Coming from the "Whitest" State (Vermont) in the Union, I had little if any interaction with Blacks (what they were called back then) and did not have a racist bone in my body as was the case with most Vermonters.
My HS, albeit small (maybe 200 students) had one black student and the town I grew up (some 7,000) had one black family.
Thus when I got to basic at Lackland, I was shocked at the undercurrent of racism, though nothing overt or any real problems.
THEN, I got stationed (after tech school) to Tachikawa AFB, Japan and things got really "interesting."
Though there were some blacks who I worked and lived with in the same (Quonset Hut) barracks and though there was no obvious problems, when not working, we each went our separate ways.
"They" had their own gate they went out of with "their" bars, restaurants, laundry's and "ladies" they frequented and mostly hung around together; we "Caucasians" had our own as well and no one made a big deal about it and after a while, we simply took it for granted.
After returning from Nam in 67, all hell had broken loose.
I got stationed at Bergstrom AFB (Austin) Tx and from there to DC in 68 for 6 months to attend OSI (Office of Special Investigation) School.
We were "encouraged" to not venture "Downtown" and even the Washington Police patroled in pairs with many having a big dog in their cars.
Later on got stationed at McGuire AFB in N.J. and then (living close to Philadelphia and occasionally going there to visit) is when I first was exposed to Black on White racism and palapable dislike, at times, bodering on "hatred."
Think conditions mostly improved for a while, but seem to have gotten worse again as when vacationing in Florida this past Winter, I did make a consicous decision to avoid certain sections of Tampa as they were not considered "Safe." Don't know about the rest of the country, but from what I read, there appears to be a lot of attacks by African Americans on whites which are unprovoked and much more prevalent than the opposite.
I don’t know about up north but in Atlanta, 1960s, I roamed all over the city at night as a teenager. This, however, was before Maynard Jackson was elected.
Today, I doubt I’d drive through Atlanta off an expressway, even with my truck-stashed 45 and beaucoup mags, unless I absolutely had to go somewhere there..
I posted this article by Dr. Manning two years ago - more relevant now than ever. Just to get an idea of how different it was, look at pictures of the people marching with Dr. Martin Luther King - they were elegant. He would not recognize ‘his’ people today.
http://atlah.org/2010/07/14/when-we-were-negroes/
-PJ
Absolutely...In fact, in the late 50's, occasionally fell asleep there (after drinking too much while recovering from all those years in the Corps) with the top down on my 1955 Chev convert...
Have to remember, in NY & New England there was freedom of personal opinion (now referred to as "bigotry") all over the place that encompassed:
It was a different world in the Fifties and Sixties.
It can’t be over-emphasized.
Yes, to a large extent, people stayed within their own groups; Blacks, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Asians (separated, to a large extent, by nation of origin), Hispanics.
Granted there was much less social mobility then, but, to a large extent, no one cared very much, people were more contented then, and everyone pretty much wanted to stay with their own.