| Ma |
Att | Queens resident to whom Tommy delivers a book |
| Julius |
Caesar | Roman general, statesman, and dictator |
| Patrick Joseph |
Hayes | Archbishop of New York |
| Ervin |
Howard | Private detective |
| George |
Hurley | Buckeye's given name |
| Mayor |
Hylan | Mayor of New York City representing white political authority in the 1920s |
| Andrew |
Jackson | Former U.S. president; appears on ten-dollar bills as "Old Hickory" |
| Thomas |
Malone | Irish-born New York police detective |
| Theodore |
Roosevelt | 26th President of the United States |
| Willie |
Smith | American saxophonist |
| Madame |
St. Clair | Numbers queen of Harlem; Buckeye's employer |
| Robert |
Suydam | Wealthy, eccentric, and sinister white man |
| Charles Thomas |
Tester | Young Black street hustler and aspiring musician. Aka: Tommy Tester |
| Irene |
Tester | Otis Tester's wife |
| Otis |
Tester | Charles Tester's father |
| Black |
Tom | Persona adopted by Charles "Tommy" Tester |
| Augustus |
| Founder of the Roman Empire. Aka: Octavius |
| Buckeye |
| Tommy Tester's friend |
| Elizabeth |
| Child of Ma Att's neighbor |
| Gorgo |
| Queen of Sparta; wife of Leonidas I |
| Mormo |
| Mythical terrifying female spirit in Greek folklore |
| Trinidadian |
| Food cart operator in Harlem |
