The Road to Memphis employs several main characters, along with many side characters. The characters who are most essential to the plot of the story are listed below.

Cassie Logan is the novel's protagonist and teenaged narrator. She is a member of the group traveling to Memphis and recounts the story from her point of view.

Statler Aames, Leon Aames, and Troy Aames are brothers and the story's main protagonists. They are hostile toward black people and purposefully start fights with them. The Aames brothers are wounded when Moe fights them with a crowbar.

Moe Turner quarrels with the Aames brothers and injures them. Moe flees Mississippi to avoid getting caught and killed.

Stacey Logan is Moe's friend and Cassie's twenty-year-old brother. He helps Moe leave town by letting him use his car.

Two characters named Clarence Hopkins and Willie Wiggins accompany Cassie, Moe, and Stacey on their journey to Memphis. They are childhood friends of Stacey's, and they are both said to be funny and fun -loving. Willie is said to be shorter than all his other friends, and Clarence suffers a head injury during the course of the novel.

When the group gets to Memphis, Solomon Bradley helps them get their bearings.