THE CONJURING OF AMERICA: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic
Lindsey Stewart
Legacy/Hachette, 2025

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Stewart carefully builds up the history of Black Women’s Magic from its African roots to the Americas and Caribbean, through the years of enslavement and then the Great Migration, right up to today, including her own experiences with the complex threads weaving through American culture. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of appropriation of Black traditions which are exploited by white folks — starting with the fascinating history of Vick’s Vapo-Rub and its roots in conjure histories. But this isn’t just a record of the wrongs and cruelties done, but the joy, creative survivals, and clever manoeuvring done by folks through the long history of white supremacy that, alas, continues with a vengeance today.

Stewart’s research is wide-ranging and insightful. I have to say one of the most appealing aspects for me was her use of oral histories from the Federal Writers Project. This brought to vivid life the words and experiences of people long gone, many of whom were steeped in a culture that got lost twice for people stolen from their lands and then escaping to the north in the wake of the Civil War. The conjure and medicine traditions which transferred to southern farms and plantations and the woods and swamps surrounding them, were often lost as people moved to northern cities, unable to access the natural places in the same way. In part this is what led to the commercial production of both remedies but also gris-gris and mojos.

The complexity of this history reaches from the Orishas of West Africa to the Chicago World’s Fair, from the old women who doctored on the plantations to the Candy Ladies in the cities, from cakewalks and ragtime to blues, jazz and soul. The weaving of the oral histories into the elaborate factual information assures the narrative remains lively and engaging. You could hardly ask for more in a history book. Familiar names like Marie Laveau gain new compatriots like Aunt Caroline Dye and mermaids will never be the same again.

Anyone interested in history, magic, folk medicine and of course Black History will enjoy this book. I got it from my local library, so Mid-Hudson folk can reserve it today.