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I Love Lucy (tv show)
I Love Lucy was a black and white American television sitcom.
This show was referenced several times throughout the novel. Lily often watched it. -
High Noon (film)
"High Noon" is a 1952 American Western film about a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself.
In Chapter 2 of "Your Blues...", Floyd bought his wife, Lily, a lipstick, some nail polish, a scarf, and her favorite perfume. She then remembers a time when she felt as excited and happy when Floyd took her to the drive-in in Greenwood and they saw High Noon. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court declared that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. Several issues that arise in "You Blues..." amongst the blacks and whites in Mississippi are rooted in this specific case and issue of integration. -
Polio Vaccine
The polio vaccine was introduced to the world by Jonas Salk on April 12, 1955.
In Chapter 23, while Lily was waiting in line at the doctor's office with her son, Floyd Jr., she read an article in the local newspaper that the vaccine would be dispensed at the doctor's office at no cost.
"Do you realize that never again will people be crippled and maimed by this dreadful disease. It's like a miracle" - lady in line at doctor's office, p176 -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a social and political protest campaign against racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.
Chapter 23 discusses the unrest that the whites felt in the South during this time period. Jessy, Clyde, and Gilroy sit at the Busy Bee grumbling about the boycott and hoping that the blacks in their own community don't follow the same trend. -
Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog"
In Chapter 24, as Clayton Pinochet is leaving Ida's house from checking on Sweetbabe's medical status and heading back to his home with Margaurite, he turned on his radio and whistled "Hound Dog" along with Elvis Presley. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower reelected
Three weeks after Eisenhower esd reelected, Wydell found a copy of the Chicago Courier, the newspaper, in the lunchroon where he worked and saw his wife's, Delotha, face. This was during the period before Wydell reconnected with Delotha and was going through a period of heavy and destructive drinking and having recurring hallucinations of his dead son, Armstrong. -
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John F. Kennedy presidency
In Chapter 31, the day before Floyd went off to one of his long-running out of town construction jobs, he complained about Kennedy's performace as the president and empty promises he made to Americans while running for president, -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Dan and Eddie come down to Mississpi from New York trying to get blacks to register to vote. Also, the beginning of a relationship between Dan and Ida. -
End of Vietnam War
When Floyd returned home from being in prison for robbery, he heard Gerald Ford's voice talking about the end of the Vietnam War and that the U.S. would be accepting U.S. refugees, an idea Floyd clearly did not agree with. (Chapter 40) -
Ronald Reagan election
While Wydell was listening to one of his customers' conversations, he heard that one of them announce that Ronald Reagan was the new President. He expressed concern to Delotha because he had the power to appoint judges to the Supreme Court. Delotha, however, didn't think that made much of a difference in terms of justive, remembering again her dead son. (Chapter 43) -
Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
Doreen is now 24 years old. She drives up to her parents', Floyd and Lily's, house to find a drunken Floyd and a beaten up Lily. During her ride to the house, "Thriller" was playing on the radio and she smiled as her daughter, Melanie, started dancing to the song. (Chapter 44). -
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Crack Cocaine epidemic
This surge of crack cocaine use in major U.S. cities marked the time period where W.T. became involved in gang life and neither his mother nor father can control him. -
Ronald Reagan reelected
By the time Reagan was reelected, Wydell had picked up his drinking habit again. During this period of escalating binges, his daughters, Brenda and Karen (who had now graduated college and moved away from Chicago), would come home during Christmas and find him slumped over a chair drunk most nights and would cut their visit short and instead stay with friends. (Chapter 43) -
Oprah Winfrey child molestation episode
On November 10, 1986, Oprah revealed to her audience that she was raped by s family member when she was 9 years old.
One morning after Lily finished cleaning Doreen's trailer, she watched an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah was crying about the fact that her cousin molested her as a child. Lily cried too and she thought of how she too had been molested as a child by her Uncle Charlie. (Chapter 44)
