There's no easy answer to this question due to the complex race relations depicted in the story. On the face of it, July's people are the Smaleses, the white family he protects from the growing race war that threatens to engulf South Africa. But the title is much more ambiguous than that, forcing the reader to ask precisely who July's people really are.

In strictly ethnic terms, July's people are the tribe of which he is a part. But in taking care of the Smaleses July embraces a much broader view of humanity, one that encompasses the previously dominant white race. The Smaleses are July's people in the possessive sense of the word; they effectively belong to him now, and as their self-appointed protector, he controls their destiny to a considerable extent. Yet they are also July's people in the sense that they share a common bond of humanity with him as they do with every other South African, black, white, or any other person.

July's people refers to the family to whom July protects and shelters in the wake of a violent civil war in South Africa.    In this transfer of power, the White establishment has been dislodged by Black Revolutionaries, who in the wake of apartheid are committing violent atrocities as a result of their newly usurped power.  The Smales family, a liberal and white South African family, had employed July as their servant.  As a result of the violence, the Smales must flee to July's village, and become his responsibilities in the village, hence, July's people.  In a broader sense, "July's people" can refer to what happens in the post- Apartheid Africa.  In a setting where the political and social stratification that divides Blacks from Whites is removed, what happens to both groups?  Who becomes whose responsibility?  Who becomes "July's people"?  The larger issues raised by the work revolves around the issue of how does the absence of a power structure like Apartheid impact relationships between both groups.