Werthan Bag (now Werthan Industries) is a real company, founded in 1868 in Nashville. According to their website, they're one of the biggest manufacturers of pet food bags. (Source)

Morgan Freeman played Hoke in the original run of the play. Strangely, Warner Bros. wanted Eddie Murphy for the role of Hoke, because who better to play a tender, aging chauffeur than the star of Beverly Hills Cop? (Source)

For Christmas—but definitely not a Christmas gift—Miss Daisy gives Hoke a book called "Zaner Method Writing." It's a real book, created by Charles Paxton Zaner, who founded the Zanerian College of Penmanship in 1888. In 1888, people still wrote with "pens," things that made marks with ink on paper. (Source)

Idella loves her soap operas. In one scene, she's watching the long-running half-hour soap The Edge of Night, which featured Lori Laughlin in an early role. (Source)

The rabbi of the bombed temple in Atlanta, Jacob Rothschild, was an outspoken opponent of segregation. He co-hosted the gala dinner and MLK speech that Daisy attended (without Hoke). Some people believed that the interfaith consensus against violence that followed the bombing was one of the reasons why Atlanta was able to peacefully desegregate its schools and public facilities during the civil rights era, while violence tore apart many other cities in the south. (Source)