Mrs Logan is the mother of the family and is the teacher at New Hope school, which is the local black school. She believes very strongly in truth, fairness and equality, and is prepared to bend the rules to help the children and covers the inside of the books so that the pupils will not have to know that the books are what the whites don’t need ‘now dipping a grey looking glue onto the inside front cover of one of the books. Then she took the paper and placed it over the glue.’ Mrs Logan wasn’t born in Mississippi so she has had the feeling of not being constantly under pressure by the Klan as much as the local’s had have grown up in Mississippi. And like her husband David Logan she doesn’t like the blacks going up to the Wallace store. She thinks the only way to get a better life and get away from the racism is education and this was true. She is very hard on the children always pushing the children to do there best in there school.
Big Ma is Mr Logan’s mother and is at home nearly all the time. She is the main house keeper and she works the fields too. She is very comforting too, especially when Little Man was splashed by the bus ‘“now look here baby, it aint the end of the world.”’ And has a very caring side to her.
Cassie is the main character and the narrator of the story and we see how black people in the book lived like through her eyes. She is very loyal to her family and sticks up for Little Man when me is told off for stamping on his book. She gives the book back to Miz Crocker. ‘I turned around. “Miz Crocker” I said “I don’t want my book either”’ so little mad wouldn’t think that he was the only one with the same feeling. Cassie is a rebellious girl and doesn’t try to blend in with the crowd. She doesn’t chant along with the others in the class. After the sabotage of the bus Cassie is very scared for the safety of her family if the whites found out that it was then that did it, through the we see how scared the blacks got when they had done something bad or wrong to the whites.
Stacey is the oldest child of the family and is one of the most featured in the first four chapters. We learn a lot about his views on the world and his way of living. He is very honest above all else and despises cheating. He rejects T.J.’s plea to help him get the questions on the big history test that was coming up ‘see, if you were smart like me Stacey, you’d use that old brain of yours to get the questions on the big test.”’ Stacey doesn’t even have to say a word for the answer to become known. ‘Stacey cast a annoyed look at T.J. but didn’t speak.’ Shows his determination not to cheat. But he does have a very bad temper and when T.J. frames him for cheating he goes down to the Wallace’s and has a fight with him. He is very protective of his younger brothers and sister. And when they are splashed by the bus he works out a plan to sabotage the bus. He is independent minded and doesn’t really care if he is told the latest gossip from T.J. ‘“Now this kind of information aint for the ears of you little kids so I shouldn’t even tell y’all” –
“Then don’t” said Stacey’
The Logan’s as a family have lots of values of which they all stand for which are, Honesty, Pride, Hardworking and Independent.
The Wallace’s are the local shop owners and they are the ones that lend the goods on credit. They share the typical white view of that time, that whites were better than blacks, and the Wallace’s were one of the familys that took there own actions against the blacks, they were members in the Klu Klux Klan and they were responsible for the burnings of the berry men. For enjoyment the Wallace’s like to laugh at the Blacks that go there to drink, smoke and dance and they really like it when whites fight amongst themselves.
Harlan Granger is a very rich white land owner. His family used to own the plantations back when slavery was legal in the south. He is the main owner of the land around there and nearly all the sharecroppers worked on his land. He was the one who backed the credit at the Wallace store. He dreams of the time when he will have as much land as his family previously had. He pressures the Logan’s to sell their land to him.
Jeremy is a white boy in the story, but unlike the rest of the whites in the book Jeremy wants to be friend with the Logan children but they reject him. He doesn’t think of himself as better that the Logan’s and he never got the bus no matter what the weather was like. He takes allot of stick for trying to be friendly with the Logan’s.
Mr Morrison is Mr Logan's friend. They met on the railroads. Mr Morrison was sacked from his job on the rail roads and hadn’t been able to get any work for months. So Mr Logan decided to hire him as a handy-man but he also hired him to help protect the family. He is a very big and strong man, the children refer to him when they first see him for the first time as big as a tree. When the ‘Knight Riders come to the farm, he is standing in the field with a shotgun ready if they start any trouble. He also explains to Stacey after the fight with T.J. that he isn’t going to tell mama about the fight but is going to let Stacey do it, this shows his trust in him.
T.J Avery is Stacey’s best friend. But is starting to lose his way. He tries to cheat on the big history test and when then he is about to get caught he passes the notes to Stacey and Stacey gets caught. He often goes up to the Wallace store and always triesto get out of hard work by not being around.
