Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister; is an intellectual. At twenty, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family.

Walter and Beneatha’s mother. The matriarch of the family; religious, moral, and maternal.

Walter’s wife and Travis’s mother; takes care of the Youngers’ small apartment. Her marriage to Walter has problems, but she hopes to rekindle their love.

A wealthy, African-American man who courts Beneatha. The Youngers approve but Beneatha dislikes his willingness to submit to white culture and forget his African heritage

The only white character in the play; arrives at the Youngers’ apartment from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association.

One of Walter’s partners in the liquor store plan; appears to be as mentally slow as his name indicates

A friend of Walter and coordinator of the liquor store plan; never appears onstage.

The Youngers’ neighbor; takes advantage of the Youngers’ hospitality.

When the play opens, he wants to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture. He spends the rest of the play endlessly preoccupied with discovering a quick solution to his family’s various problems.

Some of her personal beliefs and views have distanced her from conservative Mama. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated Black woman.

She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world.

She is about thirty, but her weariness makes her seem older. Constantly fighting poverty and domestic troubles, she continues to be an emotionally strong woman.

He challenges the thoughts and feelings of other Black people through his arrogance and flair for intellectual competition.

He offers the Youngers a deal to reconsider moving into his (all-white) neighborhood.

Despite being a simpleton he is a partner in the liquor store plan.

Coordinates the liquor store plan. Never seen on stage.

 Warns the Youngers about moving into a predominantly white neighborhood.