Mattie Michael is the first character introduced in The Women of Brewster Place, and as such, she takes on a central place in the novel as a whole and appears in supporting roles in several other chapters. With her recurring appearances, she becomes one of the most deeply invested characters of Brewster Place and has deep connections with many of the other women, to whom she often offers a maternal flavor of comfort and support. As a young woman, Mattie becomes pregnant by a man that her father hates, the womanizing Butch Fuller. After being severely beaten by her father, she leaves home and proceeds to raise her son, Basil, in an unnamed city somewhere in the northern United States. When a rat bites Basil in their dirty boarding room, Mattie meets Eva Turner on the street as she looks for new lodging.

Meeting Miss Eva is a defining moment in Mattie’s life, for as Mattie “accept[s] the unexplained kindness of the woman with a hunger of which she had been unaware” (34), the positive effects of Community and Sisterhood Amidst Adversity. For the first time, Mattie finds someone who supports her unconditionally and asks for nothing in return.