Born the youngest of eight children in a Georgia sharecropping family, Walker loses the sight in her right eye from a childhood BB gun accident. She uses reading and writing outdoors as a coping mechanism for her resulting timidness. Taking advantage of her school's integration, she becomes her high school valedictorian and attends Spelman College on a full scholarship. As an adult, she works for the NAACP, edits feminist magazines, and authors numerous poems and novels that honor Black women.

Minnie Lou is a Black mother in the 1940s South who works 11 hours a day as a maid for just 17 dollars a week. When a plantation owner tells her that educating Black children is unnecessary, she ignores the racist advice and fiercely advocates for her children's schooling. In the poem "Women," she represents the tough, husky-voiced generation who ironed starched shirts while simultaneously fighting for civic progress.

Willie Lee is a Southern sharecropper in the 1940s trying to feed a family of 10. He earns an annual income of 300 dollars, an amount so low that it forces his wife to take on grueling domestic labor outside the home. His financial situation highlights the systemic economic barriers placed on Black farmers in the rural South.

Melvyn is a dedicated civil rights attorney who marries Alice Walker. After marrying, the two move to Jackson, Mississippi, becoming the state's first legally married interracial couple since the creation of miscegenation laws. His visible partnership with a Black activist makes him a frequent target for Ku Klux Klan threats.

Rebecca is born right before her mother publishes the poem "Women." She serves as a living bridge between her grandmother's physical sacrifices in the fields and her own participation in third-wave feminism in the 1990s.

Martin Luther King Jr. is a national civil rights leader. His presence and ideology heavily motivate Walker, prompting her to actively join the Civil Rights Movement and travel through the Southern states helping Black citizens register to vote.

Zora Neale Hurston is a prominent Black female author from a previous generation. She serves as a major literary influence for Walker, eventually becoming the subject of an article Walker writes for Ms. Magazine. Hurston provides Walker with a literary blueprint for exploring Black womanhood.

Gloria Steinem is a well-known feminist organizer and publisher. She provides a national professional platform for Walker's voice by hiring her to edit Ms. Magazine in 1973.