Camels wrappers Camels was a popular brand of cigarettes in this era and one of the few brands available.
gabardines trousers made out of gabardine, a sturdy fabric of cotton, wool, or twill.
voile sleeves puffed-out sleeves made from a light, transparent-like fabric.
mulatto a person of mixed black and white ancestry.
keloid scar an abundance of scar tissue, common to black skin that is injured.
knickers puffy pants that gather just below the knees, exposing the calves.
Ham's sons The reference is to Ham, one of Noah's sons. According to the biblical story, which is often used to justify the persecution of blacks, Noah drank so much wine that he passed out, naked. His son Ham, which in Hebrew means dark or swarthy, discovered him and called on his two brothers to cover their father. Averting their faces by walking backwards toward their father, Ham's brothers covered Noah's nakedness with a cloak. On waking, Noah cursed his son Ham for having seen him while he was naked — nakedness being synonymous with Adam and Eve's Original Sin, according to the Old Testament — and proclaimed that all of Ham's descendants would be slaves. Thus, when the bargeman refers to Ham's sons, he's denigrating all blacks.
