Uncle Julius
Former slave who serves as recurring character in Chesnutt’s dialect stories. Uncle Julius is an old man who was one the property of the master who owned the former plantation now owned by John and Annie, two white Northerners. In this story, Julius is enjoying a ham dinner at the invitation of Annie and while eating he briefly pauses and nearly starts crying. John witnesses this and when he asks what brought on the tears, Uncle Julius relates the flashback story that serves as main narrative
Dave
Tall, powerful, strong and smart slave who grew up on the plantation. Julius was just a young man at the time the story takes place and he tells of how Dave secretly learned to read the Bible and then fell in love with a newly arrived slave, the beautiful mixed-raced Dilsey. A rival for her affections frames Dave for the theft of a smoke ham and as punishment he is forced to wear it around his neck attached to a chain. When all the other slaves come to believe in his guilt—including the girl he plans to marry—he slips into insanity, believing that he is actually turning into a ham himself.
Wiley
The appropriately named Wiley is Dave’s rival for Dilsey. He is the actual thief of the ham and compounds this crime by hiding it in Dave’s cabin so that he appears to be the guilty party. After Dave’s punishment has been lifted and while he is at his most delusional, Wiley is caught stealing chickens and suffers a shotgun wound. Believing he is near death, he finally confesses to both the theft and to framing Dave.
Mars Dugal
The master of Julius and Wiley who owned the plantation which John and Annie now call home. After learning that Dave has secretly learned how to read he agrees not to punish the slave when Dave convinces him that reading the Bible has taught him not to do things like steal.
