Karintha ("Karintha")
Karintha is gorgeous, wild, and unknowable to many. She does not want to be tamed by men, but many have tried. She committed infanticide by giving birth in the forest and leaving the child there.
Becky ("Becky")
Becky is a white woman with two black sons, and neither the white nor the black community accepts her. She lives in the barren space near the railroad and the townspeople take care of her though they hate her. It is said she died, but no one knows for sure; many believe she haunts the space.
Carma ("Carma")
Carma is a strong and independent black woman whose husband is in the chain gang because of her. He accuses her of having other men, so she fakes suicide. This makes him crazy and he slashes another man, which is what forces him into the gang.
Bane ("Carma")
Carma's hotblooded husband, who is enraged that she putatively has other men and faked killing herself. He wounds another man and is put into the chain gang.
Fern ("Fern")
Fern is a soft, lovely, young woman, with whom men fall in love frequently. They assume she is easy but then grow to fear her. The narrator pursues her and she seems to like him, but she becomes overwhelmed and crazed by a religious vision and/or psychological break.
Narrator ("Fern")
The narrator loves Fern and wishes to be with her. He knows other men have tried, and thus he is as respectful as he can be. He eventually desists, though, after he sees her breakdown.
Esther ("Esther")
Esther is a prim, proper, and reticent nine-year-old black girl when she first sees Barlo and decides she loves him. As she grows up she ignores the fact that her father is wealthy and she is nearly white; she lets her passion for Barlo drain her. When she finally goes to Barlo years later, she realizes that he disgusts her and that her dreams were false and evil.
Barlo ("Esther")
Also known as King Barlo, he is a handsome, powerful, and charismatic black man who claims to have visions from God. Esther is entranced by him and decides she loves him. She waits for him for years, and when he returns she prepares to seduce him. His crassness, sensuality, and drunkenness end up repulsing her, though, and she concludes that being with him would be a sin.
Louisa ("Blood-Burning Moon")
A beautiful, young, black woman who loves both Bob, the white son of the people she works for, and Tom, a black man. She seems more inclined towards Tom, but is horrified when the two men fight and Bob is killed. She is forced to leave before she sees Tom killed, and wonders at the end of the story if he will be coming to her.
Bob Stone ("Blood-Burning Moon")
An irascible and arrogant white man who loves Louisa despite—or because of—the fact that she is black. He lusts for her and is irate that she also likes Tom. He instigates a fight with Tom, but Tom slits his throat; he dies right after he sputters out Tom's name to the other white men.
Tom Burwell/Big Boy ("Blood-Burning Moon")
A strong fieldworker who loves Louisa and cannot handle that she also loves Bob Stone. He succeeds in winning her, but then Bob arrives and the two men engage in a physical fight. Tom kills Bob, but not before Bob tells the white men of the town about it. The white mob burns Tom to death.
Old David Georgia ("Blood-Burning Moon")
An elderly black man in the town who tells stories of white people and the old days.
Rhobert ("Rhobert")
An older man who feels the weight of imminent death upon him. He is estranged from his family but does not care. He feels like he is drowning, sinking, and that his house is crushing him. He wonders if people will notice and sing of him.
Avey ("Avey")
A lovely and sorrowful young woman who is lusted after by all the men in town, but who never seems to attach herself seriously to one in particular. She likes the narrator, but only wants to mother him, not engage in passion. As the years pass she becomes a prostitute, but the narrator still wants her. She never gives him what he wants, though, falling asleep as he prepares to seduce her.
Narrator ("Avey")
The narrator is in love with Avey and pursues her when they are both young; he cannot understand why she holds him at arms' length. He begins to find her indolent and frustrating but still loves her. He follows her to New York and then back to Washington, where he finds she is a prostitute. He desires to possess her nonetheless, but his passion dies when she falls asleep next to him when they are on a date.
Ned ("Avey")
A boastful young man who has a lot of experience with women. He pursues Avey but eventually gives up when she does not reciprocate; instead, he sneers that she is a whore.
John ("Theater")
The theater manager's brother who sits and watches the club come alive around him. He sees Dorris and finds her beautiful but does not think she is worthy of him. He daydreams of being with her, but ultimately he lets the dream collapse.
Dorris ("Theater")
A beautiful, young, dancing girl who works at the theater. She catches the eye of John and is equally intrigued by him, but his judgment of her as not being at his social level shatters her.
Dan Moore ("Box Seat")
The smart, angry, tempestuous young man who loves Muriel. He tries to make her into what he wants her to be and ignores her protestations. He follows her to the theater, where his temper flares at the attention given to her.
Muriel ("Box Seat")
The young woman whom Dan loves. Muriel is fleshy, but pretty and lively; she is a teacher and is well-known in the community. She tells herself she is trying to be happy and have a beautiful life, but she is confused by her attraction to Dan, whom she finds depressing, strange, and complicated. She worries about what the town might say about her relationship.
Mrs. Pribby ("Box Seat")
The old, nosy woman with whom Muriel lodges. She is a stand-in for the town and its opinion of Muriel.
Bernice ("Box Seat")
Muriel's friend, described as a cross between a washer-woman and blue-blood socialite.
Bona ("Bona and Paul")
A serious, beautiful, young, black woman training to be a teacher. She is in love with Paul but is wearied by his complexity and constant need to control the situation.
Paul ("Bona and Paul")
A young, black man training to be a teacher, he is in love with Bona but has a lot of tortured feelings about his blackness and feeling like an outsider.
Art ("Bona and Paul")
Paul's roommate, who fixes him up with Bona. He is a white man and dates Helen.
Helen ("Bona and Paul")
Art's date; she is a white woman and friend of Bona's. She and Art frequently quarrel.
Ralph Kabnis ("Kabnis")
Kabnis, a self-centered and fiery black man, comes down to the South to teach school to underprivileged black people, but is frustrated that he is not allowed to drink alcohol or smoke. He befriends Layman and Halsey; the latter takes him in once he is fired from his job for breaking the rules. He is afraid of racial violence and the dark history of the South.
Fred Halsey ("Kabnis")
A black man of the town who works in a wheel shop and takes Kabnis under his wing. He is often frustrated with Kabnis and seeks Lewis's insight the night of their party.
Professor Layman ("Kabnis")
A black preacher and teacher.
Mame Lankins ("Kabnis")
Layman and Halsey tell Kabnis the story of this black woman who was murdered in the street by white people and whose unborn child was ripped from her womb and pinned to a tree.
Hanby ("Kabnis")
The president of the school where Kabnis works, Hanby is a black man who adopts the polished New England mannerisms of white people and prides himself on being well-dressed, suave, and rich. He fires Kabnis from his post after he catches him drinking.
Lewis ("Kabnis")
Like Kabnis, Lewis is a Northern black man newly arrived in the town. He is intelligent and purposeful. Layman, Halsey, and others in the town find him strange; eventually he is anonymously threatened and decides to leave.
Carrie K. ("Kabnis")
Fred's lovely young sister and daughter to Father John. Lewis has feelings for her and wishes he could take her North with him; he fears what will become of her here. She helps Kabnis and takes care of her father.
Stella ("Kabnis")
A beautiful, dark-skinned woman who comes to drink with Halsey, Kabnis, and Lewis. She is serious and reflective.
Cora ("Kabnis")
A tall, slim, mulatto woman who comes to drink with Halsey, Lewis, and Kabnis. She is jealous of Stella.
Father John ("Kabnis")
Fred and Carrie's elderly father, he is gray-haired and has a venerable, prophetic mien. He rarely talks, and he only mumbles. At the end of the story he repeats the word "sin" multiple times and makes Kabnis angry.
Sam Raymon ("Kabnis")
Layman and Halsey tell Raymon's story of how white men were going to kill him and Raymon asked if he could take care of it himself. He proceeded to drown himself in the stream.
