It was the summer of 1956 when Jim Crow first hit me right between the eyes in the Charleston, South Carolina airport. I had just flown from Philadelphia to join my ship in the Charleston Navy Yard. In those days propeller driven commercial planes took twice as long as today's flight.
My first order of business upon landing in Charleston was a trip across the tarmac to the public restroom where Jim Crow had a rude awakening for this Yankee. The airport facilities were rest rooms separated by public water fountains similar to what you'd find in airports today but in Charleston there were double facilities and above each, in large bold letters, was a sign proclaiming: Whites or Colored. It's not to say that ethnic prejudice had been eradicated up North but, by comparison, Pennsylvania was light years ahead of what I experienced that day in Charleston.