The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic

Name: The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic
Brand: Legacy Lit
SKU: 9781538769508
Price: 36.00 USD
Availability: InStock

$36.00

Product Variants

Review Quotes:
"In The Conjuring of America, Lindsey Stewart offers nothing less than a rethinking of our national culture through the stories of 'conjure women.' When we talk about who and what has made our culture uniquely American, this essential story must be told, and Dr. Stewart does it with wisdom, erudition, and empathy."-- Jeff Chang, Ford fellow, historian, journalist and music critic, and author of Can't Stop Won't Stop, Who We Be, and Water Mirror Echo

Biographical Note:
Lindsey Stewart is a Black feminist philosopher and an Associate Professor of philosophy at the University of Memphis. She is the author of The Politics of Black Joy. Her work has been featured in Blavity, Signs, Hypatia, and the British Journal for the History of Philosophy, and sheholds a 2021 Michael Beaney Prize. She lives in Memphis, Tennessee.

Review Quotes:
"With The Conjuring of America we welcome Lindsey Stewart to the table of hope, for her work is the deep, courage dive into the sea of lost truths. She recovers the critical treasures from the waters in her breathtaking honest and beautifully rendered new work. And we are the better for it."-- asha bandele, New York Times bestselling co-author of When They Call you a Terrorist and author of Daughter and The Prisoner's Wife

Review Quotes:
On the Audiobook: "Ojo's passionate delivery shines as she narrates this exploration of how conjure continued as a cultural and sacred thread from the time of enslavement to the modern day. Her smart performance keeps listeners engaged even when these women's stories may be hard to hear."-- Audiofile

Review Quotes:
"Stewart makes clear, conjuring has been enmeshed in American life for centuries. At a time when knowledge itself is being made to feel dangerous, when the Tuskegee Airmen and Harriet Tubman are being stripped from historical records, we can learn from conjure women how to maintain, and pass down, our heritage in a country that has frequently sought to quash it."-- The Atlantic

Review Quotes:
"Lindsey Stewart's remarkable commitment and tireless research, combined with the breadth of her keen insight, pride, and understanding of her subject matter, are only part of what makes The Conjuring of America so powerful. This exploration of our shamefully ignored and dismissed history is a compelling and essential standout. Important and altogether unique, this read informs and transports as it ushers a glorious cast of influential Black women to life."-- Lucy Anne Hurston, sociologist, niece of Zora Neale Hurston, Speak, So You Can Speak Again

Review Quotes:
"Lindsey Stewart's arrival on the scene is not only exciting and powerful, but necessary. Black and feminist history is shamefully incomplete; conjure women are vital parts of our foundation and fabric. I love this book. We need this book! Now more than ever."-- Patrisse Cullors, co-founder Black Lives Matter and New York Times bestselling author of When They Call You a Terrorist

Review Quotes:
"A celebration of Black magic. . .a brisk, spirited narrative. . [and] an entertaining, informative contribution to Black history."-- Kirkus (Starred Review)

Review Quotes:
"If you've ever slathered on Vicks VapoRub, breakfasted on Aunt Jemima pancakes, or sipped a cold Coca Cola, you have a Black conjure woman to thank. Stewart's lively and informative guide sheds much-needed light on the power and beauty of Black female traditions."-- Booklist

Review Quotes:
"The power of Black Girl Magic truly comes to life in Stewart's analysis of Black women's contributions American culture."-- Ebony

Review Quotes:
"In a culture where Black women are often portrayed as unqualified, uninspiring, and un-American, The Conjuring of America makes clear that their innovations are woven into the very fabric of American identity, and that Black women continue to shape who we are and how we live."-- BookPage

Review Quotes:
"[Stewart] succeeds at giving readers the feeling that they're being let in on an ancient secret. It's a delight." - Publishers Weekly Review

-- Publishers Weekly

Review Quotes:
"Stewart brings scholarly rigor and literary sensibility to a lesser-known part of American history."-- NPR

Review Quotes:
"Stewart's insightful work of historical and cultural exploration guides the reader through centuries of culture on the American continent, exploring a wide-ranging subject with surgical precision and focus. . .Exploring everything from the threads of our blue jeans to the origins of our daily meals, The Conjuring of America is a revelation, adding context and depth to Americans' cultural identities."-- Memphis Magazine

Review Quotes:
"Such enthralling language weaves its own spell, proving Stewart to be a conjure woman of her own kind able to create a mojo in a book that can captivate us all. Needless to say, she really put her foot in it. . . . I feel as if this book was written especially for me. It is encouragement and evidence. Proof positive that the vampires at our door, the culture vultures and DEI naysayers, aren't more powerful than we are, that we have something to fight back with. Something deep, something flowing through our veins and steeped in our blood. [ The Conjuring of America] is a Black girls' anthem for reclaiming our time, our power, our names, and our magic."
-- Callaloo

Publisher Marketing:
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2025 BookRiot's Best Books of 2025 NPR's New Books to Read Ms. Magazine's Most Anticipated Feminist Book

A crucial telling of U.S. history centering the Black women whose magic gave rise to the rich tapestry of American culture, wellness, and spirituality that we see today--from Vicks VapoRub and Aunt Jemima's pancake mix, to the magic of Disney's The Little Mermaid (2023), and the all-American blue jean.

Emerging first on plantations in the American South, enslaved conjure women used their magic to treat illnesses. These women combined their ancestral spiritual beliefs from West Africa with local herbal rituals and therapeutic remedies to create conjure, forging a secret well of health and power hidden to their oppressors and many of the modern-day staples we still enjoy.

In The Conjuring of America, Black feminist philosopher Lindsey Stewart exposes this vital contour of American history. In the face of slavery, Negro Mammies fashioned a legacy of magic that begat herbal experts, fearsome water bearers, and powerful mojos--roles and traditions that for centuries have been passed down to respond to Black struggles in real time. And when Jim Crow was born, Granny Midwives and textile weavers leveled their techniques to protect our civil and reproductive rights, while Candy Ladies fed a generation of freedom crusaders.

Sourcing firsthand accounts the of enslaved, dispatches from the lore of Oshun, and the wisdom of beloved Black women writers, Stewart proves indisputably that conjure informs our lives in ways remarkable and ordinary. Above all, The Conjuring of America is a love letter to the magic Black women used to sow messages of rebellion, freedom, and hope.

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