Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System

5. The Demise of Dr. Buzzard: Black Belt Hoodoo between the Two World Wars

5 ThedeMiSeof dr.BUzzArd BlackBelthoodoobetween theTwoWorldWars The period between World Wars I and II would play host to diversification in spiritual merchandising that contributed to an ever-strengthening subversion and undermining of Hoodoo’s traditional old black belt practice. Aspects of the black belt Hoodoo tradition that the snake-oil industry could not exploit would begin a slow transformative decline into increasing invisibility while the spiritual merchants would marketeer Hoodoo merchandise into a lucrative and full-blown industry. The all but complete domination of the Hoodoo marketplace by spiritual merchants and marketeers produced a transformation in Negro supernatural folk knowledge. But the marketeers were merely one active and essential element in the transformation process . Another element was the medical community’s attack on midwifery, Hoodoo’s thriving and powerful link with the black folk medicine tradition. Marketeers could not penetrate and control this aspect of the old black belt Hoodoo complex. The medical establishment’s attack contributed to the destruction of lay midwifery, an institution that controlled a wealth of sexually specific root and herbal knowledge as well as tradition. This destruction further disrupted the Hoodoo supply network and terminated the supply I said, “Hold it, Doc, a World War passed through my brain” He said, “Nurse, get your pad, this boy’s insane” —Bob Dylan, “Talkin’ World War III Blues” Hazzard_Text.indd 116 10/10/12 8:44 AM The Demise of Dr. Buzzard 117 line in items such as cauls, placentas, and umbilical cords controlled by the midwife-conjure woman. Old tradition Hoodoo was not an exception to the cultural change and further homogenization that was in process throughout the United States. American regional culture across the board would continue to become more homogenized and more national in its potential scope. As cultural access across regions became increasingly available, deep ethnic as well as regional uniqueness would become less encompassing while still retaining some core differences, but within an intensifying national identity. With the coming of railroads, radios, automobiles, movies, dance halls, company catalogs, print media, airplanes, standardized public education, and the birth of a free-floating, urban, popular culture consumer, Americans were becoming more similar; they could engage in similar experiences across regions. The two great wars that framed the period would further contribute to an intensification of national identity as they called forth national over regional loyalty, sentiment, and identification. The three regional black belt Hoodoo clusters experienced a widening access to one another’s unique Hoodoo expression in both the South and the North. This had a twofold effect. It enabled Hoodoo to resist and decelerate the limiting commercial standardization process by increasing regional diversity through exchange, but it also gave a unique visibility to those elements of Hoodoo that were not regionally specific and were widely known across regions. In some regions, Hoodoo recipes called for the use of local plants or other natural substances. These local supplies would not prove to be nationally recognizable and therefore were less marketable. In all three regions, certain aspects of Hoodoo would become even more visible in the era of Dr. Buzzard. Though it remained alive, Hoodoo’s old tradition would be further weakened and would continue to slowly contract and transform as market forces as well as economic and social pressures mounted on the back of this highly vulnerable and exploitable tradition. Advertisements in black print media for Hoodoo services, a trend started in the nineteenth century, increased dramatically during the period following World War I. Ads that targeted the primary areas addressed in Hoodoo ritual, including love, health, sexuality, finances, jobs, and legal trouble or court cases appeared in black print media, particularly newspapers and magazines . The marketeers addressed every area except that which was a central theme in plantation Hoodoo: protection from whites and their violent, controlling , and exploitative behavior. Most of the Hoodoo ads appropriated and emphasized several catchphrases and fictive kinship names frequently used in African American churches. Fictive kinship titles such as “Mother,” Hazzard_Text.indd 117 10/10/12 8:44 AM 118 chapter 5 “Brother,” or “Sister” would serve not only to identify the ad’s owner as a Hoodoo practitioner, but also to signify a connection with a church or sacred tradition, thus legitimizing the practitioner. Phrases such as “have you lost your nature?” “do you have bad luck?” or “are you in legal trouble?” served a similar purpose: getting the attention of a believer in need...