Huey Freeman is the radical scholar and central character of the strip. Huey is the eternally scornful champion of the dispossessed.

Riley Freeman is Huey's younger brother. Riley is the brash product of a popular black culture obsessed with gangsters.

Caesar is Huey's best friend. Caesar is the rambunctious and fun-loving Brooklyn native who dreams of microphones and lyrical dominance.

Jazmine DuBois is a young biracial girl who struggles to find her identity at the border of the color line.