macadam small, broken stones, mixed with tar, and used in making roads.
mangoes edible citrus fruit from the mango tree, native to Asia.
maw mouth.
maws stewed pig stomachs, usually served with greens or beans.
Mayflower Restaurant and Sears By juxtaposing the name of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to North America in 1620 with the name of a modern department store, Morrison alludes to the progress of white Americans in the United States. She also emphasizes that for black Americans, not much has changed, as they are still denied full participation in American society.
mellifluent sweet-sounding.
men of the Ninety-second an all-black United States Army regiment that fought during World War I.
men rose like giants from dragon's teeth alludes to the story of Jason and the Argonauts' quest for the Golden Fleece. To prove himself worthy of the Golden Fleece, Jason sowed a freshly plowed field with dragon's teeth, which then sprang up as armed men who attacked him. Jason defeated the dragon-teeth men and escaped with the Golden Fleece.
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a major United States movie studio whose most famous years were around the middle of the twentieth century.
miscegenation a sexual relationship between two people of different races.
Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (b. 1915), famous blues singer.
muslin a sturdy cotton fabric.
nape the back of the neck.
Neanderthals disparaging slang for illiterate, primal-like people.
nicotiana commonly called flowering tobacco and native to South America; an annual or perennial flower with branching stalks and starburst-like flowers of white, pink, yellow, red, or green.
normal school a school that trains teachers for the elementary grades.
nutwagon here, an insane person.
ocher an orangish yellow color.
okra a pod-shaped vegetable, commonly grown in the South.
old man Lipton's instant refers to a brand name of a popular instant tea.
Only The Shadow knows refers to the 1950s mystery radio program The Shadow.
onyx skin Onyx is a crystal-like substance indigenous to India and South America and found in many colors; onyx skin would be a deep, black-colored skin.
Orval Faubus a former governor of Arkansas. On September 4, 1957, Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, to keep nine black prospective students from entering. Despite the United States Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, which outlawed segregation of public schools, Faubus was determined to keep the schools segregated. The nine students later became known as "The Little Rock Nine."
Ovaltine the brand name of a powdered nutrient supplement for babies, mixed with milk, for children.
