The conjuring of America: mojos, mermaids, medicine, and 400 years of Black women's magic

Introduction: How to keep that shit off you

I. THE HERBAL CURES OF NEGRO MAMMIES. An alternative history of Vicks VapoRub salve

"An old woman who doctored among the slaves

Negro mammies, botany, and American home remedies

A doctor's visit in the 19th century

What history will we choose to remember?

II. THE VOODOO QUEEN'S MERMAID. Why can't Disney's Ariel be black?

Juliette and the Voodoo Queen

Mermaid history

Conjure fuels rebellions

Oshun, Mami Wata, and a pantheon of Africa water deities

The Gris-Gris of the downtrodden

"She was hard on the men"

Our mermaids, our stories

III. THE MOJO OF AUNT JEMIMA. Aunt Jemima's grand debut, the Chicago World's Fair of 1893

From negro mammy's hoecake to Aunt Jemima's pancake mix

Sarah Boyd's cakewalk

Aunt Caroline Dye's mojo

Aunt Jemima, the black power revolutionary

IV. THE QUILTS OF GRANNY MIDWIVES. Our ancient textile tradition

Enslaved midwives as weavers

Black midwives and the 19th century brawl over abortion

The quilt of Motherwit

The midwife's bag, a tool of rebellion

Black women's hair, the everlasting textile

V. THE CANDY LADY'S SOUL FOOD. Oshun's legacy in the new world

The Candy Lady

From black-eyed peas to red beans and rice

Wild lettuce, the green in my gumbo pot

Black women put their foot in this

Conclusion: Where did all the conjure women go?