Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

• Cassie Logan: A strong-willed girl willing to fight for anything she believes in. The story takes place from her point of view. Cassie is a nine-year-old fourth grader, and she is mainly a tomboy who learns valuable life lessons from her parents, grandmother, and elder brother Stacey.
• Stacey Logan: The eldest son of Mary and David Logan (Mama and Papa), a 13-year-old boy who feels that it is his responsibility to take care of the family while his father is away working on the railroad. He is portrayed as strong-minded and loving towards his family.
• Christopher-John Logan: Stacey and Cassie's second younger brother, a seven-year-old boy. He is notorious for being a rule follower and doesn't like going against the family's decisions and getting himself in trouble.
• Clayton Chester "Little Man" Logan: Stacey and Cassie's youngest brother, a six-year-old first grader. He is very neat and tidy and does not like to be discriminated against even though he does not understand what that means at his young age.
• David Logan: The father of the Logan children, who call him Papa. He works on the railroad and tries to teach his children life lessons in hopes of keeping them get out of trouble.
• Mary Logan: The mother of the Logan children, a schoolteacher who believes that the status quo of racism shouldn’t be accepted. She teaches her students radical material about slavery that isn’t included in their textbooks and also works to support the boycott of the Wallaces' store. She tries to fight against anti-black racism while also protecting her family from harm.
• Caroline "Big Ma" Logan: The mother of David and Hammer Logan and the paternal grandmother of the Logan children. She is portrayed as a strong and good-natured 60-year-old woman who still works in the fields. Big Ma influenced Cassie by passing on family stories and oral history to her growing up. She helps many people who are sick and those who have been treated badly by white people. She is very religious and has passed her views to Cassie.
• Uncle Hammer: David Logan's older brother and Cassie's uncle. He moved to Chicago before the Logan saga because of the racism in Mississippi. He is portrayed as having a hair-trigger temper, which is something a black man "isn't allowed to have" in the Depression-era South. He provides financial assistance to the rest of the family several times (which they secretly appreciate).

• T.J. Avery: A manipulative, foolish teenager who somehow became Stacey's friend, he is disliked by the other Logan children. T.J. is a troublemaker who is responsible for getting Mama fired from her job. At the end of the novel, T.J. is severely beaten by R.W. and Melvin Simms, who break his ribs and later his jaw, and nearly gets lynched for a crime he did not commit. Papa saves him for the time being by setting fire to his own land.
• The Averys: T.J.'s family, including his father Joe, his mother, his younger brother Claude, and his two sisters. They are friends with the Logans.
• Mr. Avery: The father of the Avery children, a sharecropper who works on Harlan Granger's land.
• Claude Avery: T.J.’s younger brother, who is good friends with his classmate Christopher-John Logan. He is quieter than T.J. but often gets blamed for T.J.’s troublemaking.
• Charlie Simms: The father of the Simms children, who is described as a "mean-looking man". He pushes Cassie off the sidewalk after she accidentally bumps into his white daughter, Lillian Jean. Though his family is as poor as the Logans, he believes they are racially superior.
• Jeremy Simms: A white boy who is friends with the Logan children and often walks with them to school. He doesn't abuse black people, unlike the rest of his family, even though he’s harassed both at home and school for associating with the Logan children.
• R.W. and Melvin Simms: Jeremy's elder brothers. They are white supremacists who pretend to make friends with T.J. but actually use him to cause trouble and take the blame for the killing they are responsible for. They are part of the lynch mob that nearly kills T.J., but they do help their father and brother fight the fire set by Cassie's father soon afterwards.
• Lillian Jean Simms: Jeremy’s elder sister. She (like the rest of her family other than Jeremy) sees herself as racially superior to the Logans, although they are no wealthier. She treats Cassie rudely but is later outsmarted and humiliated by the younger girl, who pretends to befriend her.
• Wade Jamison: A white lawyer who is very sympathetic to the plight of black families in the South. He supports the Logans and other black families in their town, helping the black sharecroppers boycott the Wallaces’ store by backing their credit.
• Mr. Morrison: A gigantic, physically strong railroad worker who becomes a member of the Logan family after he was fired from his job. His family was killed by Klansmen when he was young.
• Harlan Granger: A white landowner who owns a lot of the land in the area, e.g. Granger Plantation. He wants to take all the land and money away from black people, most of whom are sharecroppers.
• The Barnetts: A racist white couple who own a store in Strawberry. Jim Lee, the husband, is killed by the Simms brothers during a robbery, but Mrs. Barnett accuses T.J. of the murder because he was the only unmasked criminal.
• The Wallaces: The three Wallace brothers (Kaleb, Thurston, and Dewberry) are violent, racist white men who own a local general store. Early on in the book, Papa warns the Logan children to avoid the Wallace store and even organizes an informal boycott. The Wallaces are partly responsible for getting Mama fired from her teaching job and threaten to kill Mr. Morrison after two of the brothers are injured in a fight with him and Papa.
• Little Willie Wiggins: One of Stacey’s seventh-grade classmates, he informs the Logan children that T.J. is responsible for getting their mother fired from her teaching job.
• Moe Turner: Another one of Stacey’s seventh-grade classmates.
• Mr. Turner: Moe's father, a black sharecropper who takes part in the boycott of the Wallaces' store until forced to give it up.
• Mr. Lanier: A black sharecropper who works on Harlan Granger's land.
• Miss Crocker: Cassie’s schoolteacher. She believes that the black students should be happy with the books they get, regardless of their inferior or used quality.

The Burbank Unified School District banned the book from the curriculum due to complaints from four parents who allege the material in the book could lead to potential harm to the district's African-American students.[6][7][8] However, scholar Hyun-Joo Yoo argues that Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry can have a more positive impact: Taylor purposefully writes from the perspective of African American protagonists who are strong-willed and effect change.[9] Taylor's positive depictions in Roll of Thunder counter the long history of racist and negative stereotypes about African Americans.[10] Brooks also argues that Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry presents a minority perspective and challenges white-dominated narratives. [11]