marcelling irons irons used to create a hairstyle consisting of a series of even waves put in the hair with a hot curling iron.
meal-fried porgies A porgy is a fish; meal-fried means that the fish is fried with a cornmeal coating in hot lard.
milk-dull eyes eyes dull with age and, quite possibly, with cataracts.
mouth organ a metal harmonica, housing a row of free reeds set back in air holes and played by exhaling or inhaling; mouth organs are often used in folk music and sometimes in country-western music.
mulatto a person of mixed black and white ancestry.
Norma Shearer (d. 1983) A famous actress of the 1930s, she won an Academy Award for best actress in 1930 for The Divorcee.
Nu Nile a hair product used by blacks.
the number was 522 Playing the numbers was a popular gambling activity. People in the Bottom look for "signs" that tell them which lucky number to play.
Old Dutch Cleanser a widely sold household cleanser in the 1930s.
oui Yes.
