I was born in 1968, and grew up in the South, so it's always been just...there. My family is white, BTW. My mother once mentioned fighting with a neighbor about sending my sibs to the de-segregated school, and had a story about nearly getting refused service when she tried to buy a black doll, as a Christmas present for the maid's child. Yes, they could afford a maid in the 1960s! This was when my dad worked in a chemical factory, and they lived in a factory town, so I shudder to think how little the maid was paid. They would have been in their early 20s then.

I wish now I'd asked to hear more about those times.