Voodoo, African Paganism and The Conjure Woman by Charles Chestnutt   Annmicha Blugh College

The Conjure Woman by Charles Chestnutt is a frame narrative, retelling a story within a story and incorporating valuable information about the traditional African fetishism practiced by the slaves against their slave masters. Fetishism or Voodoun provides a source of empowerment and gives the slaves, as a result, a feeling of mastery over their cruel masters. John assumes that black magic that the slaves practiced where old meaningless and therefore powerless however, he receives the opportunity to witness how the traditional Negro doctors could heal a wound or remove a spell. John determines that the slave’s medicine was “the powers of darkness” and classified Christianity as the “powers of light.” (Chestnut 2008). The dichotomy of characterizing slaves as black, darkness, or evil and white as light and good is a pattern in language that John perpetuates in his story. However, Old Uncle Julius proves him wrong as he demonstrates that it is the slaves who overcome the darkness of slavery through the use of their voodoo. John labors under the assumption that blacks are inferior to him “for we like to speak of the low morality of the inferior races” (Chesnutt 2008).

The text contains the common racial assumptions and stereotypes...