Richard Wright

Richard Wright, the narrator of the autobiography and the black boy who is the subject of the story. Richard begins his narrative when he is four years old, describing an incident in which he attempts to set his house on fire out of boredom and frustration with his restricted life within his family. He traces his life from that point on, describing numerous adventures and challenges that mark his journey to young adulthood. These challenges include physical ones, including the hunger that the poverty-stricken Wrights experience when Mr. Wright abandons his wife and two sons, and spiritual ones, including the search for himself within an environment that is racially charged and hostile to a young black boy growing up in America. Ultimately, Wright goes to Chicago, Illinois, where he joins the Communist Party before learning that his calling in life is to be a solitary individual, not a member of an organized group, and to be a writer whose weapons will be the words he uses.

Ella Wright

Ella Wright, Richard’s mother, whose physical weakness makes it difficult for her to care for and even love her sons Richard and Leon. She moves her sons from place to place, temporarily housing them in an orphanage, as she tries to survive and provide for the boys, whom her husband abandoned when he left her and them for another woman.

Nathan Wright

Nathan Wright, Richard’s father, who abandons his family to poverty and a hunger that stalks Richard throughout his life. He ends his life as a sharecropper in Mississippi, working the land of a white plantation owner.

Granny Wilson

Granny Wilson, Richard’s grandmother, whose religious fanaticism and intolerance of what she sees as the frivolity of literature frustrate her grandson, who is both rebelling against religion and seeking the joys of reading and writing.

Aunt Maggie

Aunt Maggie and

Uncle Hoskins

Uncle Hoskins, Ella Wright’s sister and her husband. These relatives provide a welcome refuge for Ella and her sons after they are abandoned by Nathan Wright and after their brief, unhappy stay with Granny Wilson. For the first time in his life, Richard experiences security and is given all the food and love that had been deprived him earlier. Aunt Maggie is a supportive relative, and Uncle Hoskins, a saloon owner, is a tolerant man, unflappable even when his noisy nephews seem to take over the house. Uncle Hoskins is murdered by whites who want his saloon, abruptly terminating the Wrights’ brief sojourn with their caring relatives.

Aunt Jody

Aunt Jody and

Uncle Clark

Uncle Clark, Richard’s other aunt and uncle. Unlike Maggie and Hoskins, Jody and Clark, with whom Richard lives for a short time, are neither understanding nor supportive of their nephew. Clark beats Richard, ostensibly for Richard’s bad language, and he and his wife cannot live up to Richard’s hope that they will be surrogate parents for him.

Ross

Ross, a member of the Communist Party in Chicago. He is tried as a traitor, and his indictment becomes a symbol of the unqualified loyalty to the party that Richard is unable to give.

Richard serves as the main character in the story, identified as the "black boy." He perceives himself as a victim of his environment, reflecting an existential belief in limited choices in every situation. The one certainty he holds, which motivates him to leave the South and share his story, is the belief that his perspective on the world is unique and sets him apart. By the age of twelve, he is convinced of this, as he expresses at the conclusion of Chapter 3: he has a "notion as to what life meant that no education could ever alter, a conviction that the meaning of living came only when one was struggling to wring a meaning out of meaningless suffering." Unlike his father, a farmer trying to eke out a living from the land, Richard is conscious of words, aware of the broader world, and determined that change is possible, even if it simply means not having to clean up after white people.

The novel begins with the pale, sickly face of Grandma Bolden Wilson, which unsettles young Richard because he struggles to understand how someone with such light skin could be considered "black." However, Richard's primary conflict with Grandma is highlighted at the beginning of Chapter 4: "Granny was an ardent member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and I was compelled to make a pretense of worshipping her God, which was her exaction for my keep." The word "ardent" fails to capture the intensity of her devotion. Grandma is deeply consumed by her religious beliefs and the promise of heavenly rewards for enduring the hardships imposed by Jim Crow laws. Richard asserts that her fanaticism also leads to the ruin of his life. She refuses to let him take a job that requires work on Saturday, their Sabbath, preventing him from purchasing food, clothes, and other essentials for a child his age. Grandma also restricts his reading choices and forbids him from hearing non-Biblical stories, such as Bluebeard. These limitations indirectly teach Richard about pretense and hypocrisy. A more direct consequence of these constraints arises from a deal he makes with Grandma to pray daily; he writes his first short story during the time he is supposed to be praying quietly in his room. From then on, he begins to entertain the idea of becoming a writer. Grandma dictates the family's pace and their treatment of Richard. She attempts to orchestrate his religious conversion but ultimately gives up, concluding that his refusal to embrace her religious views, the accepted norms, will lead to his downfall. For his questioning nature and rejection of the status quo, he faces punishment or neglect.

Grandpa Richard Wilson plays a significant role in Richard's life, teaching him that "manliness" is unattainable for Black men in the Jim Crow South. Although Grandpa fought in the Civil War and was injured serving his country, he receives neither the respect nor the disability pension he deserves. After being wounded while fighting for the Union Army, he asked a white officer to help him complete the paperwork needed for a disability pension, but the officer misspelled his name as Richard Vinson. Unaware of this error due to his illiteracy, Grandpa returned home. When he didn't receive any pension payments, he contacted the War Department, which had no record of him. Even after the mistake was identified, the War Department continued to demand proof of his entitlement, leaving Grandpa to spend his life trying to convince the government of his identity. Richard likens Grandpa to "K" in Kafka's novel, The Castle, as he desperately attempts to validate his identity up until his death, but fails. At home, Richard learns that men are also powerless; despite Grandma summoning Grandpa to discipline, she is the true authority in the household.

Uncle Tom Wilson, as his name suggests, is someone who tries to blend in with the racist white society. He sees Richard as foolish, implying that Richard's refusal to adopt a "proper" demeanor will lead him to fall victim to a white mob or the Ku Klux Klan. Richard, however, rejects this viewpoint.

Richard's mother, Ellen ("Ella") Wilson Wright, strives to care for Richard after his father abandons the family. Unfortunately, she becomes ill, and Grandma takes on the responsibility of caring for her and the boys. Ella's illness forces the family to separate the boys, but Richard eventually returns to Grandma's house to be closer to his mother. Their relationship is strained because of her illness. At the novel's end, she moves north when Richard sends for her.

Leon Wright, Richard's brother, has a minor role in Black Boy. He is present when Richard sets the house on fire in the book's opening scene, witnesses when Richard hangs a cat, and observes when the family ostracizes Richard upon his return to Grandma's house. At the novel's conclusion, Leon travels north with their mother.

Richard's father, Nathan Wright, serves as both a guiding figure and a role model for him. Nathan is the sole character depicted by Richard in the novel's present timeline. By illustrating his father's future, Richard also reflects on his own current status as a writer. At the conclusion of Chapter One, Richard articulates his view of his father and his own self-conception. Speaking about his father twenty-five years after he abandoned the family, Richard remarks: "I forgave him and pitied him as my eyes looked past him to the unpainted wooden shack. From far beyond the horizons that bound this bleak plantation there had come to me through my living the knowledge that my father was a black peasant who had gone to the city seeking life, but who had failed in the city; a black peasant whose life had been hopelessly snarled in the city, and who had at last fled the city—that same city which had lifted me in its burning arms and borne me toward alien and undreamed-of shores of knowing." Nathan left the plantation with hopes of providing a better life for his family. However, after failing in the city, he abandoned them, leaving them impoverished, and returned to the plantation. Richard ultimately succeeds in achieving what his father could not—leaving the plantation behind.

Ella, a boarder at Grandma's house and a schoolteacher, has a "remote and dreamy and silent" demeanor. Richard is drawn to her enigmatic nature, although he is somewhat intimidated. Her constant reading piques Richard's curiosity about her interest in books. Following growing tensions with Grandma, Ella is blamed for Richard's swearing and is asked to leave. This conflict encapsulates Richard's developing awareness—the tension between personal expression through narrative and storytelling and strict adherence to religious and cultural norms.

Griggs is a friend of Richard's who persistently urges him to conform to societal expectations by taking the "easier" path. To Richard, Griggs symbolizes the self-imposed constraints of many of his peers, whose example he refuses to emulate.

Harrison is a shop assistant working across from Richard. Both are plagued by rumors suggesting they wish to fight each other. They consent to fight, not due to believing the rumors, but because Harrison is enticed by the $5 he will receive if he fights Richard. They engage in a single fight. This incident highlights how easily black individuals are manipulated into conflict for the amusement of white society.

Mr. Olin, Richard's supervisor at the Memphis Optical Company, desires to see Richard and Harrison fight. He feigns friendship with Richard by falsely claiming that Harrison wants to fight him. Suspicious of Mr. Olin, Richard speaks with Harrison to uncover the truth. Ultimately, Mr. Olin orchestrates the fight by offering payment for it.

Shorty, one of the African American men Richard encounters while working in Memphis, is an elevator operator. Shorty is a clever individual who dreams of escaping to the North if he could accumulate enough savings. Richard respects Shorty for his understanding that racism is a societal issue. One day, Shorty declares, "Just watch me get a quarter from the first white man I see," and manages to do so by allowing the man to kick him. Richard is disgusted because Shorty is acutely aware of the oppressive system but still permits himself to be victimized by it.

Granny Wilson's youngest daughter, Addie, returns from her Seventh-Day Adventist religious school and immediately attempts to convert Richard. She convinces Granny and Richard's mother that he should follow religious teachings to continue living in the house. Richard is enrolled in a new Seventh-Day Adventist school where Addie is the sole teacher. When Addie punishes him in front of the class, Richard refuses to yield to the pain. After another confrontation after school, Richard defends himself with a knife. Like her mother, Addie is at odds with Richard because she seeks to control his thoughts.

Clarke Wilson is Richard's uncle, with whom Richard decides to live when his mother becomes too ill to care for her children. His decision is based solely on Clarke's proximity to his mother. However, Clarke's wife, Aunt Jody, harbors dislike for Richard because he comes from a "broken home." This, combined with his fear after learning a boy died in his bed, compels Richard to return to his Grandma's house. Once again, prejudice influences his life choices.

Mrs. Moss, Richard's landlady, offers him more than just a place to stay. She wants him to marry her daughter, Bess, but Richard is uninterested in marrying her, even if it means inheriting the house. He finds Bess's emotional perspective too simplistic. Out of frustration, Richard threatens to leave, prompting them to back off and leave him in peace while he continues to rent his room.

Mr. Crane embodies well-intentioned liberal whites who lack the strength to challenge the entrenched racism in society. He is a Northern businessman who owns an optical company in Jackson and has the progressive idea of hiring a black youth to teach the optics trade. Richard shows potential due to his algebra skills, so Crane hires him as a shop assistant, promising he will gradually learn the trade. Unfortunately, Crane's white employees resist losing their perceived superiority, and Richard, fearing for his safety, leaves the job. Mr. Crane wants him to stay and assures him of future protection, but Richard doesn't disclose the real reason for his departure, knowing it could lead to further issues beyond the shop.

Mrs. Bibbs, like many white characters in the novel, embodies a specific aspect of the oppressive society that confronts Richard from birth. She exemplifies the belief held by whites that Black individuals are naturally suited for menial work. When she employs Richard to do chores at her home, she is shocked to discover that he does not know how to milk a cow.

Richard approaches Mr. Falk to ask if he can borrow his library card. This request does not create a strong bond between them, only a slight sense of sympathy. However, Mr. Falk does lend Richard his library card without exposing him. This allows Richard to make regular visits to the "whites only" library.