This book engages the ways African American authors have shifted, recycled, and reinvented the conjure woman in fiction. Kameelah Martin Samuel traces her presence and function in twentieth-century literature through historical records, oral histories, blues music, and collections of African American folklore.

This book engages the ways African American authors have shifted, recycled, and reinvented the conjure woman in fiction. Kameelah Martin Samuel traces her presence and function in twentieth-century literature through historical records, oral histories, blues music, and collections of African American folklore.

The Conjure Woman (1899) is a collection of stories by African American author, lawyer, and political activist Charles Chesnutt. “The Goophered Grapevine,” the collection’s opening story, was originally published in The Atlantic in 1887, making Chesnutt the first African American to have a story published in the magazine. The Conjure Woman is now considered a masterpiece of African American fiction for its use of folklore and exploration of racist stereotypes of Black Americans, especially those living in the South. In “The Goophered Grapevine,” an old ex-slave named Julius McAdoo—a coachman hired by a white Northerner named John—warns his employer about the land he has decided to purchase. He tells him the story of the vineyard’s previous owner, who hired a woman named Aunt Peggy to put a curse on his famous scuppernong grapes in order to stop his slaves from eating them. Each story in The Conjure Woman follows a similar formula, beginning with a narrative situation involving John and his wife, Annie, before leading to a story from Uncle Julius. “Po’ Sandy,” one of Chesnutt’s most acclaimed tales—and a loose adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses—opens with John deciding to build a new kitchen for his wife. Uncle Julius drives him to the saw mill, where, while watching the saw cut through a log, he is reminded of the story of Sandy, a local man who was turned into a tree by a conjurer in order to escape slavery. The Conjure Woman is a powerful collection of folk takes and stories exploring themes of race, identity, and class in the nineteenth century South. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Charles Chesnutt’s The Conjure Woman is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

This collection of essays explains the emergence of black women novelists in contemporary American literature and the cultural and personal influences that made it possible for them to find their literary authority. Beginning with the 19th century origins of the tradition--the autobiographical writings and slave narratives--the volume discusses individual writers such as Pauline Hopkins, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Ann Petry and Octavia Butler; the aggregate significance of fiction by black women; and their influence on each other. Novels examined include Toni Cade Bambara's The Salt Eaters, Ann Petry's The Street, and Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and The Bluest Eye. ISBN 0-253-31407-0 : $29.95; ISBN 0-253-20360-0 (pbk.) : $10.95.

The Conjure Woman is a collection of short stories by American writer Charles W. Chesnutt. It is Chesnutt's first book, and an important work of African American literature. The seven stories deal with the racial issues facing the South after the war, often through the comments of the character of Uncle Julius McAdoo. A freed slave, he tells the stories to John and Annie, a white couple from the North, who are visiting in their search for property, as they are thinking of moving south (because of Annie's health) and of buying an old plantation in "Patesville", North Carolina. Uncle Julius's stories are derived from African-American folk tales and include many supernatural occurrences built around hoodoo conjuring traditions.

The Conjure Woman African-American Folk Tales Voodoo, Hoodoo and Slave Magic By Charles W. Chesnutt The Conjure Woman is the title of an 1899 collection of seven stories by Charles W. Chesnutt, an important African-American writer from the post-Civil War South; it was his first book. The stories deal with the racial issues facing the South after the war, often through the comments of the character of Uncle Julius McAdoo. A freed slave, he tells the stories to John and Annie, a white couple from the North, who are visiting in their search for property, as they are thinking of moving south (because of Annie's health) and of buying an old plantation in "Patesville", North Carolina. Uncle Julius's stories are derived from African-American folk tales and include many supernatural occurrences built around hoodoo conjuring traditions. They are less idealistic and romanticized than John's understanding of Southern culture. They tell of black resistance to and revenge against white culture. The stories' basis in folk traditions earned publication of the collection. Chesnutt had originally submitted a proposed collection that included only two or three conjure tales, but the editors felt that these were the best and most innovative part of the collection. They asked him to write more in order to have enough for a full book. The book was adapted by Oscar Micheaux as a silent film released as The Conjure Woman in 1926.

Full text. This collection of short stories is first Chesnutt's book and an important work of African American literature. The seven stories deal with the racial issues facing the South after the war, often through the comments of the character of Uncle Julius McAdoo. A freed slave, he tells the stories to John and Annie, a white couple from the North, who are visiting in their search for property, as they are thinking of moving south (because of Annie's health) and of buying an old plantation in "Patesville", North Carolina. Uncle Julius's stories are derived from African-American folk tales and include many supernatural occurrences built around hoodoo conjuring traditions. They are less idealistic and romanticized than John's understanding of Southern culture. They tell of black resistance to and revenge against white culture. The stories' basis in folk traditions earned publication of the collection. Chesnutt had originally submitted a proposed collection that included only two or three conjure tales, but the editors felt that these were the best and most innovative part of the collection. They asked him to write more in order to have enough for a full book.