by Ann Petry
314.29 Poro Method] As taught at Poro College, a St. Louis school of hair care and cosmetology founded by Annie Turnbo Malone (1877–1957).
319.28 old Aunt Grinny Granny] See “Old Grinny-Granny Wolf” in Nights with Uncle Remus (1883) by Joel Chandler Harris (1848–1908) and “The Charmer” (Saturday Evening Post, May 29, 1909) by Harris Dickson (1868–1946).
341.17 WCTU] Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
347.4 “Goin’ Home.”] 1922 song by William Arms Fisher (1861–1949), adapted from the Largo theme of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 (1893).
351.8–9 “‘How beautiful . . . daughter—’”] Song of Solomon 7:1.
369.34 clinker tops] Women with natural, kinky hair.
374.19 Marlene] Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992), German actress who began a Hollywood career in 1930.
374.28 the Sadler’s Wells] A London theater, home to prominent ballet companies beginning in the 1930s.
376.29–30 packed a punch like Old Man Louis . . . Joe] Joe Louis (1914–1981), world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949.
396.40 CIO] Congress of Industrial Organizations.
397.27 Dietrich] See note 374.19.
399.21–24 Come when you’re called . . . chid.] An English nursery rhyme.
409.40–410.2 “‘How many goodly creatures . . . in’t.’] The Tempest, V.i.182–84.
439.28–33 Same train carry . . . same train.] A traditional spiritual.
441.36–442.1 monologues and soliloquies . . . Frankie and Johnnie.] See “Maud” (1855) by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892); “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (1599) and Doctor Faustus (1592), V.i.93, by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593); Romeo and Juliet (1507), III.v.6, by William Shakespeare (1564–1616); Doctor Faustus, V.i.93; “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”; and the American folksong “Frankie and Johnnie.”
445.32 Dickens’ fat boy] See The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837) by Charles Dickens (1812–1870).
447.23 black but comely] Song of Solomon 1:5.
468.34–36 play the mooncalf . . . Hans Kraut] The Moon-Calf and Hans Krout (sic) are characters in The Garden Behind the Moon (1895), a children’s story by Howard Pyle (1853–1911).
469.23 Hobson’s choice] A “take it or leave it” choice, named after English stable owner Thomas Hobson (1544–1631).
512.34–39 Tell me what color . . . she took.] From “Ticket Agent Blues” (1935) by Blind Willie McTell (1898–1959).
517.38 Adam chairs] Chairs designed by or in the manner of Scottish architect Robert Adam (1728–1792).
527.34–39 Same train . . . same train.] See note 439.28–33.
540.11 Full fathom five thy father lies] The Tempest, I.ii.397.
541.33–37 “there came down a certain priest . . . on him.”] Luke 10:31.
553.34–36 the city of Charleston . . . Catfish Alley.] Crown, Porgy, Bess, and Sportin’ Life are characters in the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess, adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward’s 1927 play Porgy and ultimately from DuBose Heyward’s 1925 novel of the same title. All three works are set on the fictional Catfish Row, in Charleston, South Carolina.
554.9 Meriney] A term for skin color, possibly from the light brown of merino wool; also spelled meriny.
567.32–36 King of England . . . the darkness.] In his 1939 Christmas broadcast, George VI quoted from the poem “God Knows” by Minnie Louise Haskins (1875–1957), published in her collection The Desert (1912): “And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: / ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ / And he replied: / ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’”
582.30 Olympia] Painting by Edouard Manet (1832–1883), first exhibited in 1865.
587.24–588.4 what do I think about Paul Robeson . . . can’t marry each other] Robeson (1898–1976), who first traveled to the Soviet Union in 1934, made laudatory statements about Soviet racial attitudes, and sent his son to school there; his controversial pro-Soviet statements after another visit in 1949 led him to be blacklisted in the United States.
589.23 kulaks] In late imperial Russia and the early Soviet Union, farmers who had achieved a degree of prosperity above that of ordinary peasants.
608.37–40 “Thy people shall be . . . thee and me.”] Ruth 1:16–17.
612.10 take notes on us––for Kinsey?”] Alfred C. Kinsey (1894–1956) and his coauthors obtained information for the best-selling Kinsey Reports (Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, 1948, and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, 1953) from interviews and questionnaires.
644.9–10 Mack Sennett] Sennett (1880–1960) directed and produced slapstick comedies including the Keystone Cops series (1912–17).
644.17 John Barleycorn] A personification of alcoholic liquor.
647.33–36 an eyewitness account . . . hear it now.”] See Mary Cadwalader Jones’s Lantern Slides (1937).
653.8 like Louis . . . Carnera] Joe Louis (1914–1981) defeated Primo Carnera (1906–1967) in a New York boxing match on June 25, 1935; Carnera outweighed Louis by more than 60 pounds.
674.10–13 Tell me what color . . . road she took.] See note 512.34–39.
683.12 more lip than John L. Lewis] Lewis (1880–1969), president of the United Mine Workers of America (1920–60) and leader of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (1935–41), was widely known for his eloquent and aggressive advocacy of workers’ rights.
688.5–6 papers in the pumpkin, Chambers, Hiss] Having accused former State Department official Alger Hiss (1904–1996) of Communist affiliations in widely publicized testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in August 1948, Whittaker Chambers (1901–1961) subsequently retrieved evidence against Hiss that Chambers had hidden, among other places, in a hollowed-out pumpkin.
688.16–17 “Lay on, Macduff . . . Enough!’”] Macbeth, V.viii.33–34.
698.9–14 the Baptist Meeting House . . . Roger Williams.] Williams (1603–1683) founded the First Baptist Church of Providence in 1638.
719.13–14 “‘Yond Cassius . . . dangerous,”] Julius Caesar, I.ii.194–95.
724.19 lebensraum] Literally “living space,” a German word associated with Nazi expansionist ideology.
744.7–8 Haile Selassie . . . crown.] Selassie (1892–1975) was crowned as emperor of Ethopia on November 2, 1930.
OTHER WRITINGS
761.23 Dickens’ Fat Boy] See note 445.32.
766.15 the Dutchman (the late Dutch Schultz)] Born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer (1901–1935), Schultz was an organized crime figure who ran speakeasies and, after Prohibition, the Harlem numbers racket.
767.10–12 Bill (Bojangles) Robinson . . . A. Philip Randolph] Robinson (1878–1949) was a dancer and actor; White (1893–1955), head of the NAACP from 1931 to 1955; Du Bois (1868–1963), a prominent author, editor, and civil rights leader; Tobias (1882–1961), senior secretary of the Colored Work Department on the YMCA from 1924 to 1946; Bolin (1908–2007), the only female African American judge in the United States, appointed to the New York City Domestic Relations Court in 1939; and Randolph (1889–1979), a prominent labor organizer and civil rights leader.
767.14 Rochester] Eddie Anderson (1905–1977), a prominent radio comedian, played the role of Rochester, Jack Benny’s butler, on The Jack Benny Program from 1937 to 1965.
772.2 Anna Lucasta] 1944 play by Philip Yordan (1914–2003); after opening at the American Negro Theatre in Harlem, it ran for over two years on Broadway.
772.23–24 real gone gal] Title of a 1951 song by John Lee Hooker (1912–2001).
772.29 “Always
marry . . . than you.”] Lyrics from the calypso song “Ugly Woman” (c. 1933) by Roaring Lion (Rafael De Leon, 1908–1991).
774.35 The Little Flower] Fiorello La Guardia’s nickname: a translation from the Italian of his first name, and a reference to his short stature.
776.12 The Grapes of Wrath] 1939 novel by John Steinbeck (1902–1968).
776.33–35 Knock on Any Door . . . A Passage to India] See Knock on Any Door (1947) by Willard Motley (1909–1965); Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) by Laura Z. Hobson (1900–1986); Kingsblood Royal (1947) by Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951); Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright (1908–1960); The Naked and the Dead (1948) by Norman Mailer (1923–2007); Strange Fruit (1944) by Lillian Smith (1897–1966); and A Passage to India (1924) by E. M. Forster (1897–1970).
777.10 Poe’s poem for the poem’s sake.] See Poe’s posthumously published essay “The Poetic Principle” (1850).
780.11–18 Oliver Twist . . . mechanized world.] Characters in Oliver Twist (1839) by Charles Dickens (1812–1870), The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck (1902–1968), Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright (1908–1960), and Tobacco Road (1932) by Erskine Caldwell (1903–1987).
781.36 Uncle Tom’s Cabin] 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896).
782.17–18 Earth and High Heaven . . . Agreement] Novels first published in 1944, 1945, and 1947, respectively, by Gwethalyn Graham (1913–1965), Arthur Miller (1915–2005), and Laura Z. Hobson (1900–1986).