Mojo Workin' by Katrina Hazzard-Donald

Author:Katrina Hazzard-Donald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Illinois Press

In a rural Negro church near Columbus, Miss., there was a constant change of ministers because of the reliance of the congregation upon “jacks” (charms wrapped up in red flannel). A new minister was more quick witted. He wrapped a large hunk of coal in red flannel, planked it on the pulpit one night and said: “Folks, dis yere de daddy-jack I'se got. Bring yo' baby-jacks on up.” The members of the congregation were afraid not to do this.53

The dynamic tension of this passage fades into poignant irony upon closer examination. Only a technique that acknowledges and uses the power of the Hoodoo jack could rid this Christian congregation of their traditional African charms, known here as jacks.

In addition to jacks, other practices, characteristics, and aspects of African traditional religion would move from old tradition Hoodoo ritual and worship into the black church. The use of at least two types of sacred voice—a voice that was nasalized toward falsetto and a second gravelly voice—would move from the traditional African priest and other sacred workers into plantation Hoodoo and finally into the black Christian pulpit. But their movement would not settle there, like the Ring Shout, sacred voice would move into black secular song and eventually become a hallmark convention of stylized blues singing, while falsetto voice, observed in the Yoruba cult of Osayin, as an example, would reach a new widespread popularity nearly a century later in the doo-wop rhythm-and-blues songs of the 1950s and early to mid-1960s.

Certain modes of speaking and pronunciation would be imprinted on black Christian worship early on, with the plantation conjurer assuming a leadership role in accepting and converting to Christianity. In the religious dialogue between the leader and the participants/congregation, there was the use of elongated vowel emphasis to establish rhythm in their incantations, invocations, and prayers. These conventions would transfer from Hoodoo into the black church as part of the style and character of black worship, particularly black preaching. But as some African Americans slowly and painfully struggled to publicly legitimize their existence and to become more assimilated, some of them would relinquish these traditional conventions in their worship styles.

The division between the root doctor and the conjurer would become even more entrenched reflecting the pressure from the black church and the movement toward specialization and professionalization that generally marked the period. Some root doctors would become known as expert herbal healers, like Dr. James Still. Specializing in natural treatments and naturopathic healing, “Dr. James of the Pine Barrens” empowered his treatments with a spiritual component, his strong belief in prayer, and the sacred healing power of nature as created by God.54 Other two-heads made the conscious decision to relinquish the supernatural work and to pass on only the medicinal healing aspect of their folk religioscience.

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