They did not want to seem focused on black customers for fear that whites would be pushed away.
Asian merchants and their black customers have often been on uneasy terms.
For black customers in those early years, it was take-out only.
He said some furniture stores closed for lack of black customers.
Part of his conflict with black customers, he said through an interpreter, stems from an inability to understand each another.
Even outside the South, many restaurants and hotels refused to accept black customers.
On May 10, six downtown stores opened their lunch counters to black customers for the first time.
"We already have black customers and we welcome any new people."
"So you got enough black customers to make a living?"
Suddenly, for a change, I was not the only black customer in the room.