208 Culture, Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the Presentblacks to represent what whites called Voodoo. Both “hoo-
doo” and “Voodoo” appear to have derived from the Fon
and Ewe word vodu, meaning “god” or “worship of the
gods.” In the areas settled by the English, particularly the
coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia, a favored term
was “goofer,” a word that appears to be of Kongo deriva-
tion. Eventually, “hoodoo” would come into general use to
represent all African American magic, most likely because
of its popularization as a result of late 19th-century media
attention to New Orleans–area Voodoo. “Goofer,” in con-
trast, would largely disappear from common usage by the
mid-20th century.
Another major distinction between the regions settled
by the French and English was that hoodoo survived as a
religion longer in the former. Until the late 19th century, for
instance, New Orleans Voodoo/Hoodoo was a full-fl edged
religion, complete with a pantheon of West African gods, a
priesthood, and ritual worship and initiations. Over time,
the religious elements of hoodoo fell away or were forcibly
suppressed by whites. But according to some observers, in-
cluding Zora Neale Hurston and employees of the Federal
Writers’ Project, many black Americans remembered the
names of African deities until at least the 1930s. Initiation
ceremonies also persisted until about the same time. In the
English area, however, almost all the communal rituals and
deities that survived the Middle Passage had disappeared
before the Civil War.
In both regions, European and Native American be-
liefs mingled freely with the African practices on which
conjure was originally based. Perhaps the best examples of
this syncretism come from Louisiana hoodoo. In New Or-
leans, altars, images of saints, and candles made their way
into the magic of African Americans by at least the early
19th century. Also, although many blacks practiced Creole
faiths and worshipped such beings as Blanc Dani, the ser-
pent god, and Monsieur Assonquer, deity of good fortune,
they were likely to consider themselves good Christians.
Th is dual belief system reportedly extended even to hoo-
doo priests and priestesses. Marie Laveau, the most famous
of all Voodoo leaders, was reputedly a devout Catholic. In
places where the dominant form of Christianity was of a
Protestant variety, conjurers commonly used Bibles in their
performance of spells and making of charms, and many
practitioners also served as ministers. Native Americans’
chief contributions took the form of herbal curios. One ex-
ample was puccoon root, which some African AmericansSee also: Black Folk Culture; Conjure; Hoodoo; Hurston,
Zora Neale; Root Doctors
Carolyn Morrow LongBibliography
Anderson, Jeff rey Elton. Conjure in African-American Society.
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2007.
Hurston, Zora Neale. “High John de Conker.” American Mercury
57 (1943):450–58.
Hyatt, Harry Middleton. Hoodoo-Conjuration-Witchcraft -Root-
work. Hannibal, MO: Western Publishing, 1970–1978.
Long, Carolyn Morrow. Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and
Commerce. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2001.
Hoodoo
Hoodoo, also known as conjure, tricking, goofer, and root-
work, is a spiritual system long practiced by some African
Americans, particularly in the South. Adepts—known as
hoodoo doctors, conjurers, trick doctors, goofer doctors,
and root doctors—told fortunes, healed illnesses, per-
formed spells, and made charms for paying clients. Conjure
originated during the colonial era as a Creole adaptation of
African spirituality. By the 19th century, it had developed
into a rich syncretistic practice that incorporated African,
European, and Native American beliefs. Hoodoo continues
to survive today in the form of spiritual supply stores.
Conjure did not evolve from any single African fore-
bear. Instead, it combined practices of many ethnicities,
including the Yoruba, Fon, and Kongo. Moreover, hoodoo
diff ered depending on the area examined. For example,
along the banks of the Mississippi River, the original French
colonists imported many West Africans from the Fon, Yo-
ruba, and neighboring peoples during the early 18th and
19th centuries. In consequence, West African infl uences
predominated in the hoodoo of the area until well into the
20th century. On the other hand, English settlers along
the Atlantic Coast preferred slaves from West-Central Af-
rica, importing large numbers from the Kongo and related
groups but comparatively few West Africans. Th us, the ele-
ments of conjure in areas originally peopled by Anglo set-
tlers tended to be West-Central African in origin.
Regional distinctions are clear in the words used for
African American magic in each area. In the region settled
by the French, “hoodoo” was originally the word used by