I was born in the 1950s South as well.
Just outside of Oxford and Ole Miss. I remember seeing the convoys of National Guard troops headed there. The school I went to was segregated, whites only. Blacks had their own school 12 miles away.
The small town I grew up in was an agricultural community, and cotton was the major crop. This was before the cotton picking machines became commonplace. People picked cotton by hand in huge long sacks that you dragged behind you. Black and white alike.
One summer I picked cucumbers to earn spending money, I was 12 or 13 at the time. Black kids and white kids and adults all did the same, got paid the same, 75 cents a bushel................
I lived 6 miles from where that Freedom Riders bus was burned in Oxford, Alabama. I remember well the segregated city buses, movie theaters, schools, water fountains, etc. I also remember 1963, when my high school (I was in the 7th grade) was integrated. We got the first black kid in our school. He was in my homeroom. My teacher asked me to show him around to all his classes, etc, to get him accustomed to the school. I asked her why she chose me, and she said that I was the only kid that she could trust not to assault the guy. Said that I was well-raised and a Christian kid, thus she trusted me. So, I did what she asked. Didn’t take a week, and dirty remarks started to appear on the bathroom walls, for what I was doing what I did. It only took a couple of days for him to learn every place, and my job was done. But I was tainted for quite a while. My mom was horrified that one of the local KKK mobs would firebomb our house. But nothing ever happened. I got along fine with black soldiers all my career. I never used white and black with my troops. They were all one color, GREEN!