The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze: Chapter 45–Epilogue

by Derrick Barnes
In this novel, 13-year-old Henson Blayze becomes the star of his school's football team, but soon learns that he must choose between fame and fighting back against racism.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue-Chapter 11, Chapters 12-22, Chapters 23-34, Chapters 35-44, Chapter 45-Epilogue
15 words 24 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. patriarch
    the male head of family or tribe
    That stop took longer than expected when Mr. Peacoat Marshall, the patriarch of the family, just had to show Deacon and Henson how masterfully skilled his three granddaughters were at roping, calf tying, and saddling bronc like any of the other veteran Black cowboys in the Delta.
  2. oasis
    a shelter serving as a place of safety or sanctuary
    Inside, the high vaulted ceilings, which gave the space an echoing acoustic, caused the Row of Seeds Organic Produce and Pantry to appear more like a cathedral than a market that served as a real-life oasis within miles of nothing but a crippling food desert that had existed for decades.
  3. annals
    a chronological account of events in successive years
    The boy in the long and storied annals of the Blayze family who broke the link.
  4. dignitary
    an important or influential person
    You can travel the world, sail every sea, shake hands with every dignitary and head of state on every continent, but that land in Great Mountain, Mississippi, will always be yours—as long as you’re Black and a Blayze, it will always belong to you.
  5. destitute
    poor enough to need help from others
    Many of them were mere tenant farmers themselves, just as poor and destitute as the Black folks that they casually terrorized and humiliated on a daily basis.
  6. begrudgingly
    in an unwilling manner
    Begrudgingly, he had come to accept the fact that there weren’t two sets of townsfolk in Great Mountain.
  7. unhinged
    affected or as if affected with madness or insanity
    As he continued down the causeway, he couldn’t help witnessing the cavalcade of angry car horns, beet-red faces, unhinged tempers, and flailing white knuckles shook in the wind.
  8. valiantly
    with heroic courage or bravery
    He was a giant, a hero, standing over the town wearing a white cape and waving valiantly.
  9. delectable
    extremely pleasing to the sense of taste
    Mrs. Pendegrass came out with a steaming plate of mustard greens, a delectable chunk of meat loaf, one freshly buttered Hawaiian roll, and the sweetest candied yams ever packed for lunch in the history of leftovers.
  10. expletive
    profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
    He was used to Lubbock shouting at the team with flares of spit shooting from his mouth, right alongside a few expletives.
  11. belligerent
    characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight
    It wasn’t even like the sea of people that showed up outside of Menkah’s hospital room: angry, belligerent, demanding.
  12. atrocity
    an act of shocking cruelty
    With every vile and wicked scene, which replayed in his mind until it all meshed into one long, gory atrocity, he grew even angrier.
  13. engrossed
    giving or marked by complete attention to
    He was still so engrossed in a video that most of them had already moved on from.
  14. profusely
    in very large amounts or quantities; extremely
    At least parts of him were: he bled profusely, down his back, down the front of his gray shirt.
  15. ruminate
    reflect deeply on a subject
    He could sympathize, ruminate, and feel.
Created on Tue Nov 25 08:09:17 EST 2025 (updated Tue Dec 02 11:48:33 EST 2025)

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