Sandy is a nine-year-old African-American boy growing up in Stanton, Kansas, characterized by his unusually dark, straight hair and thoughtful nature. He lives with his mother and grandmother in a household dominated by women. As an only child, he is observant of the adults around him and frequently ponders the racial and social differences he notices in his community.

Hager is the matriarch of the Williams family and a pillar of the local Stanton community. Born into slavery, she now supports her family through demanding physical labor as a laundress. She relies heavily on her Christian faith and advocates for treating everyone, including racist white neighbors, with charity and love. She holds high hopes for her grandson Sandy, wishing for him to become a respected community leader.

Harriet is Hager’s sixteen-year-old youngest daughter, known for her striking beauty and talent for singing and dancing. She deeply resents the racial discrimination that restricts her opportunities and refuses to adopt her mother's forgiving, religious worldview. She works at the Stanton Country Club but actively seeks a more exciting, independent life away from her mother's strict rules.

Annjee is Hager’s eldest daughter and Sandy’s mother, who works long hours as a domestic servant for a demanding white employer, Mrs. Rice. She is fiercely devoted to her frequently absent husband, prioritizing her romantic relationship and dreams of traveling with him over her immediate family duties. She shares her mother's work ethic but lacks her long-term ambition.

Tempy is Hager’s middle daughter, who has achieved financial stability and middle-class status by marrying a mail clerk. She consciously distances herself from her working-class roots, adopting the Episcopalian faith and strict conventions of respectability. She looks down on her mother's folkways and hopes to mold Sandy into a cultured, well-spoken credit to their race.

Jimboy is Sandy’s light-skinned, charismatic father and Annjee's husband. He travels frequently in search of work, rarely staying in Stanton for long, which causes constant friction with Hager. A talented blues guitarist, he brings music, dancing, and laughter to the neighborhood, introducing Sandy and Harriet to popular African-American cultural traditions.

Sister Johnson is a close neighbor of the Williams family who shares Hager’s church affiliation but not her tolerance for white people. Having been driven out of a Mississippi town by a racist mob years earlier, she harbors a deep, vocal hatred for whites and frequently shares her cynical, realistic observations with the neighborhood women.

Madame de Carter is a neighbor of the Williams family known for her pompous attempts to use elevated, formal speech. Despite her pretentiousness, she is an active, generous participant in the local community and reads Bible stories to the neighborhood children.

Pansetta is an attractive teenager who lives in the Bottoms, Stanton's working-class neighborhood. Her mother works during the day, leaving her unchaperoned, which causes the more respectable members of Stanton society to view her with suspicion.

Maudel is a lively, heavily made-up girl from the Bottoms whose family Hager considers immoral. She is Harriet's primary companion for sneaking out to dances and socializing in disreputable parts of town.

Buster is Sandy's childhood friend, notable for having blond hair, blue eyes, and ivory skin. Though identified as African American in Stanton, his appearance allows him the option to pass as white, a possibility he considers seriously as he grows older.

Arkins is Tempy's husband, who holds a steady government job as a mail clerk. He shares his wife's materialistic values and strict emphasis on respectability, explicitly rejecting working-class black culture, spirituals, and the blues as signs of backwardness.

Jimmy is a childhood companion of Sandy who grows up in severe poverty, occasionally forced to wear his mother's shoes to school. As he matures and begins working as a bellhop, he projects an image of streetwise sophistication that contrasts with Sandy's more sheltered upbringing.

Willie Mae is Sandy's dark-skinned playmate and the granddaughter of the Johnsons. She frequently joins Sandy and Buster in their childhood games and experiences the harsh reality of segregation alongside her friends.