The Student
The focal character of the book driving the narrative is a young girl who is a student in elementary school. The entire concept of the story is that it is history lesson for readers taking the guise of a history assignment for this young black girl.
The Grandmother
While it is the teacher who gives the assignment to the young girl, it is actually the girl’s grandmother who facilitates the learning process for her. When the little girl tells her grandmother about her school day, the grandmother immediately moves to gather the entire family around her with promise of telling the story of the family’s beginnings and where they came from.
The People of Ndongo
Grandmother’s story traces the roots of the family back to the Kingdom of Ndongo situated in the central region along the west coast of Africa. Text and illustrations combined to portray these people as a community with their own language, currency, and organized society.
The Tuckers of Tidewater
The Tuckers of Tidewater represent the “familial” structure (in absolutely the loosest sense of the word possible, of course) of the typical slave plantation. William and Mary Tucker were the white husband and wife who owned the plantation while Anthony and Isabella were the rare slave couple that managed to marry, produce offspring, and stay together. According to the laws of the time, Anthony and Isabella also took the last name Tucker.
William Tucker
Their son William would also take the last name of the people who owned him as private property. William Tucker became the first black child to be born in America, at least according to official records. None of the Tuckers are fictional and this is not merely a case of being “based” on a true story, but rather is a true story.
