Black Boy Characters

Grandpa

A Civil War veteran for the Union, Wright's grandfather is denied his pension by a clerical mistake after the war that misspelled his name, and which he believes was not in fact a mistake and was instead racially motivated. Having helped to found African American freedom from slavery as a soldier, Grandpa's experience serves as a kind of symbol of the way that African Americans were exploited and thwarted immediately upon the attainment of their independence. Grandpa is mostly absent, sick in bed, during Wright's youth. But Wright pays his respects to Grandpa at his funeral, and wonders whether Grandpa's life wasn't ruined by the impossible quest to receive his pension from a racist and impersonal federal government.

Ned Greenley

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.

Griggs

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

Bess

A kind and relatively uneducated girl, daughter of Mrs. Moss, Bess falls quickly in love with Wright, but when Wright suggests that they get to know one another before getting engaged, Bess becomes angry. Bess and Mrs. Moss later apologize to Wright and ask him to continue living, peacefully, under their roof.

Uncle Clark

A kind man with whom Richard lives brie y, 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.

Ella

A kind woman who boards with Granny and works as a teacher, Ella is an avid reader of books. But 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.

Mrs. Moss

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

Miss Simon

A kind woman who runs the orphanage in Memphis to which Richard is sent as a young child, Miss Simon takes a liking to Richard, who is so nervous he cannot perform the tasks of her "secretary," as she desires. Miss Simon later punishes Richard with the switch for trying to escape the orphanage.

"Uncle" Matthews

A mysterious man who becomes Maggie's boyfriend in Arkansas sometime after Uncle Hoskins is killed, Matthews must ee 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.

Granny

A stern religious practitioner, lives in Jackson, Mississippi with Grandpa, and runs a household that includes Wright for a great many years. tries desperately to get Wright to believe in God, but it "doesn't take." She is often harsh with Wright, and never gives up the belief that Wright's interest in books represents "the devil's work."

Brother Mance

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.

Olin

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 ve dollars for the ght.

Mrs. Bibbs

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

Harrison

An African American man who works at another optometry shop across the street from Richard's in Memphis, Harrison later agrees to box with Richard to entertain the white workers in that neighborhood. After the ght, both Richard and Harrison are ashamed of their performance for their white racist "co-workers," and the two speak very little to one another again.

Tel

An African-American 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.

Falk

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.

Mr. Crane

An optometrist from Illinois who lives in Jackson, Crane gives Wright a job in his shop, and says Wright will get a chance to learn the trade. Though Crane himself is not racist, he does nothing to stop the racist Pease and Reynolds from harassing Wright other than to express sadness that Richard must leave the job.

Aunt Maggie

Another of Richard's mother's sister, Maggie early in the book lives in comfort in Arkansas with her husband Uncle Hoskins, a successful owner of a bar. This comfort is shattered when Hoskins is killed by whites angry at his success, and the law does nothing to respond. Later, Maggie lives in Detroit with her boyfriend named Matthews, who has escaped the South for suspicious reasons. But Maggie returns to meet Richard in Memphis at the close of the memoir, and travels with him north, to Chicago.

Uncle Tom

Another stern disciplinarian, and Grandma and Grandpa's oldest son, lives on the outskirts of Jackson and later moves into Granny's house. attempts to discipline Wright and beat him with the switch, but Wright defends himself with a razor, saying that has no say in his upbringing. spends the rest of the memoir calling Wright violent and deranged.

Aunt Addie

Granny's youngest daughter, and Wright's mother's sister. Addie is also sternly religious, and runs the Christian school that Wright attends in Jackson. Addie attempts to discipline Wright early in the memoir for dropping walnut shells in class, but Wright is innocent and maintains his innocence, ultimately threatening Addie. Addie then spends much of the rest of the memoir ignoring Wright and considering him a "plague."

The principal

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

Bob Greenley

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

Shorty

The elevator operator in Richard's building in Memphis (where he works at the second optometry shop), Shorty is willing to participate in racial prejudice in order to gain small amounts of change from white elevator-riders. Although Richard criticizes Shorty for this, Shorty says only that he needs the money and doesn't mind making fun of himself.

Uncle Hoskins

The husband of Maggie, who lives with her in Arkansas where he is a prosperous bar owner. For a while Richard, his mother, and his brother live with Maggie and Hoskins, and it is there that Richard experiences true stability and rst realizes that it is possible to not always be hungry. However, Hoskins is killed by whites who covet his business, and that sense of stability is destroyed.

Richard Wright

The memoir's protagonist, author, and narrator, Richard Wright is born into poverty in rural Mississippi, then shuttles between Jackson, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Memphis as a young man, and does all he can to educate himself and earn enough money to leave the South and move to Chicago. Wright's childhood is lled with violence (beatings with the switch, often leveled by his own family), fear of white people's prejudice, and teenage battles with his mother, his Granny, and various aunts and uncles. Meanwhile, Wright is more moved by stories and literature than his grandmother's religion, and dedicates himself to getting educated, and begins reading a great number of books, even as he is forced to drop out of high school to help support his family. Wright's reading and his personal determination enable him to move to Chicago at the end of the memoir, and to begin a new life under less aggressive racial prejudice and domination.

Wright's brother

Though never named, Wright's brother is Wright's companion in childhood; he is then raised, partially, by Aunt Maggie in Detroit, when Wright's mother becomes ill. Wright and his brother grow apart during their teenage years, but are reunited in Memphis, and the two of them, along with their mother and Maggie, move to Chicago and the memoir's end.

Pease and Reynolds

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, he quits his job.

Aunt Jody

Wife of Uncle Clark, Jody is also kind to Richard, and hopes to provide a comfortable home for him, however brie y.

Wright's mother

Wright's mother works hard to support Richard and his brother from a young age, but after her husband leaves the family, she must take on additional work in the kitchens of white families. Wright's mother later succumbs to a series of strokes and is ill for much of Wright's young life. At the end of the memoir, however, Wright's mother has built up enough strength to be able to move north, to Chicago, with Wright, his brother, and Aunt Maggie.