Kindred characters

Appears from the start

A Black writer living in 1970s California who is abruptly pulled into the past whenever a white Maryland boy named Rufus is in mortal danger. Practical and observant, she quickly understands that surviving the slaveholding society around him will require restraint as well as courage.

Appears from the start

Dana's white husband, also a writer. He witnesses her disappearances without initially understanding them and helps her test what little she knows about the force taking her into the past.

Appears from the start

A young white boy in antebellum Maryland whose moments of danger summon Dana across time. He is a Weylin heir and one of Dana's ancestors, making his survival essential to her own existence despite the power he will inherit.

First appears in chapter 2

Rufus's stern father and the owner of a Maryland plantation. He expects absolute obedience from his family and from the people he enslaves, and he regards Dana's literacy and independence with suspicion.

First appears in chapter 2

Rufus's anxious, possessive mother. She indulges her son while treating enslaved workers as people whose needs and relationships matter only when they serve her household.

First appears in chapter 2

A free Black girl who grows up near Rufus and knows him from childhood. Independent and direct, she is wary of Dana and refuses to accept Rufus's assumptions about what he may demand from her.

First appears in chapter 2

A boy enslaved by the Weylins who becomes Rufus's companion and personal servant. Intelligent and eager to learn, he secretly receives reading lessons from Dana despite the danger.

First appears in chapter 2

The Weylin plantation's cook, an enslaved woman whose authority in the kitchen gives her a limited refuge from field labor. She has endured the sale of most of her children and is cautious about trusting Dana.

First appears in chapter 2

Sarah's daughter, an enslaved young woman who cannot speak but communicates clearly through gesture and expression. She sees more than the white household realizes and becomes one of Dana's allies.

First appears in chapter 2

An enslaved field hand and Nigel's father. His quiet authority and independent judgment make him valuable to the plantation and threatening to Tom Weylin.

First appears in chapter 3

A free Black man who is devoted to Alice. His attempt to build a life with her places both of them in direct conflict with Rufus and the slaveholding system that protects him.

First appears in chapter 5

An enslaved woman on the Weylin plantation who resents Dana's unusual access to Rufus and the relative protection it seems to provide. Her hostility grows from the unequal pressures within the enslaved community.