“Yes there were instances but it was not rampant.”
I think the 1950 and early 60’s count as rampant. There were still segregate lunch counters then.
I lived in Selma Alabama in 1966-67. It seemed pretty rampant to me back then...
Heck, we were a WHITE family, but my Dad was military and thus associated with the federal government. In Selma in 1966, we literally could not get served in a restaurant. No one would ever serve us. We pretty much ended up living on the base and driving THRU Selma to go elsewhere.
Racism was still very strong in the 50s & 60s.
Rampant.
It was a different culture. Hell, there were 3 levels of Dutchmen in the town I grew up in. The KKK was in northwest Iowa of all places, what was their beef? It wasn’t blacks. Half of the lynchings in the country WERE NOT BLACKS.
I worked in Mississippi in a dry country. Just across the border in the wet county were 3 bars. One white, one black and one Indian. I went to the white bar. Was that racism?
Hell, I am a bigot. I discriminate on behavior. I don’t care what color you skin is or what hangs or doesn’t between your legs. There are some that do but they are a minority.
When I was in Africa, my interpreter would tell me as we traveled that certain villages were his ancestors slaves.
What I am trying to point out is how much we have been influence by the media. History has been written by liberals, be aware of that.
Conservatives are not idealists, xenophobia is a real thing, it is not going to go away, never has.
SO IN MY OPIONION IS WAS NOT RAMPANT, IT WAS MANUFACTURED.