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Effia

The daughter of Maame and Cobbe, raised by Baaba, who treats her cruelly. When Effia is sent to marry British governor James Collins, she is horrified to hear the cries of people who are being held in the dungeons, though she understands she cannot return to her village. Effia takes comfort in the presence of other Fante women at the Cape Coast Castle.

Read an in-depth analysis of Effia.

Esi

The daughter of Maame and Big Man. Esi grows up seeing prisoners of war kept as enslaved house servants and doesn’t think much of the cruelty of the practice until she herself is kidnapped. Esi desperately tries to keep the black stone pendant from her mother, but eventually must leave it behind when she is forced on to a slave ship.

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Quey

The son of Effia and James Collins. As a biracial man, Quey does not feel at home in the castle or in London, where his father sends him. Quey also develops romantic feelings for his friend, Cudjo, further complicating his identity. Quey feels his only option is to continue his family’s involvement in the slave trade and marry the kidnapped daughter of an Asante king, Nana Yaa.

Ness

The daughter of Esi and the British soldier who raped her. Ness is quiet and withdrawn after spending years on a plantation she thinks of as “Hell,” where she was brutally whipped after she tried to escape with her husband, Sam, and son, Kojo. Ness becomes close to an enslaved man’s daughter, Pinky, who has stopped talking since the death of her own mother.

James

The son of Quey and Nana Yaa. James reconsiders his family’s participation in the slave trade after he falls in love with a girl, Akosua, whose brothers were kidnapped and enslaved. James wants to leave his village and become a farmer where he can live in peace with Akosua. Though James doesn’t find success as a farmer, he feels he has a better life than if he remained working in the slave trade.

Kojo or “Jo”

The son of Ness and her husband, Sam, who escaped to freedom in Maryland as a baby. Jo is content with his life working on boats and has a wife and children. However, Jo’s status as a runaway slave makes him paranoid about law enforcement, especially after the Fugitive Slave Act passes. After Jo’s pregnant wife is kidnapped and sold, Jo spends the rest of his life grieving and isolated from his family.

Abena

The daughter of James and Akosua. Abena blames her unmarried status on her father’s bad luck in farming and is defiant of her parents. She travels to the Asante city Kumasi against her father’s wishes and begins an affair with her married friend, Ohene. Abena knows she cannot remain in the village after she becomes pregnant, so she leaves for the Christian missionary school.

H

The son of Jo and Anna, who was cut out of Anna right after she killed herself after being sold into slavery. H was a child when the Civil War ended. H spends years as a convict working in the mines. After he’s released, H makes a better life for himself by joining a union of mine workers and reuniting with his wife, Ethe.

Akua

The daughter of Abena and Ohene. Akua leaves the missionary school where she was born after learning that the missionary drowned her mother, Abena. All her life, she’s haunted by dreams of a woman made of fire. In her sleep, Akua burns her family’s hut, killing her two daughters. Though Akua is known as “Crazy Woman” throughout the village, she eventually makes peace with the evil in her family’s lineage and moves to the coast, where she can hear the calls of her ancestors.

Willie

The daughter of H and Ethe. Willie is a talented singer and moves to Harlem with her husband, Robert, and son, Sonny. Willie and Robert are eventually driven apart by his ability to pass as white. Though Willie joins the church choir, she’s unable to sing, traumatized by the events of her past. When Willie finally forgives Robert, she can sing again.

Yaw 

The son of Akua and Asamoah and their only surviving child. Yaw grows up without knowing his parents and becomes a history teacher. He is especially interested in independence for Ghana and looking for untold stories in history. After falling in love with his house girl, Esther, Yaw is encouraged to visit Akua.

Carson or “Sonny”

The son of Willie and Robert. Carson renames himself Sonny and has been filled with anger all his life at his inability to choose his path due to his race. Sonny works in the NAACP and participates in protests against segregation. Sonny becomes addicted to heroin, though he decides to get clean after learning the truth about his father.

Marjorie

The daughter of Yaw and Esther. Marjorie feels a connection to her grandmother, Akua, and to Ghana, though she feels she does not fit in with her classmates in Alabama. Marjorie enjoys reading and is a talented writer, delivering a poem about her family’s history at a school assembly.

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Marcus 

The son of Sonny and Amani. Marcus is raised by his father and his grandmother and feels a strong connection even to family members he does not know. Marcus goes to Stanford to study the convict leasing system that imprisoned his great-grandfather, H. When visiting the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, Marcus is overwhelmed by emotions.

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