cotton curtain
n.— «From behind the “cotton curtain” of the Mississippi Delta last week came Dr. Theodore R. (for Roosevelt) Mason Howard.…Rated as Mississippi’s “most hated” Negro leader because of his refusal to buckle under pressure applied by anti-desegregationists, Dr. Howard is described “as a man who lets the chips fall where they may.”» —“Dr. Howard Gives 3-Point Program To Alpha Confab” by George Daniels Chicago Defender (Illinois) Jan. 14, 1956. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
After our chat about tongue twisters, a Chicago, Illinois, listener shares one that looks much easier than it sounds: Irish wristwatch. This is part of a complete episode.
Related
Michael from Jones, Michigan, says he was stationed on a U.S. Army base in Germany in the early 1960s. If there was a gust of cold wind, a fellow soldier would say the hawk’s out. This expression is largely associated with Chicago, Illinois...