Nobody does Christmas like a tiny rural town. The tight-knit communities come together like no other to decorate Main Street and spread ample joy throughout bustling small-town America. The smaller the township, the more holiday cheer can be spread throughout, creating some truly magical holiday experiences.
All that tourism can really help balance a budget, leading plenty of dying stopover towns desperate to snag even a fraction of that Christmas moolah. As the season inches ever closer, TikTok has been inundated by hundreds of tiny towns trying to get visitors to spend the season within their city limits, but one has sent alarm bells ringing across the app. Users came out en masse to warn would-be tourists away from one Alabama town famous for hanging something much less cheery than Christmas decorations.
It’s easy to get caught up in the joyful feeling of the season and book a weekend retreat to whichever cutesy town might be nearest, but remember to check your sources. Concerned allies and people of color were quick to warn against one too-good-to-be-true Hallmark Town found in Cullman, Alabama. Adverts show the installation’s festive decor while a barrage of X-mas music assaults viewers, and merry Christmas celebrators make their way through quaint shops. Just like the fake snow adorning the trees, the crowd was incredibly white, leading more than one user to speculate how many extra “K”s could be found in that Hallmark cheer.
Not all predominantly white municipalities are inherently dangerous for people of color, save for those that come with the secretive “Sundown Town” label. For those not in the know, a sundown town is what remains of those places that oppressed and/or killed Black populations by de facto upholding abusive Jim Crow-era laws and law enforcement. The term arose from threatening signs posted publicly, directed at Black people, with variations of “Don’t let the sun go down on you here,” usually with a racial slur. The implication was that Black people were acceptable within town limits if they were working in the daytime, presumably for white people, but weren’t welcome to live there, on pain of very real, sometimes deadly violence.
Laws upholding segregation and tacitly endorsing racist violence may be a thing of the past, according to official narrative, but the areas that implemented them still have populations that adhere to the backwater idea that Black people have no business being around. It’s only been 60 years, after all, and MeMaw’s had plenty of generations to fill with unwarranted hatred and outright bigotry.
TikTok users of all walks of life were quick to share their personal experiences with Cullman, AL, and none were pleasant. “I just want to remind y’all that that sh*t hole is a sundown town,” @pissedoffbartender shared, “They just don’t have the sign anymore.” Even though he was a white man raised by his great-grandmother, at 16 he was forbidden from driving through the town once the sun got low. According to him, even the school buses refused to stop through Cullman.
“Take your ass to Cullman, Alabama, to see some trees,” @gabbywithaneye said dryly. “By sundown you’re gonna end up an ornament.” Black folks from Alabama flooded the app to share their unsettling experiences in the area. Some were warned away by other Black people, others by white friends, which, @yea.stokes says, “[we] expect that from black people. We’re gonna look out for each other,” but when you hear it from a white person, they’re “looking out for you.”
Cullman’s history is so burned into the minds of Alabama residents that, though no one has a photo of the town’s original welcome sign, they all remember the base warning: “N***er Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on You in this Town.”
The advertisement sparked discussions across social media. The loudest voices were those attempting to warn any clueless tourists away from the enticing town, but scattered among the harrowing tales were presumably Cullman residents decrying the social media frenzy. With a Black population of less than 1%, however, the town is struggling to shake the bad press — even though a crowd tracking app shows around 16% of the Christmas crowd has been African American.
The Parks and Recreation Executive Director told Alabama newspaper AL.com, “The last thing I want to do or say is something insensitive to anyone that had history with this,” but “that’s not our story for today.” He said that “like many of the communities in the South,” the town has a troubling history, but he hopes people will “come and experience” the event regardless.
Cullman regularly appears on lists of Sundown Towns, and in large part the internet warns against anyone not, “white, protestant, and straight” making the trek, so maybe find another little slice of Christmas heaven this holiday season.