Howard says "However there weren't many black people around then."

I wonder how much of that was due to implicit segregation. When I went to high school in the early '60's I believe there were only one or two African Americans in my class. After graduation, we went to Philadelphia for my admission interview at Drexel Institute. I saw more people of color than I ever was aware existed on the highway on our way South. When I commented on this to my parents, they told me that they were on their way to a demonstration in Washington. It turned out that was the day of King's "I have a dream" speech. Before then, I was never really aware of the existence of nonWhite people as being of significance in any way.

Going further back, one day, in the early 1950's there was a blackface minstrel show in the auditorium of our grade school. Other than enjoying it, it made no impression on me other than it being unusual