[Ads-l] blue serge

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US)]

The Diane Rehm show reran an interview with Albert Racehoss Sample, a mixed-race man who was born in 1930 in Longview TX.  He said something like "My momma was married to a man named Alan Sample, but everybody called him Blue.  Blue was from his complexion.  He was blue serge -- that's blacker than black."

I've heard blue-gum used to refer to very dark black people (and I think it has come up on the list), but never "blue serge".

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