[photo credit: City of Pasadena]
Lindsey Stewart, a Black feminist philosopher and author of “The Conjuring of America,” has spent years recovering that suppressed archive.
Her new book, “The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic,” documents how enslaved women and their descendants built sophisticated systems of healing, resistance and cultural preservation.
Stewart will present a virtual author talk on Thursday, February 12, at 2 p.m. EST through the Library Speakers Consortium.
The 352-page book, published by Legacy Lit, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, presents “a crucial telling of U.S. history centering the Black women whose magic gave rise to the rich tapestry of American culture, wellness and spirituality that we see today—from Vicks VapoRub and Aunt Jemima’s pancake mix, to the magic of Disney’s The Little Mermaid (2023), and the all-American blue jean,” according to the publisher.
“Emerging first on plantations in the American South, enslaved conjure women used their magic to treat illnesses,” according to the publisher.
These women “merged ancestral West African spiritual beliefs with local herbal rituals and therapeutic remedies to create a hidden well of health and power for Black communities,” according to the publisher.
Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, endorsed the book: “Lindsey Stewart’s arrival on the scene is not only exciting and powerful, but necessary. Black and feminist history is shamefully incomplete; conjure women are vital parts of our foundation and fabric.”
Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic with Dr. Lindsey Stewart will run on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 11 a.m. Virtual event. For more information, visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/library/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D194039102. Registration information available through participating library systems.
