The Underground Railroad Characters

Jockey is the oldest enslaved person living on Randall. He claims to be 101, although in reality he is only about 50. He regularly makes up birthdays for himself as an excuse to have a celebratory feast.

Blake is a large, strong, and intimidating enslaved man who lives on Randall. He decides to keep his dog in Cora’s garden and he builds it an elaborate doghouse, which Cora destroys to protect her turf. He dies from an unspecified gruesome punishment after being caught running away.

Alice is an enslaved woman who is the cook on Randall plantation. She has high social standing within the enslaved population because she is a favorite of James Randall, who loves her food. She is prejudiced against Cora because Cora lives in Hob.

Moses is one of the black bosses on Randall. As a child, he was weak, yet after his mother was sold he becomes a quick and skilled laborer. He becomes cruel after being promoted to the position of boss, and regularly rapes Mabel before she runs away.

Michael is an enslaved boy who, before being bought by James Randall, was owned by a man who taught him to recite the Declaration of Independence. He is beaten to death by Connelly for being an inefficient worker.

Nag is an enslaved woman who used to be Connelly’s favorite and spent most nights in his cabin. When Connelly loses interest in her, she is moved to Hob by other enslaved women who resented her formerly “privileged” position.

Big Anthony is an enslaved man who runs away from Randall, only to be captured and returned in an iron cage. Terrance arranges for him to be tortured and killed over the course of a gruesome three-day ordeal.

Mrs. Garner is the former owner of Caesar and his parents, Lily Jane and Jerome. She promises to free Caesar and his family upon her death, but she fails to stipulate this in her will, which leads Caesar and his family to be separated and sold south.

Fletcher is a shopkeeper from Pennsylvania who works for the underground railroad in Georgia. He conveys Cora and Caesar on the first leg of their journey to freedom. He is captured and presumably killed, although his exact fate is never specified.

Jeer is Lovey’s mother. She was born free in Africa before being captured and sold onto Randall. She inadvertently alerts the bosses on Randall to Lovey, Cora, and Caesar’s disappearance.

Lumbly is a station agent for the underground railroad. Fletcher brings Cora and Caesar to the station, which is underneath Lumbly’s farm.

Ridgeway Sr. is Arnold Ridgeway’s father. He is a blacksmith who has a peaceful, spiritual view of the world and disapproves of his son’s decision to work as a slave catcher.

Mr. Anderson employs Cora (while she is known as Bessie) to look after his children. He works on cotton contracts in the Griffin Building.

Mrs. Anderson is Mr. Anderson’s wife and the mother of their two children. She suffers from a nervous disorder and works in fundraising for the new hospital.

Miss Handler is Cora’s teacher in South Carolina. She is patient and encouraging, although Cora leaves her classes feeling embarrassed of her ignorance.

Dr. Campbell is the first doctor who examines Cora in South Carolina.

Isis is a young black woman who is employed in the museum alongside Cora and Betty as a “type.”

Betty is the other young black woman employed in the museum with Isis and Cora.

Meg is a friend of Caesar’s in South Carolina. Cora suspects that she and Caesar are dating.

Bertram is a newly-employed doctor in South Carolina who frequents Sam’s saloon and reveals that the residents are being denied treatment for syphilis when he is drunk.

Carpenter is a professional body snatcher in Boston who delivers bodies to Dr. Stevens.

The teenaged engineer is an unnamed person who conveys Cora from South Carolina to North Carolina on the underground railroad.

Judge Tennyson is the local judge of the town in North Carolina. He is a drunk.

Jamison is a senator in North Carolina who leads the town’s “Friday Festivals” at which black people are lynched.

Richard is a teenage patroller in North Carolina who discovers Louisa hiding in the helm of a ship.

Louisa is a young black woman who is discovered by Richard in North Carolina. She is brutalized and lynched.

Donald Wells is Martin’s father. Although he kept it a secret his whole life, Donald was an active abolitionist. Upon his death, he passed his position in the underground railroad to his son.

Jasmine is an enslaved black girl owned by Ethel’s father, Edgar Delany. When they are young, she and Ethel are best friends, until Edgar forbids Ethel from playing with her. When she is 14, Edgar begins sexually abusing her, and Edgar’s wife eventually arranges for her to be sold.

Felice is Jasmine’s mother. She is an enslaved woman owned by Edgar Delany.

Edgar is Ethel’s father. He is a vocal racist who bans Ethel from playing with Jasmine in order to maintain the hierarchy of the races, while at the same time sexually abusing Jasmine himself.

Lily Jane is Caesar’s mother and the wife of Jerome. She lives in Virginia until Mrs. Garner’s death, when she is separated from her husband and son and sold south.

Jerome is Lily Jane’s husband and Caesar’s father. He teaches Caesar that Caesar can be whatever he wants to be when he grows up; however, when Mrs. Garner dies, he is sold separately from his family.

Jasper is an enslaved man who is captured by Ridgeway. Jasper sings hymns constantly, and Ridgway eventually shoots him in exasperation.

Nelson is a runaway slave whom Ridgeway is charged with finding after Nelson’s former master discovers that he is living openly as a trapper in Missouri.

Georgina is a young black woman from Delaware who teaches Cora’s class on Valentine. At first she and Cora don’t get along, finding it difficult to make sense of one another. However, soon after they develop a close friendship.

Molly is a young black girl living on Valentine farm. She and her mother, Sybil, share a cabin with Cora. Molly and Sybil have a close, loving relationship that brings Cora joy to witness, even as it makes Cora sad about her own troubled relationship with Mabel.

Sybil is a black woman who lives on Valentine with her daughter, Molly. She and Cora share a cabin and become close friends. Sybil is proud and opinionated, with an unnamed lover who makes her a rocking chair and a disdain for the praise heaped on Mingo.

Mingo is a black man and longtime resident of Valentine farm. He is admired by many in the community for having purchased his freedom and the freedom of his family, however he also promotes ideas about racial uplift that many find objectionable.

Justin is a runway who accompanies Royal on the mission to rescue Cora. He is disturbed by the sight of Royal shooting Boseman.

Red is a black man whose wife and child were lynched in North Carolina. He is brave and fierce and he harbors a strong resentment of white people. He accompanies Royal and Justin when they rescue Cora.

Ollie is a kind, elderly black man whom Cora meets after emerging from her final journey on the underground railroad. He offers her food and the novel ends when he and Cora agree to share their stories.