Leafy Crawford is Janie's mother, whom Janie never knew. She is the daughter of Nanny and Nanny's slave-master, who raped Nanny just before the end of the Civil War. Leafy is herself raped by her teacher, getting her pregnant, and she begins to drink every night preceding Janie's birth, and ultimately runs away after giving birth to her, leaving Nanny to take care of her granddaughter.