Character List
VIRGINIA PRYOR/MERCER GRAY'S FAMILY AND ASSOCIATES
- Ginnie (Virginia)/Mercer - Born into slavery but escapes to become a free woman
- Jackson Pryor - Southern slave owner and U. S. Ambassador to Nicaragua
- Joellen ("the Bat") Pryor - Jackson's wife
- Lily - Ginnie's mother, deceased
- Virgil - Ginnie's father, separated from the family, fate unknown
- Willie ("the Cooper") - Ginnie's lover, father of her oldest child
- Etta - Ginnie's oldest child
- Mattie - Ginnie's older son, fathered by Jackson Pryor
- Bennie - Ginnie's younger son, fathered by Jackson and left behind with Joellen
- Suzy - Older slave who cares for Ginnie after her mother's death
THE QUICK FAMILY AND ASSOCIATES
- Manny (Emmanuel) Quick - Father, landlord of many properties
- Della - Manny's wife, caterer
- Rachel/Shelley (Shed Kitchen Woman) - Manny's woman on the side
- Aunt Bea - Manny's younger sister, who drinks away her troubles
- Sharkey (Jeremiah) - Manny's brother, stable owner who works with the Underground Railroad
- The Tobies - Twins employed by Sharkey
- Zilpha - Manny's older sister, widowed
- Roland - Elder son of Manny and Della, now deceased
- Harriet Leigh Quick Wilson - Twin daughter of Manny and Della, teacher and abolitionist
- Tyree - Twin son of Manny and Della, works with the Underground Railroad, married to his brother's widow
- Blanche - Tyree's wife, freelance fur seamstress
- Abby Ann - Blanche's childhood friend and blackmailer, lodger at the Quicks' home
- Reverend Ephraim Johns - Episcopal priest, courting Abby Ann
- Africana - Daughter of Roland and Blanche
- Cyrus - Son of Tyree and Blanche
- Gabriel - Father of Manny, Bea, Jeremiah, and Zilpha, husband of Rebecca, seaman, now deceased
ABOLITIONISTS AND SUPPORTERS
- Nig-Nag (Wilfred) - Ginnie's first rescuer, lives in alley, suffers from Tourette Syndrome
- Jack and Bo-Bo - Gay couple who look after Nig-Nag
- George - Nig-Nag's friend and co-worker, Haitian
- William Still - Co-Chairman of Vigilance Committee, born free
- Passmore Williamson - Co-Chairman of Vigilance Committee, Caucasian
- Glover Trueheart, Robbins Boyd, Zachary Samuel Holloman, Jordan Jones, and S. Whitaker Ince - Five porters who aid Ginnie in her escape from slavery
- Mrs. Eugenia Pitts - Mercer's escort to New York
- Mr. Henry - Lawyer for Passmore Williamson
- Mr. and Mrs. Brooks - Owners of New York City boarding house where Mercer stays
- William Wells Brown - Well-known speaker, ex-slave
- Prudence Randall - Woman who encourages Mercer to go on speaker's circuit
- Gertrude Wren - Elderly female Vigilance Committee member
- Eliza Ruffin - President of Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, Cousin of Passmore Williamson
- Sarah Stern, Mary Sterling, and Prudence Foley - Abolitionists who protect Mercer at William Still's trial
- Wayland Silver - African American speaker whose talks encourage black emigration to Africa
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