"Approximately over 12 million enslaved Africans from various ethnic groups were transported to the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries (1514 to 1867) as part of the transatlantic slave trade. The transatlantic slave trade to the United States occurred between 1619 and 1808, and the illegal slave trade in the United States occurred between 1808 and 1860. Between 1619 and 1860 approximately 500,000 enslaved Africans were transported to the United States. The ethnic groups brought to the United States during the years of the slave trade were Kongo, Igbo, Akan, Mandé, Yoruba, Fon, Ewe, and Fulbe, among many others. After the arrival of diverse African ethnic groups to the United States, Hoodoo was created by enslaved African Americans for their spiritual survival as a form of resistance against slavery. "Because the African American community did not have the same medical or psychological aids as the European American society, its members were forced to rely on each other for survival."
As a result, free and enslaved African Americans relied on Hoodoo for their protection. Diverse African ethnic groups from West and Central Africa all worked on the same plantations. These diverse African ethnic groups in the United States over time merged into one larger ethnic group called African-Americans who are the creators of Hoodoo. The practice of Hoodoo unified enslaved Africans of diverse origin in America. Despite this ethnic diversity on American plantations, West and Central Africans all brought from Africa their own forms of conjure that developed into the practice known as Hoodoo; what united them was their use of conjure for liberation. For example, the practice of the ring shout in Hoodoo unified diverse African ethnic groups on slave plantations. Counterclockwise circle dancing was (and is) practiced in Central and West Africa to communicate with the ancestors and for spirit possession. Enslaved Africans in the United States united under the ring shout, and this unity of diverse Africans in America created an African American identity. Moreover, author Tony Kail conducted research in African American communities in Memphis, Tennessee and traced the origins of Hoodoo practices to West and Central Africa. In Memphis, Kail conducted interviews with Black rootworkers and wrote about African American Hoodoo practices and history in his book A Secret History of Memphis Hoodoo.
For example, Kail recorded at former slave plantations in the American South, "The beliefs and practices of African traditional religions survived the Middle Passage (the Transatlantic slave trade) and were preserved among the many rootworkers and healers throughout the South. Many of them served as healers, counselors and pharmacists to slaves enduring the hardships of slavery." Sterling Stuckey, a professor of American history who specialized in the study of American slavery and African-American slave culture and history in the United States, asserts that African culture in America developed into a unique African-American spiritual and religious practice that was the foundation for conjure, black theology, and liberation movements. Stuckey provides examples in slave narratives, African-American quilts, Black churches, and the continued cultural practices of African Americans."
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