Isabel Wilkerson
At the beginning of the novel, Wilkerson opens with a personal account of her connection to the story, as her grandmother was a migrant during the Great Migration in the 1920s. As such, much of the novel's content is personal to Wilkerson.
Ida Mae Gladney
Along with her husband and children, Ida fled the South in the middle of the night to Chicago, in the hope of finding a better life.
Robert Pershing Foster
Despite being a doctor, Foster was unable to find a job in the South due to racial prejudice. As such, he escaped to California.
George Starling
As George had broken "grove owners" laws, he could no longer remain in the South, taking the train to New York City.
