All American Boys characters

Appears from the start

A Black high-school junior, artist, and member of the Junior ROTC. While stopping at a neighborhood store on his way to a party, he is wrongly suspected of stealing and violently arrested by a white police officer. Hospitalized with serious injuries, Rashad must decide how to understand the attack and whether he wants to become the public face of the response to it.

First appears in chapter 2

A white high-school junior and varsity basketball player who witnesses Officer Paul Galluzzo beating Rashad outside a store. Paul has long been a protective, older-brother figure in Quinn's life, so admitting what he saw would put him at odds with his closest friend and with a family that helped his own after his father's death.

First appears in chapter 2

The white police officer who arrests and repeatedly strikes Rashad. He is Guzzo's older brother and has supported Quinn's family for years, creating a sharp conflict between the violent conduct Quinn witnesses and the loyal, generous man Quinn thought he knew.

Also known as Spoony

First appears in chapter 3

Rashad's politically outspoken older brother. He works for a local news station and immediately treats Rashad's beating as part of a wider pattern of racist police violence. Protective and media-aware, he wants the public to know what happened even while Rashad is still deciding what he wants.

First appears in chapter 3

Rashad's father, a former police officer and military veteran who expects discipline from both sons and strongly encouraged Rashad to join ROTC. His background initially makes him inclined to ask what Rashad might have done to provoke the arrest, placing strain on the family as they confront the evidence of the beating.

First appears in chapter 3

Rashad's mother, who remains closely involved during his hospitalization and tries to hold the family together. She is concerned with his recovery and safety while his father and brother respond to the attack in very different ways.

Appears from the start

Rashad's close friend and a leader on the school basketball team. English supports Rashad and struggles with the expectation that the players should continue as usual when one of their classmates has been brutally injured by police.

First appears in chapter 5

One of Rashad's friends, a student and artist whose anger over the beating takes a visible form around the city. Carlos helps turn Rashad's absence from school into a public statement that others can repeat and organize around.

First appears in chapter 2

Quinn's closest friend and basketball teammate, and Paul Galluzzo's younger brother. He regards Quinn as almost part of the Galluzzo family and expects unquestioning loyalty when Paul comes under scrutiny.

First appears in chapter 4

Guzzo and Paul's cousin, a thoughtful classmate whom Quinn likes. Jill is willing to question the family's defense of Paul and gives Quinn a trusted person with whom he can discuss what he witnessed and what silence would mean.

First appears in chapter 7

An older woman sharing Rashad's hospital room. She participated in the civil-rights movement when she was young and speaks with Rashad about both the importance and the personal cost of resisting injustice, without dictating the choice he should make.

First appears in chapter 6

Quinn's mother, who has raised Quinn and his younger brother since their father died in Afghanistan. She values the Galluzzos for the support they gave the family, but she also listens as Quinn begins to explain why that gratitude cannot determine what he says about Paul's actions.