The Black influence on Appalachian culture is often understated or entirely ignored. There are many resources for research on this huge part of Appalachian ethnobotany and culture. It is imperative to name where different plant workings come from and who forged them in these mountains. One thing to note when researching African uses of plants in the South is to ask who wrote or collected the work. Were they white? Were they a part of the communities they are interviewing? How did they gain access to the information they have? It's always important to ask how ethnobotanical information is gathered to ensure it is as ethical and consensual as possible or to understand what weight to give it in our pursuit of understanding accurate ethnobotany.
+Books+
Bankole, Katherine. Slavery and Medicine: Enslavement and Medical Practices in Antebellum Louisiana. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2019.
Brown, David H. "Conjure/Doctors: An Explanation of a Black Discourse in America, Antebellum to 1940." (1990).
Covey, Herbert C. African American Slave Medicine: Herbal and Non-Herbal Treatments. United States, Lexington Books, 2008.
Fett, Sharla M.. Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations. United Kingdom, University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Hazzard-Donald, Katrina. Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System. United States, University of Illinois Press, 2013.
Hosley, Brenda Lea. We survived: Health care choices of Appalachian African Americans. University of Kentucky, 2004.
Kail, Tony. Stories of Rootworkers & Hoodoo in the Mid-South. United Kingdom, Arcadia Publishing, 2019.
Lee, Michele E.. Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing. United States, Wadastick Publishers, 2014.
Mitchel, Faith. Hoodoo medicine : Gullah herbal remedies. Colombia, Summerhouse Press, 1998.
Mitchem, Stephanie. African American Folk Healing. United States, NYU Press, 2007.
Schiebinger, Londa. Secret Cures of Slaves: People, Plants, and Medicine in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World. United States, Stanford University Press, 2017.
VanDyke, Lucretia. African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions. United States, Ulysses Press, 2022.
Grimé, William Ed. Ethnobotany of the Black Americans. United States, Reference Publications, 1979.
Articles
Baer, Hans A. “Toward a Systematic Typology of Black Folk Healers.” Phylon (1960-), vol. 43, no. 4, 1982, pp. 327–43. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/274755.
Bronson, Jennifer, and Tariqah Nuriddin. "‘I Don’t Believe in Doctors Much’: The Social Control of Health Care, Mistrust, and Folk Remedies in the African American Slave Narrative." Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences 5.4 (2014): 706-732.
Jackson, Bruce. "The other kind of doctor: Conjure and magic in Black American folk medicine." African-American Religion. Routledge, 2013. 416-431.
Thesis
Crowder, Steven Louis. Black folk medicine in southern Appalachia. East Tennessee State University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2001. 1404092.
Bankole, Katherine. Slavery and Medicine: Enslavement and Medical Practices in Antebellum Louisiana. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2019.
Brown, David H. "Conjure/Doctors: An Explanation of a Black Discourse in America, Antebellum to 1940." (1990).
Covey, Herbert C. African American Slave Medicine: Herbal and Non-Herbal Treatments. United States, Lexington Books, 2008.
Fett, Sharla M.. Working Cures: Healing, Health, and Power on Southern Slave Plantations. United Kingdom, University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Hazzard-Donald, Katrina. Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System. United States, University of Illinois Press, 2013.
Hosley, Brenda Lea. We survived: Health care choices of Appalachian African Americans. University of Kentucky, 2004.
Kail, Tony. Stories of Rootworkers & Hoodoo in the Mid-South. United Kingdom, Arcadia Publishing, 2019.
Lee, Michele E.. Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing. United States, Wadastick Publishers, 2014.
Mitchel, Faith. Hoodoo medicine : Gullah herbal remedies. Colombia, Summerhouse Press, 1998.
Mitchem, Stephanie. African American Folk Healing. United States, NYU Press, 2007.
Schiebinger, Londa. Secret Cures of Slaves: People, Plants, and Medicine in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World. United States, Stanford University Press, 2017.
VanDyke, Lucretia. African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions. United States, Ulysses Press, 2022.
Grimé, William Ed. Ethnobotany of the Black Americans. United States, Reference Publications, 1979.
Articles
Baer, Hans A. “Toward a Systematic Typology of Black Folk Healers.” Phylon (1960-), vol. 43, no. 4, 1982, pp. 327–43. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/274755.
Bronson, Jennifer, and Tariqah Nuriddin. "‘I Don’t Believe in Doctors Much’: The Social Control of Health Care, Mistrust, and Folk Remedies in the African American Slave Narrative." Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences 5.4 (2014): 706-732.
Jackson, Bruce. "The other kind of doctor: Conjure and magic in Black American folk medicine." African-American Religion. Routledge, 2013. 416-431.
Thesis
Crowder, Steven Louis. Black folk medicine in southern Appalachia. East Tennessee State University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2001. 1404092.
