Characters By Chapter
Remy Hale
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| CH | FIRST NAME | LAST NAME | DESCRIPTION |
| PR | William | Leidesdorff | Son of a Jewish-Danish sailor and a black island woman. |
| Hortense | William's Leidesdorff fiancee. | ||
| Joseph | Folsom | A real estate investor. | |
| Anna Marie | Sparks | Leidesdorff's estranged mother. | |
| 1 | William C. | Coffin | A local abolitionist. |
| Frederick | Douglass | Had escaped from slavery in Maryland. | |
| William Lloyd | Garrison | A well-known abolitionist. | |
| Edward J. | Pompey | A free black whaler, industrialist, and ship commander. | |
| Absalom | Boston | A wealthy black whaling captain. | |
| Mary Ellen | Pleasant | Became one of America's most powerful black entrepreneurs. | |
| Louis | Williams | Mary Ellen's father. | |
| Mary | Hussey | An elderly Quaker woman. | |
| Prince | Boston | Absalom's uncle. | |
| James | Smith | Pleasant's husband. | |
| Trainor | A priest. | ||
| Wendell | Phillips | James Smith's old friend. | |
| Geo | Green | Wendell's friend. | |
| Louis | Harden | Smith's friend. | |
| John James | Pleasant | Managed Smith's land. aka: JJ. | |
| Edward J. | Gardner | A captain who helped Pleasant manage her husband's estate. | |
| James K. | Polk | A president who set out the men for San Francisco. | |
| 2 | Emmeline | First enslaved person to undergo the ritual in the state. | |
| George W. | Freeman | A bishop who presided Emmeline's ceremony. | |
| Robert Reed | Church Sr. | Emmeline's older son. aka: Bob. | |
| James | Wilson | Emmeline's younger son. | |
| Lucy | Emmeline's mother. | ||
| Philip | Burton | Doctor owned the plantation where Emmeline's mother living. | |
| Rosalie V. | Burton | Dr. Burton's youngest daughter. | |
| Charles B. | Church Sr. | Robert Reed's father. | |
| Mary | Church l | Capt. Charles Sr.'s wife. | |
| Molly | Church | Deaf-mute child of Charles Sr. | |
| Charles | Church Jr. | Mary Church's son. | |
| Robert | Fulton | A developer of a successful steamboat. | |
| Kinder | Blair | A pastry chef. | |
| 3 | Fred | Longford | The one who received money from Pleasant. |
| William | West | Owner of West and Harper. | |
| Thomas | Randolph | A wealthy enclaved in the city. | |
| James | McCune Smith | First African-American medical doctor. | |
| Samuel R. | Ward | An abolitionist. | |
| Jeremiah | Hamilton | Richest blackman in New York. | |
| Thomas M. | Decatur Ward | Pleasant's nephew. | |
| John | Brown | Most belligerent opponent of slavery. | |
| William | Wells Brown | Pleasant's friend. | |
| Franklin | Pierce | An anti-abolitionist democrat. | |
| Stephen A. | Douglas | An Illinois's senator. | |
| Abraham | Lincoln | A President who set off a chain of events that lead to civil war. | |
| William | Alvord | Man gave Pleasant two steamship tickets for New York. | |
| Martin | Delany | A doctor. | |
| John Henry | Kagi | Elected as secretary of war. | |
| William | Howard Day | An abolitionist publisher. | |
| Mary Ann | Shaded Cary | Another abolitionist publisher. | |
| Lewis | Washington | George Washington's great-grand nephew. | |
| 4 | Blanche K. | Bruce | A porter. Robert Church's old friend. |
| Margaret | Pico | Had a slave marriage with Robert Reed Church. | |
| Laura | Church | Margaret and Robert Church's daughter. | |
| 5 | Eliza Jane | Hamilton | Jeremiah's wife. |
| 6 | Robert | Lee | A confederate soldier. |
| Standhope | Uwatie | Commander of the confederate Indian cavalry. | |
| Andrew | Jackson | Passed act: persons born in the United States being citizens. | |
| 7 | Louisa | Ayers | Former slave of a prominent white Memphis family. Aka: Lou. |
| Mary | Church ll | Lou and Robert Reed's daughter. | |
| Nathan B. | Forrest | A confederate luminaries. | |
| Jefferson | Davis | Ex-confederate president. | |
| David | Roach | An Irish police officer. | |
| Elihu | Washburne | A bipartisan congressman. | |
| Thomas | Church | Lou and Robert Reed's son. | |
| Rutherford | Hayes | Elected as president of Memphis. | |
| Kate | Bionda | Operated a docks restaurant. | |
| 8 | Selim | Woodworth | A wealthy industrialist. |
| Lisette | Woodworth | Selim's young wife. | |
| Lizzie | Pleasant's daughter. | ||
| R.B. | Phillips | Lizzie's husband. | |
| George W. | Tyler | Pleasant's lawyer. | |
| Henry Huntley | Haight | Elected as governor. | |
| Newton | Booth | Former California governor. | |
| Thomas | Bell Sr. | A director of two railroad companies. | |
| Teresa | Clingan | Thomas Bell's wife. | |
| 9 | Anna | Wright Church | An educator. Became Robert Reed's wife. |
| P.B.S. | Pinchback | Former governor of Louisiana. | |
| Ida B. | Wells | A young journalist. | |
| Taylor | Nightingale | Ida's publisher. | |
| Annette | Church | Anna Church's daughter. | |
| Robert Reed | Church Jr. | Robert Reed Sr.'s son. | |
| Thomas | Moss | A grocery owner. | |
| Will | Stewart | Arrested and shot on the right side of his neck. | |
| Calvin | McDowell | Arrested and killed with multiple gunshot on his face. | |
| 10 | Ottowa W. | Gurley | A teacher. John Gurley's son. |
| John | Gurley | A slave. | |
| Rosanna | Ottowa's mother. | ||
| Edward P. | McCabe | An African-American businessman from Troy, New York. | |
| Emma | John Gurley's wife. | ||
| William | Murray | A lawyer who is known for "Alfalfa Bill". | |
| 11 | Annie Minerva | Turnbo | Invented the Wonderful Hair Grower. |
| Sarah | Turnbo | Annie's older sister. | |
| Lilly | Sarah Turnbo's friend. | ||
| Bea | Lilly's friend. | ||
| Robert | Turnbo | Annie's father. | |
| Isabel | Annie's mother. | ||
| Laura | Turnbo | Annie's adult sister. | |
| Alonzo | Herndon | Former slave who opened the most famous barbershop for whitemen. | |
| Alice | A teenage girl who asked Annie to make her hair beautiful. | ||
| Sarah | Breedlove | One of Annie's best saleswomen in the city. aka: Madam Walker. | |
| A'Lelia | Breedlove | Sarah Breedlove's daughter. | |
| Theodore | Roosevelt | Succeeded the presidency upon the assasination of William McKinley. | |
| Charles | James | Sarah Breedlove's husband. | |
| 12 | Hattie | Elias | Charles Elias's eldest daughter. |
| Charles | Elias | A caterer. | |
| Mary | Elias | Charles Elias's wife. | |
| Hannah | Bessie | Charles Elias's youngest daughter. | |
| John | Platt | Owner of a glass manufacturing company in New York. | |
| Julius | Miller | A resort owner. aka: Pop. | |
| Franklin | Sattterfield | A negro who was courting Hannah Bessie. | |
| David | Elias | Twin brother of Hannah. | |
| Clara | Hannah's daughter. | ||
| Christopher | Smith | Hannah's husband. | |
| Cornelius | Williams | One of Hannah's tenants. | |
| August C. | Nanz | Hannah's lawyer. | |
| Kato | Hannah's most trusted servant. | ||
| Edward | Robinson | A beauty doctor. | |
| 13 | John | Drummond | A famous California wine maker. |
| Thomas F. | Bell Jr. | Thomas Bell Sr.'s son. | |
| 14 | William | McKinley | Nominated as president by Church Sr. |
| Booker T. | Washington | Most famous black person in America. | |
| Robert H. | Teller | First black judge in Washington. Reed's Sr. son-in-law. | |
| 15 | W.E.B. | Dubois | A scholar and an activist. |
| Will | Rogers | Recruit people to work in oil and refinaries. | |
| John | Stradford | A black businessman. | |
| A.J. | Smitherman | A columnist and a publisher. | |
| 16 | Aaron | Malone | A travelling Bible salesman. |
| George | Knox | Publisher of the largest black magazine in Indiana. | |
| Andrew | Carnegie | Member of the National Negro Business League. | |
| Dora | Larrie | Madam Walker's agent. | |
| Anthony | Overton | Founder and owner of the Overton Manufacturing Company. | |
| E.M. | Griggs | Head of Farmers and Citizens Savings Bank in Palestine. | |
| W.W. | Hadnott | A banker. | |
| Freeman B. | Ransom | Madam's business manager. | |
| 17 | Benjamin | Tillman | A senator of South Carolina. |
| Gwendolyn | Elias | Hannah's daughter. | |
| Andrew | Green | New York's city planner. | |
| George W. | McClushy | An inspector. | |
| W.J. | Cassard | John Platt's son-in-law. | |
| Isaac | Platts | John Platt's younger brother. | |
| Patrick W. | Dugan | Hannah's doorman. | |
| Washington | Brauns | An attorney hired by Hannah Elias. | |
| William | Rand | Assistant District attorney. | |
| 18 | John | Nail | New York's top real estate developer. |
| James Carrol | Napier | Booker's successor - president of Ntl Negro Business League. | |
| R.R. | Moton | An administrator of the Tuskegee Institute. | |
| George W. | Breckenridge | A white newspaper publisher. | |
| 19 | Williard | McCullough | A sheriff. |
| Dick | Rowland | A high school dropout who worked as a shine boy. | |
| Sarah | Page | An elevator operator. | |
| Anderson | Accused Gurley as a liar. | ||
| Spears | An older lawyer. | ||
| 20 | Philip A. | Payton Jr. | An African-American real estate developer. |
| John G. | Tyler | Another real estate developer. | |
| James W. | Johnson | John Nail's brother-in-law. | |
| Hutchen C. | Bishops | A priest. | |
| EP | Sara Roberta | Church | Administrator for federal government. Church's Jr. daughter. |
| Robert | Smith | One of America's most successful investors. | |
| John Mott | Drew | A black investor. |
