Betty

Betty is Amherst's dressmaker, a skilled Black seamstress who sews for the town's families, including the Dickinsons, while raising her daughter alone. Sharp-eyed and self-possessed, she keeps her own counsel, aware that her livelihood depends on white patrons who rarely see her as more than useful.

Amanda Warren plays her with a watchfulness that never tips into deference, giving the show a grounded counterweight to Emily's flights of fancy. Betty's world of labor, family, and quiet political stakes runs alongside the Dickinsons' privilege without ever bending to it, and Warren makes her restraint feel like strength rather than silence.