Rachel Maddow sheds some light on the notion of wealthy white men demanding to see an African American man's "papers." (Corrected video below.)
Here's the full essay by Goldie Taylor, including the story of her great, great grandfather. (During the Jim Crow years and almost all the way into the 1980s, African American men in the South were routinely picked up on ridiculous charges like vagrancy and often sold into neo-slavery. Once again, I highly recommend this book.)