Mattie Campbell
Mattie Campbell is one of Seth’s tenants, who wants nothing more than to
get married and have children, and who chases Herald at the end of the
play. When she first comes to Seth’s boardinghouse, Mattie, a
twenty-six-year old woman, is seeking out Bynum’s help. She is hoping the
conjurer can bind her old boyfriend, Jack Carper, to her so that he will
not leave again. Mattie had two babies with Carper, but they both died and
he thinks she is cursed. However, Bynum says that she and Carper are not
meant to be together. Although Mattie is desperate and ends up living with
Jeremy, he leaves her, too. At the end of the play, Mattie realizes that
she and Herald would make a good match and rushes to catch up with him
when he leaves.
Molly Cunningham
Molly is one of Seth’s tenants who desires nothing more than to be
independent, and who ends up with Jeremy. Molly, an extremely attractive
twenty-six-year old woman, comes to see Seth about a room when she misses
her train. Jeremy, who immediately falls in love with her, eventually asks
if she will accompany him on the road. She is hesitant at first, but does
agree as long as he does not expect her to work, does not try to buy her,
and does not take her South.
Jeremy Furlow
Jeremy Furlow is one of Seth’s tenants, who ends up with Molly. Jeremy is
a young, impulsive man in his twenties who does not want to be tied down
to a needy woman or a place. Jeremy is illegally held in jail by the local
police when they are on the lookout for stray black men from whom to
extort money. Although he works on a road crew for a while, Jeremy gets
fired when he refuses to pay an employment fee to one of the white men. He
would rather earn money by gambling and playing his guitar in contests.
Although he stays with Mattie for a little while, Molly attracts him, and
he ends up leaving Mattie to travel around the country with Molly.
Bertha Holly
Bertha Holly is Seth’s wife, who offers advice to many of the tenants at
their Pittsburgh boardinghouse. Bertha has been married to Seth for
twentyseven years, and has learned to deal with her husband’s prickly
nature. While Seth is extremely critical of many people, Bertha generally
gives people the benefit of the doubt. Bertha is in charge of the cooking
and cleaning at the boardinghouse, while Seth collects the rent and works
two side jobs. Although Bertha is a Christian woman, she also performs
other rituals. Although the play does not indicate whether Bertha and Seth
have any children, she does adopt a maternal role for many of her tenants.
For example, when Jeremy leaves Mattie to run away with Molly, Bertha
tells Mattie that she is better off without him. When Herald leaves the
boardinghouse, and is nice to Mattie in the process, it is Bertha who
implies that Mattie and Herald might make a good match.
Martha Loomis
Martha Loomis is Herald’s wife, who has been separated from him for eleven
years since Herald was illegally enslaved by Joe Turner. When Herald was
captured, Martha was unable to work their Tennessee farm by herself and
was evicted by their landlord. After she and Zonia lived at Martha’s
mother’s house for five years, Martha assumed that Herald was dead and
moved on with her life. Martha moves north to avoid racial persecution,
and leaves Zonia behind at her mother’s house, intending to pick her up in
a few months. However, Herald is released while Martha is up north, and
Herald goes to pick up Zonia. Herald and Zonia search for Martha, while
Martha searches for Zonia. Martha stays at Seth’s boardinghouse briefly
where Bynum binds Zonia to Martha, so that they can find each other
someday. By the time Martha and Herald reunite, her name has changed to
Martha Pentecost. She has also gotten more involved in religion, and tries
unsuccessfully to convince Herald to look to Jesus Christ for his
salvation. At the end of the play, Zonia goes to live with Martha.
Zonia Loomis
Zonia Loomis is the daughter of Herald and Martha, who has been traveling
with her father in search of Martha for four years. Zonia helps Bertha in
the kitchen to help pay for her board. Zonia meets Reuben, the boy next
door, and agrees to be his girl. At the end of the play, Bynum reveals
that when he first met Martha, he bound Zonia to her, so that Martha would
eventually find her daughter. Zonia reluctantly leaves Herald to go with
Martha in the end.
Martha Pentecost
See Martha Loomis
Reuben Scott
Reuben Scott is the boy next door who befriends Zonia and tells her he
will marry her someday. Reuben used to have a friend named Eugene, who
died. Reuben keeps Eugene’s pigeons in captivity, selling them to Bynum to
use in his rituals. However, after a ghost appears and tells Reuben to
honor Eugene’s wish, Reuben lets them go.
Rutherford Selig
Rutherford Selig is a white peddler and people finder who finds Martha
Loomis and brings her to Herald. Selig is the only white character in the
play. He stops by the boardinghouse every Saturday to sell sheet metal to
Seth and put in orders for the items that he needs made out of the metal.
Since Selig makes a profit on both the sheet metal and the items that he
buys from Seth, he makes more money than Seth does. In addition to his
peddling, Selig is a people finder, who charges one dollar to find
somebody. As he lets the others know, his family has been finding people
for a long time, first as slave transporters, then as slave bounty
hunters, and now, after the slaves have been freed, as a lost-person
service—helping reunite families. Selig writes down the names of every one
of his customers, and he cross-references this list when he is hired to
search for a specific person. However, Bertha believes that Selig can only
‘‘find’’ people who have previously hitched a ride on his peddling cart.
Despite this fact, Herald is confident that Selig will find his wife,
Martha, and Selig does.
Seth
Herald
Bynum Other Characters
