| 1 | Jo | Kuan | 1st person narrator. Protagonist. 17 yr. old Chinese-American girl, living in 1890s Atlanta, GA. |
| | Robby | Withers | Noemi's husband. Jo's friend. Works for Mr. Buxbaum in his store. |
| | Old Gin | | Has been Jo's grandfatherly Chinese guardian since she was an infant. Assistant groom at the Payne Estate. |
| | Mr. | Buxbaum | Owns Buxbaum's Department Store. |
| | Mrs. | English | Owner of English's Millinery. Fires Jo, her talented milliner's assistant, for racist reasons. |
| | Lizzie | Crump | Jo's kind but clumsy fellow worker at millinery. Enamored of Nathan Bell. |
| | Mrs. | Bell | Lives with her husband and son above the abolitionist hideout where Jo and Old Gin reside. |
| 2 | Nathan | Bell | Mrs. Bell's only child. Reporter for the Focus newspaper. |
| | Miss Melissa | Saltworth | Daughter of a "merchant aristocrat" (wealthy via business rather than inheritance). |
| | Miss Linette | Culpepper | Daughter of a "merchant aristocrat." |
| | Salt & Pepper | | The moniker Jo gives Misses Saltworth and Culpepper. |
| | Mr. | Q | Mr. Edward Quakenbach. Gold digger. Miss Saltworth's beau. |
| | Lucky Yip | | One of the "uncles" who lived with Jo and Old Gin years ago. |
| 3 | Noemi | Whithers | Cook at the Payne Estate. Robby's wife. Mother had been Caroline's mammy. |
| | Sweet Potato | | Jo's horse. |
| | Jed | Crycks | Head groom at the Payne Estate. |
| | Mr. | Bell | Nathan's father. Publisher of the Focus newspaper. |
| | Bear | | The name (short for Forbearance) of the Bells' sheepdog. Recognizes Jo's scent. |
| | Billy | Riggs | "Knucks" for short. Blackmailer. General reprobate. |
| | Aunt Edna | | Pens the "agony aunt" advice column for the Trumpeter newspaper, rival of the Focus. |
| 4 | Hammer Foot | | Another "uncle." Raised by monks in China. Remembered for his Confucius-style advice. |
| | Mrs. Emma | Payne | Mother of Caroline and Merritt. Organizes horse race benefit with ladies encouraged to invite the men. |
| 6 | Miss Sweetie | | Pseudonym Jo assumes as writer of the Focus advice column. |
| | Caroline | Payne | Paynes' cruel daughter. Jo becomes her lady's maid after leaving the hat shop. Having affair with Mr. Q. |
| 7 | Seamus | Sullivan | "Sully" for short. Streetcar conductor. |
| | Mrs. | Washington | Lucy's nanny. |
| | Lucy | | Attends Spelman Seminary, a fine school for "colored" girls. |
| | Merritt | Payne | Caroline's brother. Engaged to be married. |
| | Etta Rae | | The Paynes' housekeeper and head of staff. |
| 8 | Solomon | | Mr. Payne's butler. |
| | Frederick | | Caroline's horse. |
| | Thief | | Mr. Q's piebald horse, white with black mane. |
| 10 | Mrs. | Wordsworth | Prohibits her daughters from inviting dates to the horse race. Puts a damper on the "Sadie Hawkins" scheme. |
| 11 | Mr. Winston | Payne | Wealthy paper manufacturer. Father to Merritt and Caroline. Grooming Merritt to take over his mills. |
| | Ameer | | Merritt's Arabian stallion. |
| | Johnny | Fortune | Experienced jockey who will ride Ameer in the horse race. |
| | Jane | Bentley | Merritt's blue-blooded fiancé from Boston. |
| 12 | August | | Noemi's safety. Unlike the big wheel style bicycles of the time, which riders must jump off, it has brakes). |
| 13 | e | | The signature of a note found in the pocket of a suit that a mystery uncle left behind. |
| | Shang | | Uncle who had owned the navy blue suit Jo finds. Owed money to Billy Riggs' father. |
| 15 | Sunday Surprise | | Mr. Buxbaum's thoroughbred. |
| 16 | Mr. | Crump | Proprietor of Crump's Paints. |
| 17 | Mr. | Foggs | Manager of the Payne Mills. |
| | Mrs. Maud | Gray | Milkmaid. Enjoys sitting near heater at front of streetcar to warm her aching hands. |
| 21 | Adelle | Jones | Arrested for not relinquishing her streetcar seat quickly enough. |
| | Savannah Joy | | Mrs. Payne's filly that she was forced to give up when she was a child. |
| 24 | Madam Delilah | | Woman who opens the door to the brothel that Jo and Nathan go to in order to meet with Billy Riggs. |
| 26 | Mrs. | Crump | Unlike her daughter Lizzie, wife of the proprietor of Crump's Paints is imperious and unkind. |
| 27 | Leo | Porter | Man mowing lawn at the Piedmont Park racetrack. |
| | Joseph | | Leo Porter's son. |
| 29 | Mrs. Bread Loaf | | Jo's epithet for woman with bread loaf style bun who tries to prevent Jo from entering suffragists' meeting. |
| | Mrs. | Bullis | Referred to as "Top Hat" by Jo. President of the Atlanta Suffragists. |
| | Mary | Harper | Considered Atlanta's best seamstress. Works for Mrs. Bullis. |
| | Rose | St. Pierre | Mary Harper's sister-in-law. |
