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I’m literally in tears! Years ago my car caught a flat on Christmas Eve traveling to my dads funeral and a sheriff told me to get my children together and he’d have my car towed to his father who owned a tire shop but had closed early for the holiday..When we got there his elderly father greeted us as if we were his own guest rather than customers. He offered coffee, drinks & snacks for the kids while we waited. Not only did he change the tire free of charge he gave my kids a 20 dollar bill a piece for Christmas.. Here’s the creepy part, the son( Sheriff) followed us out the town and about 5 miles before he turned around! Now I understand why🤧 I kept the dads business card and mailed him an thank you card and a appreciation token because he refused to take it in person.. There’s still angels in this world and in the town of Anna.. I’m glad I ran across this post..

If yall watched "lovecraft country" .. and was paying attention... they highlighted this.

I’m 32 a black male from Chicago. I went to college at southern Illinois university in edwardsville. A nice amount of white friends I met freshman year were from Anna and they were all great guys with a friendship that was genuine and always felt accepted amongst them all. And even though they never came off as racist to me they told me that the long time nickname for Anna was Ain’t.No.Niggas.Allowed. It was shocking when they told me and it was obvious they didn’t live life feeling that way. And always invited me to Anna and promised I would be the safest with them while there. But yea long story short after they told me that I never took a trip to Anna to visit 🤣😬. I believe they woulda made sure I was okay but I passed on it. Shout out to all my anna friends I miss those guys

They still use that acronym. Stopped in there with a black co-worker to grab a bite to eat an a older gentleman behind us in line asked him if he knew what Anna stood for then told him. We left cause we didn't need any problems cause we'll we all know small town cops!

Saw a comment on Reddit, searched on google to see what it meant and found this video. Less than 10 minutes into it and I already appreciate the effort you put in it.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I grew up in Anna. Their bigotry was/is the norm, not the exception. When I went away to college, I had to unlearn that bigotry and replace that with morality. For over 40 years, I’ve only returned to that community for weddings and funerals.

Yea went southern Illinois university and had to drive through Anna to get to work got pulled over everyday by the same cop to the point we actually got kinda friendly I would say but it still was profiling

My parents moved from Cairo to Chicago as young adults. We would visit my grandmother and extended family in Cairo over the summers. As a kid I enjoyed but didn't understand why my mom would prepare a lot of food for the trip. But learned that there weren't many places for black families to safely stop for food, gas or restroom breaks with kids. This ugly sore on American will never be healed until we have an honest dialog about our history. Chris, thanks for your contributions to the dialog.

My father was from Illinois, my mother from Tennessee. I was born in the early 60's. I was raised to believe color doesn't matter and not to judge people by color. I raised my daughter the same way. Her bff from before we left the bigger city for a quieter life was a girl of color. They're both grown now. We're still in touch. She's part of our family, the girls were that close. It was heartwarming to watch them together. They were truly sisters. It's a shame everyone can't be like they are.

My maternal family is from Vienna (20 miles east of Anna), another sundown town. Growing up I heard so many stories about the local history. Like what the name Anna stood for, stories about lynchings and black settlements being burned to the ground... As a kid, I thought they were just made up town legends, turns out they were absolutely true.

I have family all over the state of Illinois, and I was born and raised in the deep South. I can honestly say when I visited family up north, I experienced more racism than you can ever imagine. The worse and the most frightening experience is when I visited my sister who lived right outside of Boston. I swore I would never return there ever again. My home town was not perfect, but I never felt afraid or threatened when out and about.

Just discovered this channel, amazing quality and very interesting history provided. Love this style!

Your videos are as if I/ 🌍🌎 are in your passenger seat riding & chatting, well done thanks for the tours!

I moved from Carbondale to a Chicago suburb halfway through high school. One of my teachers was asking me about SIL and I mentioned Anna being a sundown town. She genuinely didn’t know what the term meant and I had to explain it to her. I was about as shocked that there were people who hadn’t ever heard of sundown towns as she was that sundown towns even existed lol

This video makes me forget it's8 degrees out right now with a foot of snow on the ground and a wind chill advisory for pretty much all this week. Thank you for that.

wow I really enjoy ALL your post. These are amazing, and love them. This is the part of amreica that often for real thanks!!! Please stay safe and be careful :-)

Thank you for putting time stamps in your videos!

Chris I really appreciate you for putting together this video. Great history. Important lessons and beautiful cinematography.

Love it! Great channel!

NT, I saw your Cairo and Benton videos, then this one. Great stuff: informative, interesting, unique approach and becoming more refined. Really great work. Thanks for the videos!

Thank you for having a very clean youtube channel

I appreciate your video content. It really shines a light on a dark and foreboding past.

My congratulations the video is excellent.The video has great images.Good Job :)

I’m black and have been to Anna a ton of times. I’ve heard about its reputation but have luckily never experienced anything bad there except for maybe some weird looks and an incident where someone at their courthouse almost got my license suspended because they forgot to submit something. My parents always tell me to be careful when I go there to see friends though. I hear more stuff regarding racism coming from West Frankfort

I don't know why I love these drive through videos, but they keep me rapt. I live in southern Illinois. One of the smallest town in the middle of no where. Your Detroit stuff is cool too. I can't stop watching

Love your videos and your commentary! I appreciate your dry humor

I love watching you drive around. Since I can't afford to leave my own town anymore

Great coverage and historical facts! Your channel is the best virtual travel channel I’ve come across.

I've lived in Southern Illinois since 1987, and lived in Union County through junior high/high school. Anna and Jonesboro are basically the same town. You just drive down a street in the middle of town and there's a sign that says Jonesboro city limits. Your GPS took you on scenic route! When I was in high school a Mexican family moved into town, and a certain group of people in town threatened to burn them out... in the 1990's...Having moved here from Dayton, Ohio, I just couldn't believe it.

Informative video Chris! Keep em coming.

I hope and Ef 5 tornado larger than the city hits it

I have driven/riden through this town since the 80s when I was a kid, going to Cape Girardeau to visit my Grandmother. Not too much has changed but it has certainly been a well kept town to say the least. Thank you for the videos of the Souther Illinois and Southern Missouri. As for the town changing the name, I think if you try to gloss over what use to be, or try to cover up the past with a name change you diminish the history of those that lived it, endured its struggles, and not learn from it. To teach others in the future you have to have something to show, and a path way to educate to make better.

I really appreciate the content and the scenic view; I just hope your vehicle is fuel efficient.😇 Thanks.

Well done video! Tha ks for posting!

Thank you for this video and all your research.

Amazing videos. I can tell you work really hard on these!

Thanks for these videos. I am originally from Chicago and the information you have is eye-opening because I never knew the history downstate.

Thanks for the info🍀

In the early 1970s I was a photography student at SIU, Carbondale. I drove frequently to Anna to photograph buildings and streets in the late afternoon. This was where I finally discovered and was able to express the beauty of the sun lights in photographs. I snooped around, walked around the streets with a large format camera but nobody bothered me. Back then, I was a young Asian male (from S. Korea) in the 20s. Those B&W photographs taken in Anna are proudly on display in my living room.

beautiful house , beautiful countryside view , thank you mr.chris

Changing the name will do nothing, the name is not at fault. What is at fault are the hearts of those who bore such hate within themselves towards others, for simply being a shade or two different in pigment. And they will have the hardest time coping with such change. But it's still possible nonetheless. Thanks for the content.

First, I was watching world of briggs, then I came a-crossed this video talking about Anna, IL, which I thought was some normal small town. A few weeks later in school, I was reading a book about the unequal history of America when I saw Anna, IL in the book. Then I thought that Anna, IL is famous for something. So I came back to this video to watch it and learn all about it, great video!

I ran the Coca-Cola warehouse in St. Louis. We didn't send our black drivers to Anna. For a reason.

I am born and raised in Chicago…at 71 years old, I have never heard about this town or the acronym. I wish I hadn’t. DISGUSTING!

Lovely music choice with this one 🎹🎼

From northern Illinois here, and 43 and just learned the meaning. Wow. Now I'm on my way to learn more because I should. Thanks

Okay ya got me hooked! As our home is watching the Market, we are processing buying land.

What a great channel, so glad I found it. Thanks for your hard work, traveling and research that you do to share with us! It’s appreciated:)🙏🏻❤️👍🏽

As you're driving, I kept waiting for Jeremy Dewitt to whiz by yelling. 😁

thank you for sharing i love see old towns in different states

These piano compositions are gorgeous. I'd love to know the name of them.

Chris you do such a great job of giving context of the town's history and explaining local landmarks. I haven't watched very many of your videos, but I really enjoy when I do. Keep up the great work man I love the videos!

who the hell would want to live there?

Well done, I truly enjoyed this video. Good luck with your channel, excellent format.

First time we watch one of your videos we live in Illinois and we had been through Anna and 127 we are subscribed and we enjoyed how you present everything going on😊

I used to go to bushnell Illinois and I was wondering if you can do a video on that town or ligonier Indiana.

instead of changing names and forgetting history, maybe we should be proud that things have changed and are not like they used to be....to forget history is to repeat it!

Funny how this town doesn't look like a Ghetto!

What is this piano piece I love this

I remember being in this town late one night helping a friend who’s car stopped coming from Cape we were so terrified

Watching from Northern Ireland here. Places I will most likely never see in real life. To an outsider, so many of these towns all look like they are straight out of Lanford in Roseanne sitcom. I don't mean that with any offense. I always wanted to live in that house. Although the sundown mentality would scare me off. Even though I'm white. I cannot abide racism or bigotry in any shape way or form.

Anna, Illinois is where the Annabelle Hydrangeas was originally found. Also the state hospital has some family history for me

I just learned about sundown towns I had no idea! Its crazy to know this sorta stuff still exists This little town is so cute tho (sad history) I love the houses! Thank you for sharing!

Its 2022 and the fact that places like this still exist is astonishing

I learned about these sundown towns today in a company’s meeting

That scenery is amazing. Great lighting.

Damn bro you thought of everything.... I like the way you handle your videos it's informative to the point and factual

It’s true about Anna . I lived in Cairo. Racism was the area’s demise!

The movie Fugitive with Harrison Ford had a scene filmed in Anna. An ambulance was crossing RR tracks on S Main St then turning right onto E Vienna St 20:54

I'll subscribe since I was so impressed i like to learn mister so you better keep it broad and always intersting

Anti-black racist cannot be reformed. So changing a towns name doesn’t erase their internal beliefs!

I was surprised you didn't touch on the subject of the state mental institution, Choate. I was raised in Anna and our government teacher in high school had given us a brief overview of the way Anna and Carbondale had negotiated to establish either the institution in one town and Southern Illinois University in the other. Growing up we went to Carbondale (30min outside of Anna) for anything more recreational, like malls or movie theaters. Since SIL had been established in Carbondale rather than Anna, thats the city which ended up thriving more economically and in diversity. Since I left in 2018 it seems to be declining more rapidly than I would've expected. I moved to Las Vegas and most people look at me funny when I tell them, I moved to escape a toxic home environment. I understand why though. When you think of someplace lacking in toxicity I don't think most people would think of Vegas especially if you've been or live here. There's plenty of toxicity in Vegas, no doubt. For me though it was about the people I was surrounded by creating a toxic headspace and thats the unfortunate side of a small town. Young adults don't have much option for stimulation, which is why if you aren't stoned all day other people are smoking meth back home. Bored kids park their trucks in empty parking lots getting drunk and gossiping, if there's someone of a minority group in town, theyll be gossiping about them. Everyone tells everyone they know the latest crap they heard about whoever so everyone thinks they know your business and if they don't they're trying to find out. Personally, I wouldn't socialize with many people, im just not naturally gifted at things like that but because I'm a quieter person and also was one of the 3 Asian people in town, it was easy to ostracize me. All that I could handle but I realize now it put me in a guarded kind of mindset, which lead to crippling depression, and my home life was turbulent as well which the added outside negativity combined equalled three hospitalizations on suicide watch and a substance dependency I still battle. People in small towns like Anna are completely unaware how sheltered and narrow their view of everyone else and the world is. I come to Vegas and I can't believe the level of corruption and poverty I see even as we speak. I tell my mother, who still lives in anna, and she refuses to believe me. Its the people though, that make the real difference in any place you call home. Vegas, with all its flaws, I choose over living in a place where people are content settling for what they have, and closing off to the realities of the world. Thats why the BLM protest they participated in is so significant in my mind. Southern Illinoisians In general aren't okay with the injustices they see but they aren't gonna go out of their way to shake up anything. A protest like that in such a small town is so important because these kinds of towns are usually complacent in allowing social injustice to continue because they're not affected the way bigger metropolitan areas are, at least not in any immediately noticeable way. Whatever injustice you may find in larger areas can only be addressed when everyone in the nation is speaking out against it. Simple things like finding a job or getting around has been and still is a real and disproportionately difficult feat in Vegas compared to back home, and while my husband and I are struggling to survive with our first child on the way, ill take the struggle over living in a closed off community. Small towns breed a type of person with a smaller mindset in many ways. The fight to get on our feet is 10x harder out here but when we do, i know we will find more contentment for also being apart of a larger community with more opportunities for personal fulfillment.

Also let's not be in denial. People are just more silent and on code today but not much has changed in lots of Americans minds.

The best music you've played on any of your videos! Being from Central Illinois, it is amazing the different cultures you encounter throughout Illinois. Demographically, Southern Illinois is basically in the southern US. Illinois could have been 3 states, north of I 80, I 80-I 64 and South of I 64

Superb information and video you made, I like, I'm watching frist time, love from India 🌹👌👏

I hope you come to Minnesota soon:)

I have to admit this was my grandmother's hometown and was settled by many of my ancestors. My great grandfather was a Sheriff here and my 3rd great grandfather was a judge. My grandmother left after she married around 1920, but other family members remained in the family home on Vienna Street. Last time I checked google street view the house was still there but looked abandoned and dilapidated. I never knew the dark history of the town until I started researching the town for genealogy research.

12pk of Mountain Dew? Instant subscribed

I live in Chicago, and I’ve never heard of Anna Illinois until today , very interesting subject

I'm happy to view these driving videos during the $5/gal gas price times!

Also the Wabash River flows the borders of Indiana and Illinois easterly from Terre Haute down into the Ohio River where Indiana meets Kentucky south of Mt. Vernon, IN. at Union Dam

Cool video; I really dig learning about all these far-off places I'll most likely never visit. By the way, there is (or was, I hope they're still active) band from Carbondale IL called Zuul worth checking out.

I also like the music near the end of your video.

I live in Joliet Illinois and didn’t even know southern Illinois was like this. I feel dumb

I was born in Jonesboro appx 70 yes ago. You got me lost going from Walmart to Jonesboro

"My rants are not political, they are moral" 🔥🔥🔥🔥👍🏾

Seeing you drive makes me want to take a road trips. I drove to southern Illinois two years ago.

Back in the 1960's up until about 1970 or so, the city of Glendale CA. had signs on the freeway offramps and on major streets that read: "All Negroes and Mexicans must be outside of the city limits of Glendale by sunset. Anyone found after that will be subject to arrest". Then they gave the city ordinance number followed by the names of the mayor and chief of police. I asked my Mom about that back in '67 or thereabouts, and she explained to me what it meant. Then in about 1970 the signs came down, as they were unenforceable. Now you go to Glendale and it's a mix of all races and colors, which is as it should be. Glad to have found your channel Chris. The old racist mentalities died hard in this country.

I just found this video. It's September 24th 2022. I was raised in southern Illinois. The house that we lived in , most of my life , was the oldest house in the town. My father remodeled the house , and found a tunnel under our house. It was a big part of the Underground Railroad. We were told not to talk about it to anyone. The old man that my father spoke to that helped in building the house and tunnel, gave my father strict orders to stay out of the tunnel. My father was a policeman in the town. My father questioned that old man until all that man would say is,"it's better to let sleeping dogs lye ".

How sad, 40 yrs in SI and I had never heard this. Plenty of other towns in the region but had no idea about Anna.

Thank you

I lived here from 1963 tp 1972 nice town but I don't look back. Like most towns in this area a lot of the downtown is now gone.

Love the shot of downtown Kalamazoo in your intro! I lived there for the first 18 years of my life

I one time drove 2 hours from Chicago to a small town near Champaign. It was the dead of winter at about 1-2PM and we sat in the car as she told me these crazy things about Sundown towns. The way and manner she told them made me uneasy and I couldn’t believe I haven’t heard of them before. She told me not to make any stops in certain towns along the way back home and I straight shotted it home of course lol. But its just crazy when you’re a minority in the south, its like you’re on another planet because the people think completely different and have way different views on things. I also forgot to mention her dad buys old collectible cars and most of them he’d buy from these sundown towns off the web, they’d make sure they never stayed passed the evening.

Good broadcast informative 👍🏾

I checked out your map but nothing in Wisconsin!

If this is in Illinois, I didn't see any big ass potholes. Lol

"not political - moral." love it, brother

What song is used in your intro?