What a lot of people don't realize, and we don't really talk about it, is the various shades of "white." What many people now would call "white", would not really have been considered "white" white.I think that Armenians, Italians, Greeks, Jews, French-Canadians who had intermarried, Turks, Eastern Europeans..Gypsies, Portuguese, would have been not welcomed with open arms, would not have been movie stars for the most part (Danny Thomas..Lebanese, Annette Funacello, Mousekateer Extraordinaire), would have taken the more difficult, dirty jobs, etc. etc. And many of the people who could conclusively be called white..still in my day worked in some of the most hazardous and unappreciated situations -- logging, deep sea fishing etc.

And trust me..this is not primarily a feel-good thread..