File talk:"Colored" drinking fountain from mid-20th century with african-american drinking.jpg

Picture is contradictory: The signs on the side are marked "White men, colored men" and "White women, colored women" which, from sensible logic, would indicate bathrooms. Why would/should it matter that "coloreds" have to drink water separately from White fountains, yet they are allowed to use the same restrooms? How is this an indicator of racism, oppression, etc?

Your interpretation is not so much incorrect as it is incomplete. If the white women's bathroom is on the left, and the "colored" women's bathroom is on the left, that does not necessarily imply that white women and "colored" women have the same bathroom. Rather, it can mean that there are two, racially-segregated bathrooms, and that they are in the same direction. In the Pentagon, for instance, there are twice as many bathrooms as would be normal for a building of that size and occupancy; this is because the Pentagon was built in Virginia during a time at which segregation was enforced. DS (talk) 14:25, 21 May 2012 (UTC)