Muhammad Bilal, the son of a farmer, is the first character introduced in The Glory Field. He is also the first documented member of the Lewis family. When he is elevenyearsold and living in Sierra Leone, Muhammad is captured by slave traders. He is shackled at the ankles and kept captive at the bottom of a slave ship before being sent to America. He does not know what has happened to his parents, Odebe and Saran, or whether they know what has happened to him. Despite his young age, Muhammad possesses a resilience that helps him survive the journey that many of his countrymen and fellow villagers do not. Arriving at South Carolina, Muhammad becomes a slave on the Live Oaks Plantation. He is now the property of the Lewis family. The narrative does not reveal whether Muhammad ever married but he fathers two sons, Abdul and Yero, and has a granddaughter, Dolly. Muhammad lives to be 110 and is remembered in subsequent chapters. 

Lizzy Lewis, thirteenyearsold, is the principal character in the 1864 section of the novel. She is a slave on the Live Oaks plantation. She and her mother had been sold to Old Master Lewis when she was young.