One of the most entertaining op-eds I've read in a long time comes in today's New York Times from University of Virginia history professor Grace Elizabeth Hale. It's called "When Jim Crow Drank Coke," but given that it's partly about the reason Pepsi was seen as a drink for African Americans in the 1950s and Coke was seen as a drink for white people, perhaps it should be called "When Jim Crow Drank Pepsi." There's a lot of history packed into that op-ed — from the reasons for prohibition to the ways that Coke catered to white southerners, to Coke's turn to supporting African Americans, such as through support for the NAACP (and one might think also about its Grutter brief in favor of affirmative action).
This reminds me of RC Cola, actually. I recall their advertisements featuring African Americans.