Hiram Walker - Hiram is the main character and narrator of the novel.

Born into slavery on Lockless plantation, Hiram is the son of Rose, an

enslaved woman, and Howell Walker, his mother’s enslaver, and thus is
a product of rape.

Sophia - Sophia is a young woman enslaved by Nathaniel Walker at

Lockless. Nathaniel regularly rapes her and eventually fathers her baby,
Caroline.

Thena - Thena is an old woman who lives at Lockless and has a

reputation for being the meanest person on the Street (the area of the
plantation where the enslaved people live).

Rose - Rose was Hiram’s mother and daughter of Santi Bess. She was
beautiful and all the men at Lockless were in love with her. She and her
sister, Emma would water dance on special occasions.

Corrine Quinn - Corrine Quinn is a white woman from Elm County who
owns a property named Bryceton not far from Lockless. An only child,
Corrine inherited her parent’s property and vast fortune when they
died.

Howell Walker - Howell is Hiram’s father and also his enslaver. During
the main section of the narrative, he is already quite old (around 70)
and dies at the end of the novel.

Maynard Walker - Maynard is Hiram’s half-brother and Howell’s only

"legitimate” child, making him the heir to Lockless. As a teenager,
Maynard is childlike, helpless, and foolish, and he remains so after
becoming an adult.
Mr. Fields/Micajah Bland - Micajah Bland, who is first introduced via his
fake identity as Mr. Fields, is a white Underground agent who infiltrates
Lockless by working as Maynard’s tutor.

Moses/Harriet Tubman - Harriet, who for much of the novel is known

by her nickname, Moses, is based on the real figure of Harriet Tubman.

Raymond White - Raymond White is an underground agent who lives in

Philadelphia. Born into slavery, both his parents escaped the plantation
and ended up reuniting in Philadelphia.

Otha White - Otha is Raymond’s brother; like Raymond, he was born

into slavery. When Otha was a child, his mother Viola, fled with both
him and his brother, Lambert.

Santi Bess - Santi Bess was Hiram’s grandmother and Rose’s mother. She
was a "pure-blood African” who possessed the ability of Conduction.

Georgie Parks - Georgie Parks is a widely-respected free black man who

lives near Lockless in Freetown. Formerly enslaved, he bought his
freedom and married a woman named Amber, with whom he has one
baby son.