Black Boy Characters

Richard’s father leaves the family when Richard is young. He lives an unstable and financially-precarious life, and after his abandonment Richard is raised mostly by his mother, aunts, and grandparents as he moves between homes in the South.

A kind woman who lives in Memphis, on Beale Street, Mrs. Moss takes in Richard as a boarder, and wishes ardently that Wright would marry her daughter, Bess.

A well-meaning and illiterate insurance salesman, Brother Mance takes on Wright as a secretary one summer, so that Wright can learn the insurance trade and help poor black families outside Jackson purchase life insurance plans.

Two white supremacists who work for Crane, Pease and Reynolds hound Richard, asking if he thinks he’s “white” for wanting to learn more about optometry. They eventually threaten Richard so severely that he quits his job.

A white employee at Richard’s optometry shop in Memphis, Olin initially convinces Richard and Harrison to box each other, saying he will pay each of them five dollars for the fight.

A mysterious man who becomes Maggie’s boyfriend in Arkansas sometime after Uncle Hoskins is killed, Matthews must flee with Maggie to Detroit in the middle of the night, after committing arson against a white family. Richard never learns the exact nature of, or motivation for, Matthews’ crime.

A kind man with whom Richard lives briefly in Mississippi, Clark attempts to provide food and shelter for Richard, but Richard is too frightened by the “ghost” of a dead child in his bedroom to adjust to family life there.

The wife of Uncle Clark, Jody is also kind to Richard, and hopes to provide a comfortable home for him, however briefly.

A woman Richard works for while in high school in Jackson. Richard tries to work also for Mrs. Bibbs’s husband at a sawmill, but is frightened by the physical nature of the work, and returns to work for Mrs. Bibbs.

A friend of Richard’s from high school in Jackson, Ned Greenley is notable for informing Richard one day that his brother, Bob, has been murdered by white men, who believe Bob visited a white prostitute.

Ned’s brother, Bob works at a hotel in Jackson. Bob is murdered by white men who believe that Bob slept with a white prostitute, thus violating the racial and sexual norms of the South.

Head of the junior high school where Richard attends ninth grade, the principal provides a school-sanctioned speech for Richard to read at his ninth-grade graduation. Richard refuses to do so, and the principal, in return, states that he will not hire Richard to teach in the Jackson school system.

A friend of Richard’s in Jackson, Griggs initially finds Richard the job at Crane’s optometry shop, and encourages Richard to behave with servility towards whites, if only to protect himself from white supremacist violence.

A kind woman who boards with Granny and works as a teacher, Ella is an avid reader of books. After she shares books with Richard, and after Richard is later accused of lewdness by Granny, Granny forces Ella to move out of the house.

A black woman who works at a movie theater in Jackson, owned by a Jewish businessman. Tel works with another, unnamed man and Richard to steal from the owner. Richard uses some of this money to leave Jackson and head to Memphis.

An Irish Catholic who works at the optometry shop in Memphis, and who is less inclined toward racism against African Americans. Falk lends Richard his library card so that Richard can check out books written by H.L. Mencken and other famous authors.

Another of Wright’s relations. Aunt Cleo already lives in Chicago, and Aunt Maggie and Richard stay with her at first when they arrive in the city.

A Jewish couple living in Chicago. The Hoffmans run a deli, and Wright finds work there soon after arrival. He later leaves the deli after lying to the Hoffmans about taking his postal exam.

The Finnish cook at the diner, where Wright works after the Hoffmans’ deli. Tillie spits in the soup she makes. Wright finds this out and tells the boss, who observes Tillie and fires her.

A woman Wright meets when working for the insurance company. Wright has an affair with her in exchange for “forgiving” her late policy payments. The woman finds Wright intelligent but strange, and wants him to take her to a circus.

Wright’s black comrade in the John Reed Club and Communist Party. Wright interviews Ross for a series of “biographical sketches” of black life in Chicago. These sketches raise the concern of Party leaders, who view them as “unorthodox.”

A prominent black Communist in Chicago. Buddy makes a series of veiled threats against Wright when Wright opposes Party propaganda in the John Reed Club.

A subordinate of Buddy Nealson’s. Green often tries to intimidate Wright by telling him that the Party doesn’t support his independent writing and reading.

A Jewish theater director. DeSheim is brought in to lead the Federal Negro Theater, for which Wright is a publicity officer, but the black actors don’t like DeSheim’s taste in experimental works, and force him to resign.

The white doctors who perform experiments in the hospital, where Wright cleans the floors. One of these doctors plays a prank on Wright, making him believe he’ll die from inhaling a harmless chemical.

Wright’s fellow laborers at the animal hospital. Brand and Cooke have a long-running feud, and one of their fights causes the animals to be loosed from their cages. The four men put the animals back in a disorganized fashion, though the doctors never learn of this.

White workers at the diner where Wright washes dishes. Wright remarks on the waitresses’ unconcern with his blackness. He also realizes he has read far more than them—that he possesses far vaster cultural knowledge than they do.