First published 2025
Lindsey Stewart traces the hidden history of conjure women who transformed American culture through spiritual beliefs, herbal rituals, and therapeutic remedies. Stewart examines Negro Mammies during slavery, Voodoo Queens and Blues Women of Reconstruction, and Granny Midwives and textile weavers of the Jim Crow era. These women practiced their traditions in secrecy for centuries, combining ancestral magic with local resources to address Black struggles. Stewart reveals how conjure influenced everyday American life, from traditional medicines that led to Vicks VapoRub and Aunt Jemima's Pancake Mix to Disney's The Little Mermaid and blue jeans. Drawing from letters by enslaved people and African mystical lore including Oshun, Stewart uncovers new dimensions of American history. The book celebrates the magic, herbs, food, textiles, song, and dance that Black women used to cultivate rebellion, freedom, and hope despite heavy regulation and legal prohibition of their practices.
Genres: african-american, biography-memoir, african-american-historical-fiction, american-history
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: cultural-influence, hidden-history
Setting: America
Period: Slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow Era
400 pages · Hardcover · Legacy Lit
Content warnings: slavery