The Street characters

Appears from the start

A Black single mother searching for a better apartment and a secure future for her young son in 1940s Harlem. Intelligent, disciplined, and committed to the belief that hard work can bring independence, she measures every choice against the need to protect Bub. Her experiences with a wealthy white family have taught her both the appeal and the hidden advantages behind conventional ideas of success.

Also known as Bub

Appears from the start

Lutie's eight-year-old son. Curious, energetic, and often alone while his mother works, he is the centre of her hopes for economic security. His need for attention makes the people and schemes around their new building especially consequential.

Appears from the start

The building superintendent at 116th Street, a solitary man whose cramped basement apartment and work give him access to every tenant. He immediately becomes sexually fixated on Lutie and interprets ordinary encounters through resentment and fantasy.

Appears from the start

A watchful woman who lives on the ground floor of Lutie's building and can observe much of the street from her window. The scars on her face and her heavy clothing set her apart, while her connection to a nearby brothel gives her both influence and a practical understanding of the dangers facing women in the neighbourhood.

First appears in chapter 2

Jones's live-in girlfriend, whom he belittles and treats as an obstacle to his fantasies about Lutie. Quietly practical beneath her fear of him, she looks for a way to gain safety and control without confronting his violence directly.

First appears in chapter 4

Lutie's estranged husband and Bub's father. Long periods without work weakened his confidence and left Lutie carrying the household alone. Their marriage broke down while she was living away from home as a domestic worker and returning only occasionally to see him and Bub.

First appears in chapter 6

A wealthy white businessman whose ownership and informal influence extend across the neighbourhood, including its bars and housing. He rarely needs to appear openly for others to act with his interests in mind, making his power difficult for people like Lutie to identify or challenge directly.

First appears in chapter 8

A bandleader at the Casino who hears Lutie sing and offers her a chance to rehearse with his group. Attractive, ambitious, and accustomed to navigating Junto's control of the entertainment business, he appears to offer Lutie an opening beyond clerical work and the street.

Also known as David the Prophet

First appears in chapter 10

A Harlem spiritual adviser whom Min consults for protection from Jones. He sells her a cross, powders, and instructions that give supernatural form to a practical plan for resisting the man who controls her home.

First appears in chapter 4

The wealthy Connecticut woman who employed Lutie as a live-in domestic worker. Her comfortable household once seemed to demonstrate the rewards of thrift and effort, but Lutie also witnessed the money, social protection, and racial privilege that made its apparent ease possible.