Hattie is the Shepherd family matriarch and the novel’s central character, although the narrative only occasionally reveals her internal thoughts. Born into a prosperous black family in Georgia, Hattie has excessive pride. Her younger sister Pearl recalls that Hattie always had unreasonably high expectations that were difficult to meet and “had never been easy to love” (127). Another source of Hattie’s pride is her mother, “who could have passed for white but wouldn’t, who was more mannered and proper than the Queen of England” (112). Hattie is always attentive to her own manners and “was a beautiful young woman” (221).

At age 15, Hattie flees Georgia with her mother and two sisters after resentful white men kill her father and take possession of his successful blacksmith shop. When they arrive in Philadelphia, Hattie is astonished to witness black people walking with dignity along the streets, and she vows never to return to Georgia. Indeed, thereafter, Hattie only refers to Georgia as “that place” (32). She believes Philadelphia to be the “promised land” (10), but her faith is shattered when her firstborn babies, twins, die in infancy. Her husband August fails her expectations, too, as he works only minimally and squanders his income on going out to “jukes,” where he amuses himself with other women.