Delta Fragments: The Recollections of a Sharecropper's Son

African Gods in Mississippi

African Gods in Mississippi The most dominant and intact African survival in the black diaspora has proved to be the religion of voodoo. Jessie Mulira, “The Case of Voodoo in New Orleans” Very superstitious, writing’s on the wall Very superstitious, ladder’s ’bout to fall Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin’ glass Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past. Stevie Wonder, “Superstitious” It was not until I began the academic study of religion that many of the old customs and superstitions made much sense to me. To my youthful eyes, those practices were simply things the old folks believed and around which they regulated their lives. With the Delta of that time, there were many similarities to tribal or traditional societies, which is not to see them in a negative light. Such societies spend much effort to combat the threat of otherness, whether that otherness is conceived as a natural or manmade force or simply the white man himself, who often appears to southern black children as a bogeyman. Various forms of magic or conjuring helped give people some sense of control over their lives. Taboos were in place and observed to mark what things in the society were considered dangerous. Every black boy in the Delta knew, for example, that white women African Gods in Mississippi 102 were taboo. Anyone not observing the taboo, like my friend Joe Lee Lofton on that day he chased some white boys, was asking for trouble or death. The case of Emmett Till stood as a reminder of what might go wrong if you didn’t observe taboos. The customs—and notions of what would happen if you didn’t follow them—were many: Don’t sweep dust from the house after dark or you’d be sweeping someone’s spirit away. Don’t walk under a ladder. If my mother sewed something I was wearing, I had to place something in my mouth. Don’t let someone sweep your feet with a broom. If a black cat crosses your path, bad luck will follow. Breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck. When walking with a friend or family member, splitting a post will split the relationship. Fish and milk, when consumed together, will kill you, as will watermelon and whiskey. Ashes can’t be removed from the fireplace before a baby is one year old. Many men and women of my parents’ and grandparents’ generations observed a number of taboos associated with hair. They didn’t leave their hair in barber or beauty shops for fear that someone would use it in foul ways. They were also careful to remove any hair from brushes or combs. My mother believed that if your hair wound up in the wrong hands, that person could control all aspects of your life, especially your love life. In one well-known slave narrative, Henry Bibb, who was born on a Kentucky plantation in 1815, related how he thought that if he could get a lock of hair from the woman he desired, she wouldn’t be able to resist his advances. However, the opposite outcome occurred: After I found there was no virtue in the bone of a frog, I thought I would try some other way to carry out my object. I then sought another counselor among the old superstitious influential slaves; one who professed to be a great friend of mine, told me to get a lock of hair from the head of any girl, and wear it in my shoes: this would cause her to love me above all other persons. As there was another girl whose affections I was anxious to gain, but could not succeed, I thought without trying the experiment of this hair. I slipped off one night to see the girl, and asked her for a lock of her hair; but she refused to give it. Believing that my success depended greatly upon this bunch of hair, I was bent on having a lock before I left that night let it cost what it might. As it was time for me to start home in order to get any sleep that night, I grasped hold of a lock of her hair, which 103 African Gods in Mississippi caused her to screech, but I never let go until I had pulled it out. This of course made the girl mad...