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Birmingham, AL, do you recall the three-day war in downtown?
I had relatives in Bessemer, and was there, and saw the windows broken and the burned out cars and shops.
I was very young , about 7 or 8, but my relatives were very worried and shocked, and I remember.
In Meridian, MS, I was in a Woolsworth at the store diner, and I remember waiting with my mother to get breakfast, when all of a sudden a large crowd of well dress blacks came in and sat down.
The diner manager came over and apologized to my mother and said the diner was now closed and asked us to leave.
So my mother took me out of the store and we went home.
I remember another time in a shopping store when my mother was stopped from going out the door by a large black man, and just outside the door a policeman was bringing down a club upon another man's head.
Had that black man not stopped my mother, my mother's head would have been the one that received that konking blow from the cop's billy-club.
I remember!

Birmingham, AL, do you recall the three-day war in downtown?

Yes. I remember the stories and photos of Bull Connor, fire hoses and the dogs. I didn't live in the south at the time and spent most of my formative years in Oklahoma and Texas.

From my childhood, though, I do recall the segregated water fountains and the Jim Crow train cars.

You probably recall, as well, that most Southern cities in the fifties had two downtowns -- the white downtown and the black downtown. Each with their own hotels, department stores, banks and office buildings.

Driving thru the seedy remains of the black downtowns today still recalls what must have been a prosperous and thriving black middle class.

Segregation was bad, to be sure. But was it appreciably worse than the disintegrated families, dystopic culture and governmental dependence that blacks deal with today.

Birmingham, AL, do you recall the three-day war in downtown?

Yes. I remember the stories and photos of Bull Connor, fire hoses and the dogs. I didn't live in the south at the time and spent most of my formative years in Oklahoma and Texas.

Seems to me, I also recall an article about a Woolworth's in Meridian, MS.

From my childhood, though, I do recall the segregated water fountains and the Jim Crow train cars.

Driving thru the seedy remains of the black downtowns today still recalls what must have been a prosperous and thriving black middle class.

Segregation was bad, to be sure. But was it appreciably worse than the disintegrated families, governmental dependence and dystopic culture that blacks deal with today?