Its hard for most of us Brits to get our heads around the level of racism that still existed in the US in the 1960's [[yes I know we still have our BNP neanderthals here but they are all brain dead morons + we had the skinheads in the 70's who hated blacks whilst dancing every night to reggae music)
..... but in parts of the US it seemed to be much more common ...
... AND ... seemingly minor things could kick it off ........
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It amazes me that in 1963, a white actor kissing a black actress in a play would provoke hate mail & threatening phone calls.
On a related issue, I know there were many places where integration was resisted by state politicians / officials right up until the late 50's ..... but where was the geographic line below which things got tough.
I know it was bad in the south but with regard to integration where did the south begin ??
It is stated that, by 1955, segregation had just about disappeared from Washington DC area hotels, theatres & restaurants .... yet I just read that the Baltimore Hotel Association only announced an end to segregation in local hotels in summer 1957 [[& even then some hotels would not allow large parties of blacks to book in).
So did "the southern mentality" still exist in many northern areas of the US as 1960 approached ??
I guess it was music by the likes of the Motown acts that helped to finally bring the barriers down.
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