Mrs. Johnson is a middle-aged, working-class black woman living in the American South. She describes herself as a large, physically resilient woman with rough hands who can butcher a hog as well as a man. She possesses only a second-grade education but demonstrates a sharp observational voice and a profound connection to her immediate family history. Although she is practical and tough, she struggles with internalized insecurities stemming from both Jim Crow-era racism and the condescension of her highly educated daughter.

Dee is the ambitious and highly educated older daughter of Mrs. Johnson. Thanks to the financial sacrifices of her family and church, she is the only family member to have completed high school and college. She has adopted the name "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo" to reflect a reclaimed African heritage, deliberately distancing herself from her immediate family's recent history. She approaches her family's everyday household items as artifacts to be preserved rather than functional tools.

Maggie is Mrs. Johnson's younger daughter. She continues to live at home in their modest rural house. She is shy and deeply self-conscious. She carries physical and emotional scars from a fire that destroyed the family's previous home when she was a child. She has learned by hard experience to expect very little from life, accepting mistreatment with meek resignation. However, she holds a genuine, practical connection to her ancestors, knowing how to quilt and remembering the specific relatives who made their family heirlooms.

Hakim-a-Barber is a short, stocky man who visits the Johnson home as Dee's boyfriend or possibly husband. He wears his hair long and hanging from his chin, reflecting a conscious rejection of Western cultural norms in favor of African and Islamic traditions. He prefers abstract theories over manual labor, politely declining the family's traditional pork dinner and dismissing the idea of farming.

John Thomas is a local man engaged to Maggie. He is described as a homely individual. His upcoming marriage to Maggie represents her quiet acceptance of the modest, everyday life available to her in their rural community.