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Jojo
The protagonist, a biracial 13-year-old boy with a sweet disposition. Jojo navigates the complexities of a family scarred by racism, drug abuse, and a history of incarceration as the novel progresses. He is mature beyond his years, caring for his younger sister Kayla and his mother Leonie, whom he both loves and resents. Like several other members of his family, he possesses the power to see ghosts.
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Leonie
Jojo and Kayla's mother, who is painfully addicted to crystal meth. Leonie can also see ghosts, and is often visited by the spirit of her deceased brother, Given. Leonie's journey is full of her struggle to fulfill her role as a mother, a sister, a daughter, and a lover. She’s aware of her limitations but struggles to change her behaviors.
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Richie
The ghost of a 12-year-old boy who died at Parchman Farm. Formerly friends with Pop, Richie's spirit seeks understanding and closure about his horrific death. Richie is guided by a shapeshifting spirit that takes the shape of a black, scaly vulture. He follows Richie home from Parchman to learn how to get to a joyful afterlife he sometimes glimpses, but is frustrated that initially only Jojo can see and hear him.
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Michael
Leonie's white boyfriend and the father of Jojo and Kayla. His relationship with Leonie, though passionate, is strained by his and his family’s racial prejudice and Michael’s own personal failings. Michael's release from Parchman sets the plot of Sing, Unburied, Sing in motion, as Jojo, Kayla, and Leonie set off to pick him up from the prison.
Kayla
Jojo's three-year-old toddler sister. Kayla looks to him for comfort and protection. She also sometimes sees ghosts before Jojo does. She spends much of the first part of the novel with a terrible fever and uncontrollable vomiting. Everyone but Leonie calls her Kayla, and she often refuses to respond to her full name. She’s not quite old enough to talk in complete sentences and communicates in fragments and exclamations.
Pop (River)
Jojo and Kayla's grandfather and Leonie's father. Pop acts as the family's moral and emotional anchor. He’s not a talkative man by nature, but he makes a concerted effort to educate Jojo about the harsh realities of his time spent in Parchman. By so doing, he’s trying to prepare Jojo for the inherent injustices of life as a Black man in the South. Although he adores Mam he’s avoiding her because she’s rapidly dying of cancer, and he can’t bear the thought of life without her.
Mam (Philoméne)
Jojo and Kayla's grandmother and Leonie's mother. Mam is a spiritual and gentle but assertive woman whose power is being curbed by her rapidly advancing cancer. She’s a healer with supernatural gifts, and an expert practitioner of Vodou. She tries to pass on her teachings to her daughter, but Leonie isn’t talented or interested in learning to appease the mystère, or Vodou spirits.
Misty
A white friend and coworker of Leonie's who accompanies them on the trip to Parchman. She’s also a drug addict and urges Leonie to traffic crack. She has a Black partner named Bishop who’s also imprisoned at Parchman Farm, and she sells drugs partly in order to earn extra money to visit him.
Given
Leonie's deceased brother, whose spirit appears only to her. Given’s death, a result of racial violence, looms over the family. He was shot deliberately by a racist white acquaintance, but Michael’s father covered it up as a hunting accident. He can’t speak, but Leonie can see him whenever she’s high.
Big Joseph
Michael’s racist and belligerent father. He rejects Leonie and her children and disapproves of Michael’s relationship with them. He’s a former sheriff, and he uses his influence to get away with several hate crimes.
Maggie
Michael’s mother and Jojo and Kayla’s grandmother. She is less hateful than Big Joseph, but doesn’t stand up to him to protect Leonie. Unlike her husband, she still cares for Michael.
Al
Michael's lawyer, also a meth addict. He’s involved with drug trafficking and provides a place for the family to stay on their way to Parchman.
Stag
Jojo’s great-uncle and Pop’s brother, who often appears in Pop’s stories. He was a difficult teenager and got into a lot of fights. As an elderly adult he’s mentally disabled after an injury and walks around singing and talking to himself.
Blue
An inmate from Parchman who raped a female inmate before escaping, forcing Richie to come with him. He is tortured to death by a lynch mob.
Maman Brigitte
A Haitian Vodou spirit or mystère who guides people to the afterlife.
Gloria
The owner of The Cold Drink, the bar where Leonie works.
Marie-Therese
The midwife who delivered Mam’s youngest sister.
Kinnie
A white inmate at Parchman. Kinnie recruits Pop to help him with the dogs, because he sees his affinity with animals.
Michael’s cousin
A white boy who shoots Leonie’s brother Given in anger after losing a bet to him.
The Sunshine Woman
A prostitute who works at Parchman, and who tells Pop and Richie a violent tale about a nearby lynching.
Hogjaw
A deeply unpleasant white prisoner at Parchman whom Kinnie chooses to supervise the security dogs.
Carlotta
A abusive white woman who briefly hosts Jojo, Leonie, Misty, and Kayla while her husband finishes cooking meth.
Fred
A meth cook and dealer who gives Leonie and Misty a bag of crystal to transport.
