When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1.14.66, 77)
W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk (1.14.77)
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (1.15.16)
Jane Stembridge, I Play Flute (2.21.4)
Margaret Walker (2.24.8)
Camara Laye, The Radiance of the King (2.24.15)
Historical References
Che Guevara (1.1.59, 70)
Maro Zedong (1.1.59)
Medgar Evers (1.1.176, referenced throughout)
John F. Kennedy (1.1.176)
Malcolm X (1.1.176, referenced throughout)
Martin Luther King Jr. (1.1.176, referenced throughout)
Robert Kennedy (1.1.176)
Patrice Lamumba (1.1.176)
George Jackson (1.1.176, referenced throughout)
Cynthia Wesley (1.1.176)
Addie Mae Collins (1.1.176)
Denise Mcnair (1.1.176)
Carole Robertson (1.1.176)
Viola Liuzzo (1.1.176)
Jackie Kennedy (1.1.181)
Andy Young (1.3.4)
Sitting Bull (1.6.1)
Crazy Horse (1.6.1)
Geronimo (1.6.1)
Little Bear (1.6.1)
Yellow Flower (1.6.1)
Minnehaha and Hiawatha (1.6.1)
Harriet Tubman (1.14.89, 91)
Henry Ford (1.15.8)
James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner (2.16.5)
Angela Davis (3.27.14)
Crispus Attucks (3.27.14)
Richard Nixon (3.28.9)
Pop Culture References
"The Day is Past and Gone" (1.1.120)
Superwoman (1.1.171)
"We Shall Overcome" (1.3.54)
Johnny Cash (1.6.8)
Joan Crawford (1.7.23)
Sepia (1.8.10)
Tan (1.8.10)
True Confessions (1.8.10)
Real Romances (1.8.10)
Jet (1.8.10)
Rory Calhoun (1.9.3)
Ava Gardner (1.9.3)
Bette Davis (1.9.3, 2.19.63)
Slim Pickens (1.9.3)
Romare Bearden (2.20.2)
Charles White (2.20.2)
Jacob Lawrence (2.20.2)
Sammy Davis Jr. (2.20.2)
Loretta Young (2.23.8)
Mia Farrow (2.23.8)
Sandy Dennis (2.23.8)
Bessie Smith (2.23.8)