| Birdie | Basil | The Jailer's manservant. |
| Jacob | Bell | Delphina's husband. Pheby's boss. Aka: Master Jacob. |
| Monroe | Brown | Pheby and Essex's son. |
| Pheby Delores | Brown | Narrator and Protagonist. Aka: Ninny. |
| Ruth | Brown | Pheby's mother. |
| Vinnie | Brown | Pheby's grandmother. A Queen. |
| William | Cawfield | The tutor of Corinna's children. |
| Nathaniel | Colver | The reverend. |
| Anne | Davis | Hector's wife. |
| Hector | Davis | A jail owner. |
| Miss | Grace | A teacher. |
| Essex | Henry | Pheby's lover. Monroe's father. |
| Corinna | Hinton | The mistress of the jail off Brich Alley. |
| Aunt | Hope | The plantation cook. |
| Hester Francine | Lapier | Rubin and Pheby's 1st daughter. |
| Isabel | Lapier | Pheby's daughter. |
| Joan | Lapier | Pheby's daughter. |
| Katherine | Lapier | Pheby and Rubin's 4th daughter. |
| Rubin | Lapier | The man who rescued Pheby from auction. A human trafficker. Aka: Marse, The Jailer. |
| Rubin | Lapier Jr. | Rubin and Pheby's son. |
| Grace | Marshall | The Lapier's tutor. |
| Henry | O'Keefe | Rubin's friend. |
| Polly | O'Keefe | Henry's wife. |
| Silas | Omuhundro | Corrina's husband. A Jail owner. |
| David | Pullham | A jail owner. |
| Helen | Pullham | David's wife. |
| Robert | Ryland | The first African baptist church pastor. |
| Miss | Sally | Jacob's sister. |
| Miss | Sarah | Charlott's boss. |
| Mr. | Snitch | The plantation overseer. |
| Johnnie | White | The preacher. |
| Doctor | Wilks | Delphina's doctor. |
| Abbie | | Rubin's house girl. |
| Agnes | | One of the prisoners. |
| Alice | | The slave woman that Pheby met. |
| Arthur | | A skilled blacksmith and carpenter. |
| Beth-Anne | | One of the slaves. |
| Betty | | The O'keefe's maid. |
| Brenda | | One of the slaves. |
| Charlott | | One of the slaves. |
| Clarence | | Rubin's right hand man. |
| Cudjoe | | Nancy's twin brother. |
| Daniel | | Sissy's son. |
| Delphina | | Jacob's wife. |
| Elsie | | Pheby's co-servant. |
| Florence | | The new slave. |
| Ginny | | One of the slaves. |
| Hally | | One of the slaves. |
| Hamp | | Rubin's new driver. |
| Hilda | | A German seamstress. |
| Jack | | One of Pheby's tormentors. |
| Janice | | Pheby's helper. |
| Jasper | | Aunt Hope's son. |
| July | | One of Rubin's servants. |
| Lovie | | The keeper of the house. |
| Matilda | | The bloody woman that Pheby met. |
| Miss | | One of the slaves. |
| Nancy | | One of the slaves. |
| Parrott | | One of Jacob's servants. |
| Rachel | | Delphina's long-time servant. Deceased. |
| Reade | | The plantation driver. |
| Sam | | Matilda's husband. |
| Sissy | | Rubin's entertainer. |
| Susan | | The slave with a broken toe. |
| Taffy | | One of the slaves. |
| Thunder | | One of Master Jacob's horses. |
| Tommy | | One of Rubin's servants. |
