Walkin’ Over Medicine

Cover

Walkin over Medicine This page intentionally left blank W Wayne State University Press Detroit Walkin over Medicine Londell f. Snow AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE SERIES A complete listing of the books in this series can befound online at wsupress.wayne.edu The cartoons on pp. 174 and 175 (which originally appeared in the Detroit Free Press on October 14, 1990; October 28, 1990; and January 20, 1991) are © Barbara Brandon, distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. Reproduced by permission. Copyright © 1993, 1998 by Wayne State University Press. Originally published 1993 by Westview Press. Reprinted 1998 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights are reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. ISBN-13: 978-0-8143-2757-9 ISBN-10: 0-8143-2757-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Snow, Loudell F. Walkin' over medicine / Loudell F. Snow, p. cm. — (African American life) Originally published: Boulder : Westview Press, 1993. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8143-2757-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Afro-Americans—Folklore. 2. Afro-Americans—Medicine. 3. Traditional medicine—United States. I. Title. II. Series. GR111.A47S695 1998 97-37859 615.8'82'08996073—dc21 This Book Is for Shirley Johnson Bordinat, Carol Markos, and Gabriel Smilkstein Three Friends Whose Encouragement and Support Kept Me from Giving Up This page intentionally left blank It's so many things we use! I didn't know anything about medicine, real medicine, because you know this is all I was brought up with. Why, there's a lotta weeds out there now; why, you're walkin' over medicine! And greens we used, like dandelions. Dandelions is a wonderful food. There's so many vitamins out there right now that we're walkin' over. We walk over medicine, that's right. And the doctors say that people [who] wear copper bracelets for arthritis, that it's no good these days! I can't explain what it was about those remedies; it had to be some good because if it hadn't been some good they wouldn't have been able to provide. I've got copper bracelets now! Now, there's somethin' to it, 'cause those people made the way for us, that's right. There's some good in it. And you'd be surprised what you can do with what you have. —Interview in Detroit, Michigan, 1978 This page intentionally left blank ...