	Captain McBane represents the poor whites who worked for the slave owners and now through business endeavors have become wealthy and want to be accepted into the gentry, but fail to be accepted. While at a meeting with his co-conspirators, McBane is reminded of his social status. 
McBane realizes that the men he is conspiring with only deal with him to serve their own ends and refuse to see him as an equal. This lack of status does not make him more amenable to the plight of the race that is seen as only slightly higher than he is, but instead, it entices him to make plans for a future where men like him are given their just dues and are allowed to surpass the gentility. He comments, 
McBane believed that his industry and wealth would propel him into a position higher than the aristocracy that shunned him. This hidden desire to be part of the Aristocracy might not have shown in all of his actions, but it is evident when he tries to strong arm a young gentleman into proposing membership for him at one of the local social clubs.
McBane attempts to get Tom Delamere to help him gain membership in an exclusive club, 
Whites of lower social standing had to devise many ways of attempting to raise themselves up from their stations in life, but no matter how hard they tried, they faced massive opposition, opposition that should have made them see their fellow man in the same predicament, but instead, it caused them to want to belong even more. 
Mr. Delamere  represents the white Republicans who attempted to change the fortunes of African Americans with wealth, opportunities and good treatment, but who trust in the Democrats to fulfill the promises of Reconstruction and are betrayed. After successfully saving his servant Sandy from being lynched, Mr. Delamere attempts to offer material support to the advancement African Americans. However, they place too much trust in their countrymen, perhaps believing that they have finally become reformed and are willing to give full rights to African Americans. As he nears his death that also symbolizes the end of Reconstruction he surrenders his will and testament to the forces of racism and hatred.
This generous will would have gone a long way in giving African Americans in the local area means by which to better themselves, but “The will was never produced. The servants stated, and General Belmont admitted, that Mr. Delamere had made a will a few days before his death; but since it was not discoverable, it seemed probable that the testator had destroyed it.” This act symbolizes the Republicans dereliction of duty during Reconstruction when they pulled out all federal troops and allowed the southern state to begin their march towards Jim Crow.
	Dr. Miller represents the bourgeois black professionals who believe that accommodation and proving themselves to the whites is the path of Black advancement, and are unwilling to lead. When Josh Green asks Dr. Miller to lead them during the riots, he is faced with a moment of reckoning. “For Miller it was an agonizing moment. He was no coward, morally or physically. Every manly instinct urged him to go forward and take up the cause of these leaderless people, and, if need be, to defend their lives and their rights with his own, —but to what end?” He sees no ability to overcome his enemies, even though he realizes that the must be stopped. Since the riots had already started at this point, it was obvious to him that there would be more blood, but he felt that he was not being personally targeted and chose to allow the whole situation to blow over. 
