Hoodoo Medicine

I am blessed to have grown up close to the land and to be descended from people who over the generations never lost that connection. When I was a child, Black people were not writing about nature, so I turned to the rich wisdom of my American Indian ancestors. They were my first source of knowledge about healing plants. Then, when I was in college, I visited a Gullah/Geechee community for the first time and had the life changing experience of living with Black people whose lives were grounded in the rhythms and beauty of the Low Country. The natural world was an integral part of their history, stories, cuisine, and healing ways. It’s my honor to preserve some of their deep knowledge in Hoodoo Medicine.

When I first visited the Sea Islands very few people on Wadmalaw Island, where I lived, had telephones, cars, or even running water. I was stunned to come upon backwoods settlements that had changed very little in decades. But above all I was affected by the rich, fertile beauty of the Islands and by the strength and integrity of the families I met.

I soon discovered that the Sea Islands were as abundant in folk culture—ghost stories, animal tales, the Gullah/Geechee language itself—as they were in animal and plant life. However, the islands were already in transition, and it was clear that the Gullah/Geechee culture was under threat. These first experiences among the Gullah/Geechee people led me to a lifelong interest in African American history and culture, and a commitment to health and progressive social issues.

I have a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley and am currently a Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington DC. I blog on health-related topics.

My supernatural thriller based on Geechee/Gullah history and customs is The Book of Secrets, Part 1. 

Available on Amazon

Scholarly reports I co-edited