I've not had the same or similar experiences, I am a pale ginger with a big ginger beard, but I have been treated like and told that I look like a homeless man by strangers, friends, and even family. I've had a (medium or large) beard since 2006, I shaved it completely off exactly once in all of that time, in 2008. It was short for my wedding but I brought the length right back. I like it, I hate that I used to make excuses for it.
> I think it must be a lot easier to be a weird misfit now than it was in 1935.
This is probably true in a general sense but people still suck as much in 2020 as they did in 1935, which is evidenced by current events and this very comment thread. The big difference being that there's so many more people today than there were then. Maybe that indicates that we've made some progress but I'm less hopeful.
> I think it must be a lot easier to be a weird misfit now than it was in 1935.
This is probably true in a general sense but people still suck as much in 2020 as they did in 1935, which is evidenced by current events and this very comment thread. The big difference being that there's so many more people today than there were then. Maybe that indicates that we've made some progress but I'm less hopeful.