I was conceived in Texas but because my father was killed overseas in WWII, my mother moved in with in-laws up north where I was born and raised. Upon graduating from high school, I attended a secular Southern college but later transferred to a Christian school. And I have lived in the South thereafter, specifically, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas.
I will say that business trips to other parts of the country have really opened my eyes. By far, any racism that remains is found in liberal enclaves such as Boston, Minneapolis and Seattle. From my college days in the early 60's, I have a number of acquaintances now in Mississippi. To a man, every one of them is pro-God, pro-life and pro-gun. In my estimation, some of the very finest Christians in America are Mississippians. That's among the reasons why I doubt the veracity of this story.
Just curiously, why do you ask?
New Jersey is probably more segregated than Mississippi. Yankees should clean up their own house before pointing fingers; the “high road” of the ablitionists assumed the blacks would remain in the south.