07/24/2026
NOW ON YOUTUBE!
Hoodoo Folklorists
Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour 5/19/24
https://youtu.be/AP8paff9Ly0
NOW ON YOUTUBE!
Hoodoo Folklorists
Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour 5/19/24
with co-hosts catherine yronwode and ConjureMan,
special guest JayDee, and announcer Reverend James
https://youtu.be/AP8paff9Ly0
Co-hosts Miss Cat and ConjureMan, with special guest JayDee and announcer Reverend James, will teach you all about 20th century Hoodoo Folklorists such as Newbell Niles Puckett, Zora Neale Hurston, and Rev. Harry Middleton Hyatt -- followed by free psychic readings, hoodoo spells, and conjure consultations, giving listeners an education in African-American folk magic.
The photographs in this episode's slide-show come from two sources.
Most were taken by Newbell Niles Puckett (1898-1967) during his 1920s fieldwork for his doctoral thesis, later published as the book "Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro" in 1926. Puckett was not a professional photographer, but his images of Black people in Lowndes County, Mississippi, accompanied one of the earliest inventories of African American folklore. They depict Black hoodoo practitioners, sharecroppers, and Baptist Church members. An important source of data for researchers, this book has fallen out of favour as a source of popular folklore information due to Puckett's paternalistic and frankly racist viewpoints about Black culture, even as he diligently and accurately catalogued it. Hurt feelings and trigger warnings aside, every hoodoo folklorist should have a copy of this book, simply for the depth of information it provides. These photos are held by the Cleveland Public Library in Cleveland, Ohio.
Other photos were taken by Gordon Parks (1912–2006) for the Farm Security Administration of the U.S. Government in 1942. They depict the home altars of Ella Watson, a charwoman for the government, as well as her attendance at Saint Martin's Spiritual Church in Washington, D.C., where the annual Flower Services were conducted by Rev. Clara Smith and the sermon was preached by Rev. Vondell Gassaway. Parks was a photojournalist, composer, and filmmaker, best-known for writing, directing, and scoring the semi-autobiographical film "The Learning Tree (1969) and directing the influential detective movie Shaft (1971). The photos Parks made for the FSA are held by the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Further discussion about this show:
https://forum.luckymojo.com/viewtopic.php?f=278&t=99170
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