans from the South, this was a common practice in the North and West of the United States (Coen, Ross. “Sundown Towns.” Black Past, 23 Aug. 2020). Segregation in these communities was not as explicit as it was in the contemporaneous Jim Crow South but was nevertheless enforced. Sundown towns codified systemic racism and reinforced their policies with the threat of violence: Individuals who did not comply could face lynching, beatings, and other abuse. In all, there were likely around 10,000 sundown towns, with some persisting into the 1980s (Coen). Swift River nods to the longevity of these towns in its depiction of Pop’s experience, as false accusations and an inability to find work drive him from the community.

Frequently, housing covenants determined who was eligible to buy property, excluding people of color and forcing them to live outside city limits or in areas with limited resources. In other cases, previously established Black populations were expelled, sometimes by means of race massacres or other violence (Loewen, James W., Fran Kaplan, and Robert Smith. “Sundown Towns: Racial Segregation Past and Present.” America’s Black Holocaust Museum). In the case of the fictional Swift River, the result was “The Leaving”: a night during which nearly the entire Black population of Swift River migrated away from the town, chased by the white townspeople. That one resident—Clara—both chose to stay and was allowed to is also a reflection of historical reality, as such towns often made exceptions for essential workers (Kim, Crystal Hana. “Life Is Tragicomic: A Conversation with Essie Chambers.” The Rumpus, 28 Jun. 2024).