Being a native Californian born in Oakland, I never (knowingly) experienced Jim Crow and did not hear the term until I was in my late teens. My mother was born in Louisiana where our Dawkins and Perkins ancestors were enslaved. Some other family members lived in Arkansas for several years before many of them, including my mother and her family, moved to California in the early 1940's.

One story stands out, though, that happened to my mother's stepfather in Oakland CA. We called him Daddy George and he was born 1913 in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana. I think he had had his fill of Jim Crow and moved to California for a better go of it. He applied for a police officer job in Oakland and was told that Negro officers could not arrest ANY white person, only white officers. Also, Negro officers were not allowed to frisk or search a white woman. He'd have to call for a white officer for that, too. He thought it was ridiculous and went to work for Hunt Foods instead.