[SuziQ]

She went to college in the very late 60's, and I think she's from Worcester. There's a difference between seeing and being aware of black people and actually MEETING someone and being friends or colleagues.

My late mil, who lived and died in MS always said that the South was better able to recover after the turmoil of the early 60's and the end of segregation because more people in the South actually knew, and some loved black people. Granted, many of these relationships were of a employer/employee nature, but there was respect already there, so it was easier to accept the idea of equality under the law and in basic society.

[maryz]

Yes, I've heard that the South was far more residentially "integrated" than the North while the schools, etc. were still segregated. Personally, I lived (from age 9 to 13) in a half black housing project, so of course we all had black as well as white friends, so we were never inclined in later years to listen to the racist crap without loud protest.

But even after we moved back to Southie, I met blacks at after-school and summer jobs. Of course, my mother used to tell a story of when she worked before marriage (in the early 40s) and a black guy named Lovell she worked with. She got on a bus one day and saw him. She greeted him with a big smile and "Hi, Lovey!" {which everyone called him) and got a few gaping stares.

Maybe your friend never worked before college?