sabbatical a leave of absence.
saddle shoes Popular in the 1950s and '60s, saddle shoes are flat-looking white shoes with a leather band — usually black — across the instep.
salt According to African myth, black people could fly until they ate salt, introduced by the white man; according to superstition, putting salt on a bird's tail keeps it from flying away; and in the Bible, as Lot and his wife flee the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt when she turns to watch the cities burning (Genesis 19:15–22). By linking apocalyptic biblical imagery with allusions to hunting and grounded birds, Morrison not only creates a vivid image of the powerful bond between Milkman and Guitar; she also foreshadows the rift between the two friends, brought about by their hunt for Pilate's gold.
salt cellar a salt shaker or a small, shallow bowl from which salt is pinched.
Sam Sheppard In 1954, a Cleveland jury found Dr. Sheppard guilty of second-degree murder of his wife, Marilyn. In 1966, a new jury found him not guilty. In the late 1990s, Sheppard's son, Sam, authored Mockery of Justice and filed for DNA testing to further clear his father's reputation.
Scarlett O'Hara the female protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind, which was released as an epic film in 1939. Along with Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, which dramatized the American Civil War and Reconstruction, was denounced by blacks for its racist portrayal of blacks as unfit for freedom and was criticized for ending any hopes for getting anti-lynching legislation through the United States Congress.
Scotch pine a pine tree native to Europe and Asia having a flattened top and triangular cones.
scrapple a boiled mixture of ground pork and cornmeal, which is poured into a mold, chilled and left to gel, and then sliced and fried.
sedan a two- or four-door car; the term "sedan" has become somewhat antiquated today.
Shalimar a word derived from "sheol," Hebrew for pit, cavern, womb, or underworld. In its earliest forms, sheol was the virgin's "enclosed garden of flowers, fruits, fountains and fairy-nymphs," called Shal-Mari ("land of souls") in Tibet and Shalimar in India (Women's Encyclopedia).
Shine a black folk hero who — like Stagolee, John Henry, and High John the Conqueror — epitomizes the "bad nigger," or outlaw trickster.
Shirley Temple Adored by American film audiences, Shirley Temple, with her hallmark dimples, corkscrew golden curls, and twinkling blue eyes, was the highest-paid child actress of the 1930s and early 1940s.
shotgun houses narrow, single-level houses with the rooms arranged in a straight line, one directly behind the other. A bullet fired from the front room would pass through all the other rooms and exit through the back.
Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice the Michigan state motto; Latin, meaning "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you."
slicks slang for glossy, high-end magazines that cater to the social and economic elite.
slop jar a container used to collect body wastes.
sluicing leaking and sloshing water.
snood a cap made of fine netting that women use to hold their hair in place.
Society of Friends the Quakers, a religious denomination. Quakers were instrumental in helping runaway slaves reach freedom in the North.
soughing rustling.
St. Lawrence the major river that defines the boundary between southeast Canada and the northeast United States. The St. Lawrence River stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario.
Staggerlee The story of Stagolee (also known as "Stackolee" or "Staggerlee") originated in a black folk ballad about two gamblers, Stagolee and Billy. When Stagolee catches Billy cheating, he shoots him dead, then brags about his deed and steals Billy's wife.
stake here, to offer monetary support.
stile generally, a set of steps used for crossing a fence or wall.
stove eye slang for a stove's opening.
straights here, long pants without gatherings; the opposite of straights are knickers.
sunshine cake a light, airy, circular cake, made with either a yellow cake batter or a white cake batter and then frosted with yellow icing.
Susquehanna a river that begins in central New York, runs through Pennsylvania to the northeast corner of Maryland, and empties into Chesapeake Bay, which contains the body of water between the east coast of Virginia and the Maryland peninsula.
sweet gum tree native to North and Central America, a tree with prickly fruit clusters and used to make furniture.
talcum a soft powder made from talc, a fine-grained mineral.
Tampa Red Whittaker Hudson (1903–81), a blues singer also known as "the Guitar Wizard."
tarpaulin a protective canvas against moisture.
tee double you ay a vulgarized pronunciation of TWA, or Trans World Airline, a major United States airline carrier.
tetter spots skin eruptions caused by various skin diseases, including psoriasis and herpes; tetter is common chiefly in the southern United States.
that red-headed Negro named X refers to Malcolm X (1925–65), formerly Malcolm Little (the letter X designates a rejection of his slave name). Malcolm X was a Black Nationalist leader during the 1960s. As a member of the Black Muslims (Nation of Islam), he supported the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, which held that all whites are "devils." In 1964, Malcolm made a pilgrimage to Mecca; upon his return to the United States, he changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, renounced the Black Muslims, and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965, in Harlem, New York.
332nd Fighter Group a highly decorated group of black World War II fighter pilots. The 332nd Fighter Group included the legendary 99th Fighter Squadron, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Calling themselves the "Lonely Eagles," the Tuskegee Airmen became known as the "Black Birdmen" by their enemies because of their courageous, daring, and highly successful missions. A total of 450 black pilots fought in the aerial wars over North Africa, Sicily, and Europe during World War II.
Till The reference is to Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old Chicago black youth who visited relatives in Money, Mississippi, in August 1955. Unused to the South's fierce racism, he allegedly spoke to a white woman. A few days later, he was abducted by several white men, beaten, mutilated, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River.
to truck slang, meaning to get into a dispute with.
Tom Sawyer Land Hannibal, Missouri, the fictional setting for Mark Twain's classic novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). The sarcasm is directed toward the ignorance of any black man who thinks that the South is as harmless as the plot elements of Tom Sawyer. In that novel, "danger" is always synonymous with fun-filled adventures for young boys.
town crier an antiquated term for a person hired to make public announcements in the streets; here, a public gossiper, a person who feels it necessary to tell everyone's business to everybody.
tripe here, something that presents itself as valuable but really is worthless.
truculent in a fighting mood.
Truman Harry S. Truman (1884–1972), the thirty-third president of the United States (1945–53).
tuberculosis sanatorium Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by tubercle bacteria and characterized by fatigue, weight loss, coughing, and hemorrhaging of the lungs. In 1903, a person with the disease would have been sent to a sanatorium to prevent further infection of the general public; today, methods of early detection have reduced the incidence of the disease.
