Along with replies by ’ClumsyPilot and ’ruined, remember that Brown v. Board of Education was passed only in 1954 and 1954 is just yesterday.

Also see this HN comment from a day ago on how much a black person had to fear even in 1980:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30061511

An excelelnt book regarding these is 'Simple Justice by Richard Kluger

https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Justice-Education-Americas-Str...

Another book focusing on computing is 'Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing by Jane Margolis

https://www.amazon.com/Stuck-Shallow-End-Education-Computing...

There is a wealth of info regarding these things, see redlining for example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining

(argh can't reply to replies) -- @yummyfajitas -- no i don't think it would be fundamentally different, since the mission would still be to bring out the most of people's natural potential and interest in a subject, to kindle a spark that might have otherwise been unlit due to lack of early exposure.

[Edit: I'm not eloquent enough to make a convincing case at 2:20am, but I don't think that extra sentence was merely a curious non-sequitur, even if it could be cut without modifying the point of that paragraph. I can list out tons of points/counterpoints in my head ("what about redheaded people with thin left eyebrows? why not mention them? would that be a non-sequitur? what about the historical and socioeconomic implications behind this demographic group and its relationship to technological access? ..."), but I don't have enough expertise to give this topic a proper treatment. So I'll leave this thread by recommending the following two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Unlocking-Clubhouse-Computing-Jane-Mar...

http://www.amazon.com/Stuck-Shallow-End-Education-Computing/...

]