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
The Bible: Molly Beauchamp likens Samuel's fate to that of Benjamin in the Book of Genesis, 44, where Joseph (who's hiding his identity from his brothers) secretly plants a silver cup in his brother Benjamin's bag and accuses him of stealing it. Joseph holds his young brother as a ransom. Benjamin is Jacob's youngest son, which is probably why Molly refers to Samuel as her Benjamin.
Isaac uses the story of Creation in Genesis to build his world view that man is the caretaker of the earth, not its owner.
Homer, The Iliad: The narrator says Old Ben, the bear, "widowered childless absolved of mortality" resembled Old Priam, "reft of his old wife and outlived all this sons" (5.1.3). While Faulkner doesn't name Homer or The Iliad, he is referring to Priam, the King of Troy during the Trojan War in The Iliad.
John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn": When McCaslin and Sam Fathers are talking about why Sam didn't shoot Old Ben, the bear, even though he was standing close to it, McCaslin pulls out a book from the bookcase and reads two lines from this poem to Sam (5.4.158). McCaslin is trying to make the point that truth is unchanging and that virtues like honor, pride, pity, justice, courage and love all touch the heart and therefore create truth.
Historical References
Lynching: In "Pantaloon in Black," the narrator says that Rider was found "hanging from a bell-rope in a negro schoolhouse" and "the coroner had pronounced his verdict of death at the hands of a person or persons unknown." We're to understand that this means Rider was a victim of lynching, a kind of murderous white vigilante justice that wasn't uncommon in the era after the Civil War. It was meant to intimidate freed blacks and people who supported them, and it did. (Source)
1865: The date of the ratification of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. Check it out here.
Ku Klux Klan (5.4.147): An organization founded during Reconstruction that tried to reinstate white supremacy in the aftermath of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls it the "most infamous—and oldest—of American hate groups." Most of the first members were veterans of the Confederate Army. They wore masks and white robes to hide their identity. They terrorized free blacks and their sympathizers and were responsible for lynchings and arson. (Source.)
Jim Crow Cars (mentioned in "Delta Autumn"): refers to the "coloreds only" train cars during the era of Jim Crow laws, which mandated segregation in the southern states between 1876 and 1965. They were an effort to undo the economic and political gains made by blacks after the Civil War.
Census: In "Go Down, Moses," there's a census taker asking Samuel Beauchamp about his family. Given the time this story is set, this must refer to the census of 1940. Attention genealogy fans: this census was made available to the public in 2012. You won't find Samuel Beauchamp in it, but you might find your own kin.