Harry Middleton Hyatt's Hoodoo–Conjuration–Witchcraft–Rootwork is an enormous collection of African American folk-magic testimony gathered primarily through interviews in the American South. The complete work spans five volumes and approximately 4,766 pages. Hyatt's fieldwork was conducted principally between 1936 and 1940 across states including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The collection includes thousands of recorded beliefs and workings as well as extended interviews with people identified as root doctors, conjurers and Hoodoo practitioners. Arcane Archive For serious Hoodoo research, Hyatt is valuable because much of the material preserves the words and reported practices of African American informants living during the early twentieth century.
History
Harry Middleton Hyatt was a folklorist and Anglican clergyman who traveled extensively collecting folk beliefs and practices. His Hoodoo research involved approximately 1,600 informants, overwhelmingly African American. The resulting collection documented thousands of individual beliefs, formulas and practices. Arcane Archive The volumes were eventually published beginning in 1970 through the Alma Egan Hyatt Foundation. Open Library The collection is unusually detailed, but it also requires critical reading. Hyatt was an outsider documenting African American traditions, his transcription system can be difficult to read, and historical documentation indicates that recordings were sometimes made without participants' full knowledge.
Traditional Uses
Conjure and rootwork practices; protection; luck and prosperity; love work; spiritual cleansing; graveyard practices; foot-track work; roots and herbs; powders; personal concerns; candles; bottles; charms; hands; household materials; spiritual diagnosis and the practices of historical root doctors. The collection is particularly useful for comparing how similar practices appeared in different Southern communities rather than assuming that Hoodoo was practiced identically everywhere. Cultural / Historical Context Hyatt's work preserves an extraordinary amount of testimony about African American folk spirituality during the twentieth century, but it should not be treated as a single authoritative rulebook for Hoodoo. Hoodoo was—and remains—a living tradition transmitted through families, communities, practitioners and regional cultures. Hyatt documented particular people at particular moments. Researchers should therefore compare Hyatt's material with Black-authored sources, oral histories, regional folklore collections and scholarship concerning African American religion and culture. Also remember that historical books may contain terminology considered offensive today. Such language reflects the collector and historical period and should not automatically be adopted by modern researchers.
Cultural & Historical Context
Hyatt's work preserves an extraordinary amount of testimony about African American folk spirituality during the twentieth century, but it should not be treated as a single authoritative rulebook for Hoodoo. Hoodoo was—and remains—a living tradition transmitted through families, communities, practitioners and regional cultures. Hyatt documented particular people at particular moments. Researchers should therefore compare Hyatt's material with Black-authored sources, oral histories, regional folklore collections and scholarship concerning African American religion and culture. Also remember that historical books may contain terminology considered offensive today. Such language reflects the collector and historical period and should not automatically be adopted by modern researchers.
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