How a Tradition Forged in Slavery Persists Today

By Danielle Amir Jackson, The Atlantic

A new book argues that conjure—a Black spiritual practice—has touched nearly every corner of American life.

Lindsey Stewart’s new book, The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic, arrives amid a wave of visibility for conjure practices. Conjure is a central element not only of Sinners but also of HBO’s 2020 series Lovecraft Country, where two characters summon a healer to purge a haunted house, as well as Beyoncé’s 2016 visual album, Lemonade, in which the artist calls on her ancestors and nature to heal her marriage. (It also arrives as Black people face the threat of rolled back civil rights under federal leadership that appears adamant to remove Black leaders from government and erase Black history from museums and websites.)

As Stewart makes clear, conjuring has been enmeshed in American life for centuries. A hybrid practice rooted in religions from West and Central Africa, it has been shaped by influences from Christianity, Islam, and Indigenous groups in North America. Today, conjurers are not exclusively women. Still, most people familiar with its history associate the practice with them because it is largely a domestic art, carried forward through women’s hands and from their homes. Many conjurers believe the spirit world can be petitioned for healing and protection: They may commune with ancestors for guidance, seek remedies in nature, or perform rituals and spells to aid their communities.

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