What You Need to Know Before Moving to South Dakota

Is the Midwest a good place to start over?

I'm considering moving to South Dakota or Southern Minnesota, but I read on the web both states may have a small-town mentality depending on where you go. I'm mostly attracted to South Dakota due to the lower cost of living and rural landscape (see link below), but I am concerned about "sundown towns." These are all-white (or predominantly white) towns that inhibit non-whites from moving into their area. It shouldn't be a problem these days because such towns were supposedly eliminated by the 1960s. However, recent news have shown otherwise, a map of historical sundown towns was published by James Loewen (https://sundown.tougaloo.edu/content.php?file=sundowntowns-whitemap.html), but it is loosely based on rumors, a few incidents and speculation.

I'm probably just being dumb, but have you ever lived in the midwest and experienced any sundown towns? I lived in Southern Minnesota for 6 months a long time ago, and really enjoyed living in a small town with my aunt who is also part African American. She was the only African American person in her town as well as the next town over. She wasn't really integrated in town social life, but had some from friends through her white husband. I didn't really think anything of it at the time, but now that I'm older I'm more aware of my surroundings. I'm probably just being dumb. I'm planning a 2 or 3 week trip out to South Dakota this fall to check things out. And maybe check out some manufacturing jobs.