Hoodoo Was Immensely Feared Back in The Day & Other Vintage Newspaper Clippings

[xoxodede]

The Emancipator, 03 Apr 1920, Sat, Page 1

Okolona Messenger, 05 Jun 1907, Wed, Page 7

The Montgomery Advertiser, 21 Jan 1966, Fri, Page 14

The Abbeville Times, 02 Jan 1908, Thu, Page 2

The Montgomery Advertiser, 11 Sep 1952, Thu, Page 7

The Morning Mercury, 28 Mar 1906, Wed, Page 1

The Montgomery Advertiser, 16 Feb 1900, Fri, Page 7

@Black Haven - Hope you like!

 

[Black Haven]

I'm not a Hoodoos practitioner lol but yeah hoodoo was widely practiced in the AA community back then compared to now.I'm not sure why it dwindled but my guess is maybe because we intergrated with whites?

 

[xoxodede]

The Moulton Advertiser, 05 Apr 1894, Thu, Page 1

 

[xoxodede]

Hoodoo was widely practiced in the AA community back then compared to now.I'm not sure why it dwindled but my guess is maybe because we intergrated with whites?

Whites have literally claimed it as their own these days. This white jewish lady who married a Black dude owns the largest website about Hoodoo.

Hoodoo - Conjure - Rootwork: -- Definition and History

It's really sad.

But, It still is in many Black households -- but sadly - those who had family members who practiced they didn't pass on the info.

 

[gogogubari]

I'm not a Hoodoos practitioner lol but yeah hoodoo was widely practiced in the AA community back then compared to now.I'm not sure why it dwindled but my guess is maybe because we intergrated with whites?

My guess is that since the whites were afraid, they started to smear any religion that wasn’t like theirs. I mean, a journalist actually reported that a horned newborn told its mother that she was gonna be fukked up for 7 years. Unbelievable. Sensational, even.

You know they still do that to Black people today.

 

[xoxodede]

I am going to add more links soon.

It's SO many it's ridiculous. I found so many about "conjurers" -- very interesting stuff.

 

[Black Haven]

Whites have literally claimed it as their own these days. This white jewish lady who married a Black dude owns the largest website about Hoodoo.

Hoodoo - Conjure - Rootwork: -- Definition and History

It's really sad.

But, It still is in many Black households -- but sadly - those who had family members who practiced they didn't pass on the info.

That seems to be the case but I do remember hearing somewhere that AA still practice it without even knowing it. Like for instance I didn't even know that women putting period blood in their spaghetti to control a man was a form of hoodoo, I used to hear older women doing that alot as a kid.

 

[xoxodede]

Found this gem today.

From Natchez Gazette, 12 Oct 1822, Sat, Page 2. News article about Denmark Vesey and Gullah Jack. Must have been wrote the day after everything happened.

 

[Brer Dog]

The biggest thing the ******s done was working congeralions. The funny thing bout that was they could hoo-doo each other but they sure couldn't hoo-doo the white folks. One young ****** cussed the old conger man on the place. The old man reached up and cut off some of his hair, put it in a sack and throwed the sack in the water. That boy acted mighty bigity till that hair started floating down stream. Then he got scared most to death. He ran all day trying to get that hair back. He most went crazy 'fore he got that spell lifted. Them hoo-doo men could do them things, no doubt bout that. I is heared of them putting lizards and scorpions in folks closets, and somebody in the house would die.

I was conjured once, and only once, in my life by a man who gave me some whisky in a black bottle. Two minutes after I swallowed that whisky, pains went through me like a knife. I begun running fast as I could cause I knowed right them I had been hoo-dooed. I would have died if a man hadn't told my wife three things to mix together and give me. Fore I took it he said if you ain't conjured this will kill you, but it will cure you if you is. I knowed I was, so I took it and it proved I was cause right then I started getting better and shortly I was well. If you gets conjured the only way for you to get cured or have the spell lifted is to go to some one who knows more bout it than the one who conjured you. Some folks wore different things in their shoes to keep the spells off. I don't believe nothing like that could help none. Spirits don't show their self now like they used to. There was a time you couldn't stay in certain houses they bothered you so. My grandmother sent me to the crib one night for to get some corn. When I got nearly there I could hear fiddling and dancing going on. The crib was the place dances had been held. Mr. Canons' place was next to ours. He had so many slaves and nothing much to feed them on. They all went hungry. Every evening if you passed his graveyard you could hear babies crying, you sure could hear it, and I aint the only one what could prove it. You know that boy Julious that drives the dray around town? I raised that boy and he sure has turned out to be a good man. His mother died when he was little and I took him to care for. One day I gave him a sound whipping 'bout something he done wrong. That same night when I went out in the yard, I seed his mother just hovering over his little wagon. I seed her just as plain as if she had never died.

MSGenWeb Library  Slave Narrative Project Julius Jones - Coahoma County

 

[AlainLocke]

I'm not a Hoodoos practitioner lol but yeah hoodoo was widely practiced in the AA community back then compared to now.I'm not sure why it dwindled but my guess is maybe because we intergrated with whites?

It's because Hoodoo was considered devil's work by some...outside the standard Baptist practices...I figure most Black people won't be into other stuff...

I think Catholicism is easier for syncretism...while Protestantism is not...Hoodoo was folk magic rooted in Protestantism while Catholicism has Santeria, Voodoo and etc...

Plus Hoodoo was a Southern thing and we moved from the South to all over and practices get loss...

Hoodoo is still a thing in the deep deep deep rural South...

 

[Brer Dog]

I am going to add more links soon.

It's SO many it's ridiculous. I found so many about "conjurers" -- very interesting stuff.

This might interest you.

Hoodoo Conjuration WItchcraft & Rootwork : Harry Middleton Hyatt : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Full text of "Hoodoo Conjuration WItchcraft & Rootwork"

Whites have literally claimed it as their own these days. This white jewish lady who married a Black dude owns the largest website about Hoodoo.

Hoodoo - Conjure - Rootwork: -- Definition and History

Not only is her site filled misinformation, her and many others are trying rewrite the history of hoodoo. They're trying to rebrand it as "European folk magic"

 

[im_sleep]

I'm not a Hoodoos practitioner lol but yeah hoodoo was widely practiced in the AA community back then compared to now.I'm not sure why it dwindled but my guess is maybe because we intergrated with whites?

Not quite integration but increased exposure to first world modern healthcare IMO.

Younger generations began taking their chances going to the hospital than dealing with Hoodoo. Now there’s people who still do in regards to finance, romance, revenge, and shyt like that, but the medical side of it not as much which is a big part of it.

I think with the increased slashing of social programs, increased cost of healthcare, and renewed distrust in the current healthcare system, we could see a revival tho.

 

[im_sleep]

Whites have literally claimed it as their own these days. This white jewish lady who married a Black dude owns the largest website about Hoodoo.

Hoodoo - Conjure - Rootwork: -- Definition and History

It's really sad.

But, It still is in many Black households -- but sadly - those who had family members who practiced they didn't pass on the info.

Lol my bullshyt meter went off within a minute of seeing that website. That’s why I’m skeptical about a lot of these online folks and who they’ve gotten their info from.

I defintely wouldn’t trust shyt coming from white folks.

Even the ones who were going to see the real deal Hoodoo Man/Woman back in the day thinking they were getting something passed on to them were getting hustled to break open them pockets, so whatever they got sold on was likely bs.

 

[get these nets]

It's because Hoodoo was considered devil's work by some...outside the standard Baptist practices...I figure most Black people won't be into other stuff...

I think Catholicism is easier for syncretism...while Protestantism is not...Hoodoo was folk magic rooted in Protestantism while Catholicism has Santeria, Voodoo and etc...

Plus Hoodoo was a Southern thing and we moved from the South to all over and practices get loss...

Hoodoo is still a thing in the deep deep deep rural South...

Great points about the distinctions between African spiritual systems in protestant versus catholic colonies.
The saints/icons in Catholicism provided a parallel and shield for the Africans to continue following what they follow




==========
Slavers wanted to strip the Africans of whatever culture they had and surely they told them(us) that they were right....and that we were wrong & worshiping the devil.

I'm sure the success of the Haitian Revolution, where the Africans drew strength from breaking away from "the god of the whites" made slavers go into overdrive with the "don't worship the devil" talk.
Pop culture in the form of literature, then radio shows then films planted the idea of "Haitian voodoo savages and zombies" into the minds of people over the past 100 years. This surely had an effect on how people viewed hoodoo. The failure of Haiti as a country also probably served to reinforce the narrative that Christianity was a superior system.

Speaking of voodoo, one of the things that keeps people away today is the corruption of the belief system. Whatever the total system(s) were about.....love, connection with nature, human relationships etc....have been overwhelmed by the negativity..... the "put roots on" "put curse on""punish this person" aspect of it. I'd like to believe that it is about much than that, but the only times I hear it referenced is in that context. Not from outsiders either.

 

[AlainLocke]

Speaking of voodoo, one of the things that keeps people away today is the corruption of the belief system. Whatever the total system(s) were about.....love, connection with nature, human relationships etc....have been overwhelmed by the negativity..... the "put roots on" "put curse on""punish this person" aspect of it. I'd like to believe that it is about much than that, but the only times I hear it referenced is in that context. Not from outsiders either.

Also there is no voodoo bible and becoming a practitioner requires initiation and initiation ain't free...

Voodoo/Santeria and etc ain't a religion you just read about and then convert...it's not as safe...psychologically since it does require possession...so you really can't get into the religion without belonging to a house..

African gods aren't really nice sky daddy type gods...they are closer to Greek gods...and have distinct outrageous personalities...A lot of people in the occult are scared of Voodoo and Santeria and don't fukk with any of the gods in it because the gods aren't to be played around with...without proper license..

Voodoo and other Afro-American religions is really just ancestor worship and pantheism...but I think the whole cursing aspect of the religion is similar to any other magickal system I've studied...scary shyt is meant to keep those that won't be a good fit away...it takes a lot of money and time to get into Afro-American religions if you ain't growing up in it...

Hoodoo however don't really incorporate African gods and there is no need for initiation...