Hoodoo (folk magic)

African American Hoodoo (also known as "conjure", "rootworking", "root doctoring", or "working the root") is a traditional African American folk spirituality that developed from a number of West African spiritual traditions and beliefs.

Hoodoo is the practice of spirituality carried to the United States by West Africans as the result of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It is a blend of practices from the people of the Kongo, Benin/Togo, Nigeria and others. The extent to which hoodoo could be practiced varied by region and the temperament of the slave owners. Enslaved Africans of the Southeast, known as the Gullah, as well as those in Louisiana, were people who enjoyed an isolation and relative freedom that allowed for retention of the practices of their West African ancestors. Rootwork or hoodoo, in the Mississippi Delta where the concentration of enslaved Africans was dense, was practiced but under a large cover of secrecy. Hoodoo spread throughout the United States as African Americans left the Delta during the Great Migration.

The word hoodoo stems from Hudu, which is the name of a language and a Ewe tribe in Togo and Ghana. It was first documented in American English in 1875 and was used as a noun (the practice of hoodoo) or a transitive verb, as in "I hoodoo you," an action carried out by varying means. The hoodoo could be manifest in a healing potion, or in the exercise of a parapsychological power, or as the cause of harm which befalls the targeted victim. In African American Vernacular English (AAVE), hoodoo is often used to describe a paranormal consciousness or spiritual hypnosis, a spell. But hoodoo may also be used as an adjective for a practitioner, such as "hoodoo man".

Known hoodoo spells date back to the 1800s. Spells are dependent on the intention of the practitioner and "reading" of the client.

Regional synonyms for hoodoo include conjuration, witchcraft, or rootwork. Older sources from the 18th and 19th century sometimes use the word "Obeah" to describe equivalent folk practices.

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