![]() Among the many things he told was one which was enough to pay me for all the trouble of hunting him up. I am no believer in soothsaying yet I am sometimes at a loss to know how Uncle Frank could tell so accurately what would occur in the future. Whether the old man was a prophet, or the son of a prophet, I cannot say but there is one thing certain, many of his predictions were verified. However, I paid the fee of twenty-five cents, and he commenced by looking into a gourd, filled with water. But how the old man should know what I came for, I could not tell. He soon lit a lamp, and coming up, looked me full in the face, saying, ‘Well, my son, you have come to get uncle to tell your fortune, have you?’ ‘Yes,’ said I. I watched his movement as well as I could by the dim light of the fire. ![]() As soon as I entered, the old man left his seat. This old man was very distinguished (not only among the slave population, but also the whites) as a fortune-teller….I found Uncle Frank seated in the chimney corner, about ten o'clock at night. Louis, I went to an old man named Frank, a slave, owned by a Mr. “I should have stated, that, before leaving St. Brown spoke to Frank to know if his plan for escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad would lead to his freedom. In the book, Brown wrote that he saw an enslaved man named Frank who was a fortune-teller. In 1849, Brown published Narrative of William W. Louis, Brown saw conjure practices of enslaved people that he documented years later in his autobiographies after he escaped from slavery on the Underground Railroad. Louis for steamboat captains and local merchants. Young hired out Brown to work in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, and established a small farm. William Wells Brown (circa 1814-1884) was a formerly enslaved man and an abolitionist who documented Hoodoo practices of enslaved people in St. Today in the African American community, Hoodoo is known by other names such as root work and conjure. Randolph believed the word Hoodoo derived from an African dialect, because he traveled to Africa and studied African religions. The earliest known use of the word Hoodoo to describe African American conjure was around 1870 in a book titled Seership the Magnetic Mirror, written by Black American occultist Paschal Beverly Randolph. Hoodoo practices documented by former slaves will describe Hoodoo as either conjure or Voudoo. ![]() After the Civil War, many of these African religious practices survived in Hoodoo and became a spiritual practice that continues in African American communities today.ĭuring slavery, the words “conjure” and “Voudoo” were used to describe the conjure practices of enslaved and free blacks. All these African religious traditions blended and fused with Christianity on slave plantations, creating a unique spiritual tradition practice by enslaved African Americans and their descendants. The Hoodoo religion during slavery included religious practices from various African cultural groups, including the Odinani religion of the Igbo people, the Yoruba and Vodun religions of the Fon and Ewe people, and a Bantu-Kongo tradition in Central Africa. As a result, some Hoodoo practices were hidden in African American churches, creating a unique brand of Christianity that fused African traditions that was called Afro-Christianity, or African American Christianity. Slave codes did not allow large gatherings of free or enslaved Blacks, and it was a crime for African Americans to practice traditions from Africa. The synchronization of African practices with the Christian religion created Hoodoo among enslaved African Americans. Enslaved Africans were often forced to become Christians upon arrival in North America. Many of these Central and West African religious practices were brought to North America during the transatlantic slave trade. The practices include herbal healing, veneration of African ancestors, counterclockwise circle dancing (Ring Shout), water immersion, sacred music, spirit possession, divination, and using charms for spiritual protection against physical harm and conjure. Hoodoo (not to be confused with Voudou) is a spiritual religious tradition created by enslaved African Americans in the United States and inspired by Central and West African religious practices. "An Obeah Practitioner at Work, Trinidad, 1836." Hoodoo and Obeah are similar religious practices influenced by African traditions. Louis, this painting depicts an Obeah ritual in the Caribbean. ![]() While no images exist of Hoodoo being practiced in St.
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