I agree with the idea/theory that the practice was probably most prevalent in hotels and such, and I wonder if there were some black shop owners who were financed by whites and influenced to a greater degree to set the discriminatory actions from that kind of pressure. And, it would be interesting to know what the rules were; as Art alluded to, the restriction could be not to allow black patrons to walk in the front door during business hours, but to service them with the blinds shut afterhours--similar to the back of the bus, entering homes/businesses through the back door type Jim Crow policies.

As you hinted at earlier, in some instances it may have been a matter of survival to set a policy of discrimination; not enough AA heads. But what is very clear throughout our history is that the communities were full of civil rights minded folks that were not passive and sought solutions to such injustices.