Miss Jane Pittman
Miss Jane is the main character of the novel, a former slave who was freed after the civil war. Even though she was just a child when the war ended, she quickly grew and matured and developed from a child into a woman, working and taking care of Ned, he adopted son. Despite de environment in which she lives in, Miss Jane refuses to give up and is stubborn in her quest to find freedom and be independent. In the novel, there are numerous instances when Miss Jane refuses to live a comfortable and safe life at the expense of her freedom. Miss Jane chooses instead to risk her life just to be free and to never have to serve under someone ever again. Her dreams don’t come true because reality is much more different than what Miss Jane may have imagined it to be. Miss Jane is forced to accept work on a plantation when she realizes that she can’t live without money and thus she begins once more to works for someone else. What is particular about Miss Jane is her power to adapt to the new situations that appear in her life. Miss Jane doesn’t give up on her dreams and continues to hope that one day the black people will be free and that they will have the same right as the white people. At the end of the novel, Miss Jane transforms from a quiet old lady to a leader who is followed by many and who will lead her people towards a brighter future.
Joe Pittman
Joe Pittman is the man who will eventually become Miss Jane’s husband. Just like Jane, Joe Pittman lived on Colonel Dye’s plantation where he broke horses for the Colonel. It is there where Joe meets Jane and they decide to get married. Joe Pittman has two daughters from a previous marriage but he is unable to conceive any children with Jane. Because of this, Joe feels the need to prove his masculinity through other means, mainly by breaking horses. His desire to prove himself makes him a valuable employed and because of this the Colonel tries to make him stay when Joe wishes to leave. Joe leaves anyway and he starts a new life on another plantation where he is noticed by his employer because of his talent of breaking horses. Joe dies because of his obsession with proving that he is a real man, Joe being killed by a wild black stallion.
Ned Douglass
Ned is Jane Pittman’s adopted son. When the slaves were freed, Jane left with a group of former slaves from the plantation where she used to work. Among those who left were Ned and his mother. Unfortunately, Ned’s biological mother and the rest of their group were killed and so Jane assumed the maternal role for Ned. Jane takes care of Ned and makes sure that he is educated. When Ned neared adulthood, he became involved with a group of black people who helped former slaves run away from plantations and because of this Ned is forced to run away and leave Jane behind. When Ned returns to Jane, he is already a grown man, with a family of his own and children. During the time he was away, Ned participated in a war and while he believed that the white community will look at him differently because of this but the people around him considers his participation in the war a threat more than a proof that he is equal with them. Ned is a firm believer in education and he tries to build a school in the area where he and Jane live in an effort to help the black community. Despite knowing that the white community will be displeased, he still pursues his dream and is killed because of this.
Robert Samson
Robert is a land owner and Jane’s employer towards the end of the book. While slavery was abolished, Samson continued to rule his plantation as he did when the slavery was still considered something normal. Robert Samson is obsessed with the idea of legacy and family and he counts on his son, Tee Bob, to continue the family line. Samson has another son, Timmy, whom he fathered after he seduced a black woman. Despite believed in the importance of family, Samson is unable to accept Timmy because of his skin color and rejects him as his son even though Timmy resembles Samson more than Tee Bob. Samson is used as a metaphor in the book because of his racial ideas and he represents the white community that was unable to see beyond the skin color a person had.
Tee Bob
Tee Bob is Robert Samson’s white son and heir. Tee Bob is Samson’s only true born son and because of this his father has high hopes for him and expects great things from him. Tee Bob however is very different from his father and he doesn’t share Samson’s racial views. Tee Bob was raised together with his half-brother, Timmy, and despite their different skin color, Tee Bob loves his brother and was unable to understand why Timmy was sent away by his father. Unlike his father, Tee Bob believes that between black and whites can exist a peaceful cohabitation and that interracial relationships can exist. When Tee Bob falls in love with a black woman, he can’t understand the reasons why he can’t marry her. The realization that he lives in a racial society that will not change soon affects him to the point where he decides to kill himself because he realizes that while he is willing to change, those around him are not.
Miss Amma Dean Samson
Miss Amma Dean Samson is Robert Samson’s wife and Tee Bob’s mother. The narrator describes her as being extremely prejudicial and this can be clearly seen from the way she treats Jimmy, her husband’s bastard black son. While the reader may be inclined to consider that Miss Amma Dean Samson is a negative character because of her racial views, she is just the result of a patriarchal system that pushes her to react in a certain way. Despite her flaws, she loves her soon dearly and the grief she experiences after his death portrayed her as a completely different character compared to how she was described in the beginning.
Jimmy Aaron
Aaron is a boy who was born on the plantation run by Robert Samson and whom everyone believed to be ‘’the one’’, a miracle child who will grow up to be the savior of the black people. He is a revolutionary but not in the sense in which many believed he will be. Aaron disappoints many by not being interested in religion and by having a promiscuous attitude. Despite his flaws, Aaron was indeed interested by the fate of the black people and he tried to help them by protesting and hoping that he will be able to make a difference. Aaron is killed during a protest but many chose to follow his example and protest against what they thought to be wrong.
Albert Cluveau
Albert is a white man who kills Ned when other white men become bothered by Ned’s efforts to build a school for the black children. Albert and Jane are almost friends and between them exists a friendly relationship. Albert is however influenced by those who have more money and influence than him and in order to win their approval he is willing to do whatever it takes. If Albert has no problems with killing a man, it soon becomes obvious that he can’t take responsibility for his actions and is a coward, fearing his peers and death above all.
Timmy
Timmy is the black son Samson fathered after he seduces a black woman. While Timmy resembles his father in character, the fact that they are not the same skin color makes Samson denies that Timmy is his son. This only makes Timmy more eager to prove his worth and to be considered a man, not a slave and to show that he is capable of great things just like his white half- brother. Timmy, just like many other characters, symbolizes a certain group of people that existed during those times. In this case, Timmy represents the black children fathered by wealthy white men but who are not recognized as being legitimate because of their skin color and thus are rejected by their own fathers.
Jules Raynard
Jules is Tee Bob’s godfather. Despite being a white man, he doesn’t exhibits racial ideas and is kind towards Miss Jane. Jules is the one who arranges for Mary Agnes to leave after Tee Bob killed himself. Knowing that Mary would be blamed for his death, he arranges for her to leave in the middle of the night to escape the violence that would soon follow. It is hinted that Jules’s actions may have saved her life.
Colonel Dye
Colonel Dye is the owner of the plantation where Jane ends up working after she leaves the plantation where she used to be a slave. The Colonel bought the plantation from the previous owner and he begins to treat the blacks working for him like slaves and as a result many decided to run away from the plantation, including Ned. When Jane and her husband express their desire to leave, the Colonel tries to make them stay by implying that they have to pay him a large sum of money.
Mr. Bone
Mr. Bone was the initial owner of the plantation where Jane began working after she left the plantation where she used to work when she was a slave. Mr. Bone was willing to adapt to the conditions imposed after the war and he played Jane for her work and provided education for the black children living on the plantation. After Mr. Bone sells his plantation, things begin to change drastically.
Corporal Brown
Corporal Brown is the man Jane sees after the end of the war. Corporal Brown is the one who tells her about the end of the war and how she will soon be free and thus she should choose a new name for herself. Corporal Brown suggested the name Jane, the same name as his daughter and tells Jane that she should visit him after the war. Corporal Brown and his invitation is what pushes Jane to leave the plantation.
Mary Agnes LeFabre
Mary Agnes is a creole teacher who comes to Samson’s plantation as a teacher for the black children. Mary Agnes’s decision to teach black children is the result of her desire to make amend for her family’s racial views and while her family strongly disapproves of her decision to teach black children, Mary Agnes decides to do it anyway. When Tee Bob falls in love with her, Mary Agnes knows that there will never be something between them but that doesn’t stop her from flirting with Tee Bob. It is implied that Mary Agnes’s attitude towards her relationship with Tee Bob may have pushed him to kill himself.
Jimmy Caya
Jimmy is Tee Bob’s best friend and while he is not as wealthy as Tee Bob and is not a landowner, he still exhibits racial points of view. He is Tee Bob’s opposite and he is the one who advises Tee Bob to sleep as much as he can with Mary and that he should not think about marring her because it is impossible. After Tee Bob kills himself, Jimmy proposes to get revenge on Mary Agnes but he is stopped by Jules Raynard.
Big Laura
Big Laura is Ned’s biological mother who was killed shortly after they left the plantation where they used to work when they were still slaves. Big Laura had another infant daughter killed in the altercation between the former slaves and a group of white men.
Job
Job is a poor white man who helped Ned and Jane. Despite his wife’s protests, Job feeds Ned and Jane and gives them a place to sleep. The next day, Job takes Ned and Jane to Mr. Bone’s plantation.
Madame Gautier
Madame Gautier is a ‘’hoodoo’’ woman Jane consults during her stay on the Colonel’s plantation.
Lena
Lena is Aaron’s great aunt who ends up leading the black community side by side with Jane after Aaron’s death.
Black Harriet
Black Harriet is a slow witted woman working on Samson’s plantation. She goes mad after she tries to win a race in the fields.
Olivia
Olivia is another black woman working on Samson’s plantation.
Brady
Brady in an older black man who was supposed to drive Jane and the rest of the women to protest but he back out in the last moment because he gets scared.
Judy Major
Judy is a whit girl Tee Bob was supposed to marry.
