Yeah, well I grew up outside the United States. I had heard about segregation but never seen it. I ended up going to an “elite” college in New England (unnamed but of course quite liberal) and started as a sophomore. The dean of students gave me a tour of the campus on the first day, and when we went into the main dining hall, I was shocked to see that all the black students were eating by themselves in a separate room. (Ooh, this is the racial segregation I have heard about, I thought to myself.) I made some comment to the dean that I had never seen anything like that before. She was quick to tell me that it was the not the college’s choice, the Black Students Union had demanded and had gotten the right to their own “black” dining hall. There was also separate housing only for black students, again demanded and controlled by the Black Student Union. This was in the mid-Seventies.
Spoiled brats, even back then.