Creole a person of black and French or Spanish lineage that formed the elite backbone of early New Orleans society. From the French "creole," meaning native to the region, or born at home.
Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Booker T. Washington men associated with the struggle for civil rights and black liberation. Douglass (1817-95), a former slave (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey), became a famous orator who spoke out against the horrors of slavery; Lincoln (1809-65) signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves, although he admitted doing so not primarily because he believed that slavery was morally wrong but because he sought to preserve the Union; Washington (1856-1915) is best known for his conservative, conciliatory views concerning the role of blacks in America.
A swarm of black birds flew across the road. Birds are a common symbol for the soul. Grant's sighting the black birds moments before he and Vivian pass the cemetery suggests that the birds are the souls of his ancestors.
derrick a large apparatus for lifting and moving heavy objects.
Free LaCove Vivian's hometown, inhabited mostly by Creoles and light-skinned blacks.
Xavier University a university located in New Orleans and named for Saint Francis Xavier (1506-52), a Spanish Jesuit missionary. Xavier University is a historically black and Catholic affiliated university.
