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Electronic Theses and Dissertations

5-2001

Black Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia.

Steve Crowder
East Tennessee State University

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Crowder, Steve, "Black Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia." (2001). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 149.
http://dc.etsu.edu/etd/149

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 Black Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia

__________

A thesis

presented to

the faculty of the Department of Sociology

East Tennessee State University

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

Master of Sociology

__________

by

Steven Crowder

May 2001

__________

Anthony Cavender, Chair

Martha Copp

Richard Blaustein

Keywords: folk medicine, Southern Appalachia, homogenous

 ABSTRACT

Black Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia

by

Steve Crowder

This study is an exploration of existing informal health care beliefs and practices of
blacks in Southern Appalachia and how they compare with the majority white population.
How regional black folk belief systems compare to those documented in other parts of the
country is also examined. Thirty-five blacks selected opportunistically were interviewed
with a structured questionnaire. Topics addressed during the interviews included:
illnesses from childhood, adulthood and old age; folk illnesses; ideas on religiosity in
healing and healthcare, and views on folk medicine in light of biomedicine.

The collected data suggest that black folk medicine in the study region is consistent with
an homogenous American folk tradition and is not itself unique. The data collected also
suggest that the extraordinary aspect to the black community studied is the lack of belief
in the spirit beyond God as a healing, omnipotent force. The lack of belief in spiritism is
inconsistent with other studies done on black American folk belief systems and is even
inconsistent with documented ‘white’ studies done in Southern Appalachia and the South.

2
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dr. Tony Cavender

Dr. Martha Copp
Dr. Richard Blaustein
Dr. Wes Brown
Sonja Jackson
Dell
Charles and Linnie Jackson
Bewley’s Chapel
Thankful Baptist Church
Maya
Erzulie
Papa Legba
Ghede
Simbi

3
 CONTENTS

Page

ABSTRACT........................................................................................................ 2

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................... 3

Chapter

1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................... 7

Overview of the Study................................................................... 12

2. METHODOLOGY.............................................................................. 13

3. HOME REMEDIES............................................................................ 19

Chicken Pox....................................................................... 20

Colic................................................................................... 21

Thrush................................................................................ 21

Ulcers................................................................................. 23

Nerves................................................................................ 23

Colds.................................................................................. 24

Influenza/The Grippe......................................................... 25

Nosebleed........................................................................... 26

Earache............................................................................... 28

Toothache........................................................................... 29

4
 Burns.................................................................................. 30

TB/Consumption................................................................ 31

Sore Eyes............................................................................ 31

Boils.................................................................................... 32

Ringworm........................................................................... 33

Hookworm.......................................................................... 33

Arthritis............................................................................... 34

Rheumatism........................................................................ 35

Skin Cancer........................................................................ 35

Related Folk Medical Practices..................................................... 35

Venereal Disease................................................................ 35

Menstruation....................................................................... 36

Abortion.............................................................................. 36

Summary........................................................................................ 37

4. HEALTH BELIEF SYSTEM.............................................................. 38

Illness Causation............................................................................ 38

Folk Illnesses................................................................................. 39

White-liver......................................................................... 39

Bold Hives......................................................................... 41

Marking.............................................................................. 42

5
 Blood Types....................................................................... 44

Religiosity and Attitudes Towards Biomedicine.......................... 44

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................ 49

BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................... 52

APPENDICES.................................................................................................... 57

Appendix A: Survey Instrument.............................................................. 58

Appendix B: Informant Contextual Data................................................. 64

VITA................................................................................................................... 66

6
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Research on folk medicine in America extends back to the turn of the 19th century.

Initially, most of the research focused on Euro-Americans and included the South.

Southern Appalachia became a major area of interest through various philanthropic

organizations moving into the region from the North to educate the children, re-train the

people, and exploit the land. Researchers came to the mountains on waves of cultural

change documenting what they could before it was gone.

Working under the misconception that folk medicine was vanishing, research

focused on the older population. There were no systematic collection efforts whatsoever.

There were no efforts to distinguish between active and passive knowledge. Collection

efforts were tinged with nostalgia and no efforts were made to differentiate between black

and white folk medical traditions.

One of the dominant arguments for exclusion of blacks in research was their lack

of presence. Table 1 shows that blacks in West Virginia – the only state in Southern

Appalachia that is completely Appalachian – numbered 32,690 in 1890. In the same

reporting period, Knox and Hamilton counties in Tennessee reported a total of 28,657

blacks, most of them living in Knoxville and Chattanooga. It was not that blacks were

not present, but that the majority of them lived in urban centers. It should also be noted

that the lowest numbers are in Kentucky because the two major urban areas in the state

7
(Lexington and Louisville) are not a part of Southern Appalachia.

Kentucky Superstitions (Thomas & Thomas 1920) documents black folk medicine

to a slight degree, but it does not offer enough information to discern the level of their

contribution to the study.

TABLE 1. SOUTHERN APPALACHIA BLACK POPULATION SAMPLING: 1880-1960

1880 1890 1900 1930 1960

Tennessee
Hamilton Co. 7,399 17,717 19,490 Chattanooga 33,289 138,193
Knox. Co. 7,244 10,940 11,777 Knoxville 17,093 69,532

North Carolina
Buncombe
Co. 3,476 6,626 8,120 Asheville 14,255 37,943

Kentucky
Harlan Co. 114 154 226 ---- 5,879 4,055

Virginia
Roanoke Co. 4,828 9,005 3,845 Roanoke City 12,368 54,811
Campbell Co. 18,953 19,800 9,615 Lynchburg 9,653 46,030

West Virginia ---- 32,690 43,499 ---- 114,893 89,378

Notes: The 1880 through 1900 numbers were documented in the Census of Population
publications by county and not by major urban areas. The latter census publications listed
numbers by major cities also. Here the counties are listed, then the cities, to give an idea of black
population growth in one line for ease and clarity.

Waller and Killion’s (1972:71) study is a compilation of remedies that illustrates

Georgia’s (and America’s) three major folklore traditions: Native American, European,

and African. The remedies are listed in alphabetical order by illness and offer no specific

8
data to determine from which folklore tradition the remedies came, or from which part of

Georgia. A footnote in the study does list six specific informants. All six are black

women and are listed as being “identifiable, important informants.”

The same format is evident in Volume 6 of The Frank C. Brown Collection –

Popular Beliefs and Superstitions from North Carolina (Hand:1961). Collected over the

span of 40 years (1900 into the 1940s), involving work from 200 collectors and

informants from about 70 of the 100 counties of North Carolina, the collection gives an

extensive listing of folk medical beliefs and practices in the state. The collection does not

identify blacks specifically as a source of information. Therefore, we have no way of

knowing the contribution by blacks to the collection, the state, the Southern Appalachian

region, or the South.

This is the first focused study on black folk medicine in Southern Appalachia. A

wealth of information, however, exists on black and African health care belief systems in

the United States. Those studies work towards examining how white and black healing

modalities differ and also how they merge to create a homogenous American belief

system of health care.

Hill (1976:12) reports on a study dealing with folk medical practices in the South.

She used an equal 50 percent white, 50 percent black pool of indigent informants. One of

her significant findings was that: “The belief systems of both blacks and whites is

essentially synonymous, partially because it is inextricably bound to their religious

9
teachings or beliefs and their status in the social structure of American society .”

In support of Hill’s findings, Snow (1974:83) offers a description of a health belief

system among indigent blacks with ties to the South. She identifies a theodicy of

suffering found among Appalachian whites, as well as Trinidadians, Haitians, and

Mexican-Americans as a commonality. They all share a similar background of

subordination and immigration, strong ties to the mystical, and belief in vengeful dieties,

or a vengeful God.

In another article, Snow (1981) further discusses commonalities of the health

belief systems of indigent blacks, Mexican-Americans, and indigent Southern whites.

These three systems exhibit elements of European folk medicine, Greek classical

medicine, West African traditional medicine, modern scientific medicine, sympathetic

magic, and the Haitian Voodoo religion, all tied together as a unified force under the

umbrella of fundamentalist Christianity.

[In regards to healers] One theme underlies all beliefs and behaviors present in
the search for a cure. This is the idea that the ability to cure – by the housewife
knowledgeable about home remedies, by the physician, by the spiritual healer, by
the Voodoo doctor, or by the spirits of dead relatives – is a gift from God (p. 75).

Even though Snow’s work focuses on black Americans, she postulates the

existence of an American folk medical tradition. In Walkin’ Over Medicine (1993:54),

she states: “Certain very specific healing methods have been passed down for centuries in

the European tradition, ...and are found today among both African-Americans and

Southern Whites.” She mentions a book of magical charms, Hohman’s Pow-Wows (first

10
published in 1820), that is a part of the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) healing tradition

and is still sold in occult shops, which typically operate in ethnic boroughs catering to

Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians, and blacks. She became aware of it in

Chicago as part of a trinity – the only three books anyone needs for healing: the Holy

Bible, the farmer’s almanac, and the Pow-Wows (or, The Long Lost Friend) (p. 64).

Yodder (1976:244) suggests the Pennsylvania German occult literature may have diffused

into the South, the Middle West, Ontario, Canada, and possibly even Louisiana and the

Caribbean through Moravian missions. Yodder also observes that “there is evidence that

it blended with Negro conjuring traditions in the Border states, particularly Maryland.”

Then, for a further example, Snow notes:

There are hundreds of magical treatments for the removal of warts and some of
these...involve their being prayed over or ‘talked away.’ The power of the ‘wart
talker’ illustrates how beliefs from one group are incorporated into those of
another. It is only relatively recently that the wart talking brought to the Sea
Islands by German immigrants in the nineteenth century has been taken up by the
African-American inhabitants, ...although all the White informants knew of the
practice it was familiar only to African-American informants under the age of
45 (1993:55).

Snow’s thesis is that there exists an evolutionary American folk medical belief

system that, by its nature, is not static and that it has changed with use, transmission, and

memory. Hufford (1994) supports this by explaining that in a pluralistic environment

such as the United States, all medical traditions affect one another. Hufford notes, for

example, that:

Health food beliefs have developed from traditions of folk herbalism,

11
 Pennsylvania German powwow doctors have been influenced by both
Puerto Rican spiritism and by chiropractic, and New Age healers explicitly
seek out and adopt the practices of Native American shamans (p. 117).

Overview of the Study

Chapter 2 discusses the methodological approach of this study, the problems

attending access to a marginal community, and the informant population. Chapter 3 is an

item by item listing of illnesses from the study questionnaire and home remedies. The

remedies range from the naturalistic to the magico-religious. Chapter 4 is a discussion

formed around data collected with open-ended questions on the questionnaire. The

discussion covers illness causation and folk illness as well as religiosity and attitudes

towards folk medicine and biomedicine. Chapter 5 concludes with the suggestion of

continuing the study with samplings representing all states in Southern Appalachia to

determine any possible degree to which religiosity and homogeneity have affected the

black community.

12
 CHAPTER 2

METHODOLOGY

Using an opportunistic approach, 35 informants were recruited. Informants were

found by attending black churches with a friend willing to make introductions. The

original intent was to primarily rely on convenience interviews with the assumption they

would snowball. Some did snowball, but most did not. Though some potential

informants were initially receptive to the idea of the study in general and participation in

particular, they nevertheless declined to be interviewed. Conversations abruptly ended, or

took stern tones as borders of basic civility had been crossed. It was and is unclear if this

was a result of racial differences (the author is white) or standard treatment of the

‘outsider.’ However, Wax (1971) noted:

With rare exceptions a fieldworker cannot become an autochothonous, aboriginal,

or organic member of a tribal or ethnic group. ...Nevertheless, there is a special
sense in which a fieldworker who lives near or with the people he is studying does
become a member of the group. But what he becomes is an attached or
instrumental member, a person who, though he always is and remains an outsider
or non-native, may function in the society in a manner that is useful and agreeable
to his hosts (p. 50).

It could be entirely possible that my own history of studying black spiritual and religious

systems lent a level of familiarity that I experienced that was not experienced by the

potential informants of this study who did not share my experience or history.

When approaching people to get phone numbers and arrange a time to call to

schedule an interview, the prevalent tendency of potential informants was to immediately

13
begin the process of nostalgic recitation at the introductory question (“Do you recall any

home remedies, maybe some you use yourself?”) proved standard and problematic in the

recruiting process. Several potential informants slipped quickly into vivid histories of

being treated for this or that ailment by a parent or grandparent, then quickly retreated

from the request for an interview by saying: “I just told you everything I know; why do

you need to call me?” Thus, the introductory ‘hook’ process became verbal poker. The

researcher offered recruitment lines like, “I’m doing recorded interviews for...” as

quickly as possible to still be understood in order to move on to the home remedy hook-

line – all of it in a nice rapid gunfire approach package. The cat and mouse feel to the

opening monologue sometimes made for awkward moments of feeling like Eudora

Welty’s crooked Bible salesman.

I cannot know the informants, like I cannot know the neighbors I’ve lived next to

for over a year and have not had conversation with. In the moments that I had

conversations with the informants, and all the people who did not become informants, the

people were respectful and decent with wonderful laughs and voices and pots of collard

greens and loaves of freshly baked banana bread. Church services attended in the

recruitment process were like jolts of what is good in the world running under the skin

and through the blood – not striking through like St. Elmo’s fire, but lingering inside the

mechanics of the body.

It seemed to me that any racial tensions felt were tensions that shed themselves

14
after the conclusion was drawn that I was not racist. A common statement was noted in

the field notebook: “What does a white boy want to know that for?” The statement was

never interpreted as a racist judgment, but as a clear and inescapable circumstance, an

intrinsic fact of color. Maybe that is to say it was a survival of recent civil rights history,

or maybe it was a surprise that someone white would exhibit an interest in black folk

medical beliefs and practices. The responses to the statement varied. In the beginning it

was truthful: The study is a companion piece to a larger work on black American

spirituality and magical healing. The response began to change with every interview to fit

the mood of the moment: black belief systems have not been documented in the region; a

requirement for the master’s degree; it seemed interesting at the time.

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the university required that all informants

be made aware of two options for interview: a hand-written interview where the

researcher physically hand writes responses, and a tape recorded interview which is

standard ethnographic procedure. Informants are required to sign an Informed Consent

Form that stipulates the use of the data, the assured privacy protection of the informant,

and the interview options. While it seemed in the proposal stage of the study that hand-

written interviews were a viable option (a last resort to not lose an informant who felt

suspicious of the tape recording process), it does not seem standard procedure or

conducive to the integrity of the information to require the hand-written interview as an

acceptable and standard option. Of the 35 informants, 34 are hand-written. In the

15
beginning, informants expressed being uncomfortable with the tape recorder, or expressed

comfort with the hand-written method. And, it is also true that my own diligence

sometimes was lacking. Informants were made aware of both options, and then the

interview happened hand-written with no further discussion, but with an implicit response

from the informant with no verbal confirmation. It also needs to be made clear that,

during the interview process assistants were taken on to help gather information. The

recruitment of assistants was a result of time constraints accompanied with the difficulties

in finding informants willing to schedule interviews. There were two assistants; both

were local black women. The assistants were thoroughly briefed about the instrument

and the intentions and scope of the study.

The interview instrument was a structured questionnaire modified from one used

in a course on Southern Appalachian folk medicine at East Tennessee State University.

The first section of the questionnaire concerns biographical information, socio-

demographic questions such as date and place of birth, religious affiliation, and

education. Depending on the informant, sometimes I asked these questions, and

sometimes I gave that section to them and asked them to fill it out. The factors in that

determination were gender (less likely to ask a man to fill it out himself based on a level

of my own comfort), and age (more likely to ask older people to fill it out themselves in

an effort to make them more comfortable and ‘in control’ of the process). There was

constant confusion in asking informants about the number of their children. This was

16
often interpreted as the number of siblings as opposed to the number of children they

actually bore and/or raised. There was an intentional effort to include illnesses from

every stage in the life span so that informants of all ages would have a better chance to

contribute. A section of open-ended questions was added to present an opportunity for

patterns in beliefs or practices to emerge naturally. Questions were modified continually

in the interviews to facilitate information on religiosity and worldview in relation to

medical practices. Specific additional questions were never added to the instrument. The

questions added were investigative and not systematic. The average interview lasted 40

to 45 minutes. Some were as short as 20 minutes and some were just over an hour. Of

the 35 informants, 11 were male, and 24 were female. Educational backgrounds spanned

from 4th grade to a PhD. Tables 2 and 3 show a more contextual overview of informants.

TABLE 2. EDUCATIONAL OVERVIEW

Education Completed Number of Informants

4th grade through highschool 17

some college 11

BA/BS Degrees 5

MA Degree 1

PhD Degree 1

17
TABLE 3. INFORMANT AGE GROUPS

Dates of Birth Number of Informants

1901 - 1910 1

1911 - 1919 1

1920 - 1929 1

1930 - 1939 7

1940 - 1949 6

1950 - 1959 11

1960 - 1969 4

1970 - 1979 4

Note: The youngest informants were born in 1976 (n=2). The oldest was born
in 1907.

18
 CHAPTER 3

HOME REMEDIES

The following is a compilation of all data collected on illnesses in Part Two of the

questionnaire. The illnesses are listed as subheadings for the reader’s ease and are in the

same order as the instrument in Appendix A. The numbers following the remedies in

parentheses throughout this chapter and the next refer to the informant correlate in

Appendix B. This cross-reference will provide contextual insights to readers. Some

respondents gave more than one remedy without giving a preference or condition to rank

the information in terms of its use or effectiveness.

Beneath each illness description is a list of published sources that document related

folk medical beliefs and practices among Southern Appalachian whites, demonstrating a

common corpus of healing knowledge shared by the two populations. The following

illnesses do not have other sources listed: chicken pox, ulcers, nerves, tuberculosis, and

skin cancer. The majority of remedies for chicken pox found in other studies are magical.

Fifteen of the 35 possible responses reported the use of calomine lotion. This supports

the use of over-the-counter medication as a rule more than an exception in the

contemporary folk medical arena – at least in the study area. It also suggests such

adaptation could be replacing the magico-religious component of folk medical tradition.

Ulcers, nerves, influenza, T.B., and skin cancer did not elicit remedy information from the

informants. The majority of the responses were, “I don’t know”: ulcers, n=20; nerves,

19
n=18; influenza, n=20, T.B., n=27; skin cancer, n=34.

Following the illnesses is a brief summary concerning the large number of

respondents who did not know or recall folk medical knowledge, as well as the lack of

knowledge concerning information on magical remedies.

Chicken Pox

The majority of the treatments were topical: calomine lotion (1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 14,

16, 17, 18, 21, 24, 25, 28, 35), oatmeal (11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 28, 35), cornmeal and

water (19), baking soda and vasoline (15), lemon juice (24), flour scorched in a skillet

(30), olive oil to keep the skin from drying out and scarring (33), and warm sardine grease

(32).

The administration of the oatmeal differed: simply pour oatmeal into a bath (11,

14, 15, 16, 28), mix it with water to make a paste and spread it on (13, 35), and alternate

baths from clear water to water with oatmeal (22).

Two informants reported hot tea. Both said the temperature of the tea was more

important than the type (7, 23).

Some reported it was best to stay in the house and wait it out (3, 4, 6, 29, 30). The

time limits to stay inside varied but one source gave further instructions: “You can go

blind from the sunlight during that time” (30).

20
 Colic

Two responses were asafetida, but both involve different applications. One said it

could be worn in a bag around the neck (21). The other said it could be taken internally

(6).

One informant had different techniques of ‘blowing smoke’: put milk on a spoon,

blow smoke into it, and give internally (8); simply blow smoke into the child’s mouth

(29). Blowing smoke suggests magical intention, but it could just as well mean an

intentional use of smoke for its heat or some other property. No specific regimes,

requirements, or taboos were noted to clarify a type of smoke to be used. That these

restrictions were not attached suggests the use of smoke has no magical intention.

Other internal methods for treatment were: drink warm honey and water (4), take

paragoric (15), drink sugar and water (30, 35), and drink catnip tea – which was the most

popular response (2, 11, 23, 24).

Other external methods were: administer leg exercises (28), and two informants

simply said to walk the floor (14, 17).

(Other Sources: Cooke and Hamner 1986:65; Long 1962:2; Norris 1958:103)

Thrush

There were several variations on blowing in the mouth: “...has to be done by

someone who never saw their father” (1, 30); “use to be treated by a man whose mother

21
died during birth, or a woman whose father died before birth; both could blow into the

mouth and get rid of it” (11); can be done “by a man who never saw his father” (24, 26);

“has to be done by someone white” (29).

This use of smoke is clearly magical, defined by the restrictions of the user. A

similar cure is found in the Ozarks that says it has to be a preacher who blows in the

child’s mouth. Another Ozark’s cure is calling on the holy trinity (Randolph 1947: 136).

It should also be noted here that Puckett (1926:341) attributes the ability of a person who

has never seen his father to blow into the child’s mouth to cure the thrush as an English

cure. Both these require the healer to be a vessel for the spirit to move through them and

heal. The requirements given in the survey suggest the same thing. The requirements

suggest that it takes someone considered special, and probably chosen by the spirit based

on the specific nature of the formula for identifying the healer, to be invested with the

ability to open themselves up to become a vessel for the spirit to manifest physically and

heal the infirmed. That the thrush doctor seems to be chosen by the spirit to allow cures

for the thrush and nothing else makes the institution suspect to criticism.

A belief has been documented that whites have seen blacks as having an inherent

magical quality to them based on the color of their skin; a magical component to a lock of

hair, or breath. For example, to cure an earache, a lock of hair from a negro is placed in

the ear (Hyatt 1965:201). The report that stipulated the person who blew into the child’s

mouth had to be white is suggestive of an attempt at a social power exchange. That the

22
color of skin denotes an inherent magical quality is a racial stereotype. That the idea of

the same being true concerning a white is suggestive of a social power struggle.

Other remedies reported include: wiping the child’s mouth our with their own

urine soaked diaper (7, 8, 21, 22), use “blue medicine you get from the doctor” (2), paint

the mouth with a violet (19), wash the mouth out with blueing (20), and wipe out the

mouth with boric acid mixed with water on a towel (14).

(Other Sources: Gainer 1975:111; Hunter 1962:104; Norris 1958:109)

Ulcers

The majority of the informants said, “I don’t know.”

Food stuffs eaten to help an ulcer were: peppermint candy (4), chopped red

peppers and onions (8), and mashed potatoes or spinach (30).

Beverage remedies were: goat’s milk (17, 24, 27, 29, 33), milk (6, 22), buttermilk

(22), sassafras tea (1), and papaya juice (33).

One informant said “grandma’s tea” was drank as a cure-all, but the ingredients

could not be remembered (34).

Nerves

Several variations of drinking alcoholic beverages were mentioned: drink an

alcoholic beverage in general (8, 22, 27), a glass of wine (9), moonshine (17), a shot of

23
liquor (35), and Jack Daniels (30). One informant said: “Drink a pint of Canadian Mist.

If the stress level is still high ain’t a damned thing can be done about it” (15). Other

drinks mentioned were: sassafras tea (4), mint tea (9), grandma’s tea (34), and warm milk

(23, 33).

Other treatments were: nerve pills (29, 35), aspirin (6), peppermint candy (4),

smoking marijuana (13), sitting in a dark room (24), and a cold water bath (20).

Eighteen respondents said, “I don’t know.”

Colds

Several toddy combinations were given: rock and rye (2, 5, 7, 15, 33); liquor and

honey (3, 12); honey and lemon tea (4, 11, 33); hot tea with lemon and onion juice (9);

honey, lemon and whiskey (17); hot tea, honey, lemon juice, liquor (35); horehound

candy and whiskey (4); and moonshine and sugar (26).

Purging as a treatment is suggested by the uses of Black Draught (25) and castor

oil (6, 23, 25, 33).

Ingestion of onions in different forms were mentioned: soup (1), syrup (2), eat any

way (25), and, eat with honey or sugar melted over them (27). Onions in the form of

poultices were also mentioned (1, 2, 8, 22).

Other curative beverages mentioned were: yellow root tea (5), sassafras tea (29),

urine (13), cod liver oil (21), turpentine (32), and pineapple juice (33).

24
 Three topical treatments were: sweat it out with camphor (9); rub slave on the

chest (30); and, rub Vick’s Vapor Rub on the chest and cover it with a flannel pad (33).

Other treatments using Vick’s Vapor Rub, from the same informants, were to put it up the

nose, and to eat it.

Miscellaneous approaches given were: peppermint candy (4); sugar on a teaspoon

with 10 drops of turpentine (6); wear an asafetida bag – for kids (6, 33); take a hot bath

(18); lemon juice (12); vitamin C (34); chicken soup and rest (28); rest and starve it out

(24); and, take kerosene, sugar, and candy warmed together on the stove till they mix

together, let it harden into a candy and eat it (13).

(Other Sources: Gainer 1975:106; McGlasson 1941:15; Mullins 1973:38)

Influenza/The Grippe

The data reflect the belief that ‘the flu’ is traditionally viewed as a bad cold.

Therefore, the remedies given are not that different from colds.

Toddies given as remedies were: rock and rye (8, 9, 25); onion with honey or sugar

and alcohol (100 proof) let it all melt and take internally (27); honey and lemon (33), rock

candy and corn liquor (33); “take a hot toddy same as a cold but use a stronger dose of

liquor, like moonshine” (35).

Other drinks were: chicken broth (4), turpentine and water (32), castor oil (33), and

pineapple juice (33).

25
 Things to be worn were: asafetida bag (33), and skunk oil in a bag and worn

around the neck (25). A poultice could be applied (22). Two recommended drinking

whiskey then covering up, turning up the heat, and sweating it out (8, 17). “Sweating”

without the use of liquor was also mentioned (18, 22).

One informant reported: “Boil and strain horse manure then drink it as hot as you

can stand it, but won’t work as good now. Horses fed with synthetic feed” (6).

(Other Sources: Cooke and Hamner 1976:67; McGlasson 1941:15)

Nosebleed

The two most common responses dealt with brown paper bags and something cold

on the back of the neck or down the back between the shoulder blades. The brown paper

bag responses were: put a piece of a brown paper bag between the teeth and upper lip –

inside the mouth (1); put a piece of a brown paper bag wetted and dipped in salt then held

against the nostrils with the upper lip – outside the mouth (2); hold a piece of a brown

paper bag between the upper lip and gums – the bag is dry (4); put a piece of a brown

paper bag under the tongue (6); tear a brown paper bag into pieces, wet those pieces in

salt water, and mold it over the top of your head (7); tear a piece from a brown paper bag

and shove it up the nose (13); put a piece of a brown paper bag under you lip (24); put a

piece of a brown paper bag in your mouth (31).

The “put something cold down the back” variations were: put the keys down the

26
back (6, 33); put ice on the back of the neck (5, 11); put a cold rag on the back of the neck

and tilt the head back (18); put a ‘case’ [dinner] knife down the back (26); pinch the nose

and put a pair of cold scissors or ice down the back (30); put a cold compact on the back

of the neck (35).

Other remedies included two dealing with money, either the coins as amulets, or

the effect of the metal itself: put a dime under the lip (17), and put a nickel under the

upper lip (29). Two informants referred to the Biblical passage Ezekiel 16:6 (19, 33).

Ezekiel 16:6 is a standard invocation of the spirit of God to perform a physical healing

and is a charm. It is commonly used for blood stoppage and is not specific to a

nosebleed. The passage is: “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine

own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when

thou wast in thy blood, Live.”

It seemed the importance of the brown paper bag might suggest a magical

connotation. However, use of the brown paper remedy is reported by Puckett (1926:376)

to be substituted with white paper but used in the same way: sticking it between the upper

lip and upper gums. Puckett goes on to explain the paper pressing against the small

capillaries near the nose may actually stop the bleeding.

Use of a case knife or scissors is sympathetic magic and may be a predecessor to

the cold metal of keys.

Other treatments reported were variations of those above, deriving from cold and

27
pressure on the nose: soak a cloth with cold water and hold it over the nose with the head

tilted back (3, 25); run cold water over the forehead (19); soak a paper towel and put it

between the upper lip and teeth (9, 33); pinch the nose (5, 8, 30, 33, 34); pack the nose

with tissue (22), or with ice (23), or cotton (27, 33); place an ice pack on the nose (32).

Miscellaneous remedies were: bend the head down and apply pressure (10), place a

wet towel on the nose (21), application of Red Cross medicine (20), and elevate the head

(28).

(Other Sources: Gainer 1975:110; McGlasson 1941:16; Wilson 1968:179)

Earache

Just as cold was a requirement for nosebleeds, heat was prevalent in treatments for

earache: blow smoke from a cigarette (21) or pipe (30) into the ear, blowing any kind of

smoke into the ear (2, 11, 21, 26, 30, 31, 33), put a warm towel or warm pebble on the ear

to draw the moisture out (16), sprinkle warm ashes from the fireplace into the ear (24). A

variety of warmed drops dominated the data: camphorated oil (25, 33), mineral oil (9),

cod liver oil (4), urine (2, 7, 8, 16, 17, 29, 35), sweet oil (1, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 22,

23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, 34).

Variations for the use of urine were: the urine has to come from the youngest child

in the family (2), has to be from a family member (17), or the baby’s own urine (35).

Reading Ezekiel 16:6 was also mentioned as a cure for the earache (19). Exactly

28
how was never made clear. It could be that just hearing the words could invoke the spirit

into the patient to ease the pain. It could be that the person reading or reciting the passage

places their hand over the ear.

(Other Sources: Farr 1935:4; McGlasson 1941:1)

Toothache

Six responses related the use of liquor: hold liquor in your mouth (7, 30), put

whiskey and an aspirin on the tooth (8), gargle with whiskey (8), swish whiskey around in

the mouth (15, 24), and soak a cotton ball with brandy and put it on the tooth (28).

Tobacco was used for three remedies: smoke a cigarette – only works with a

person who does not smoke (1), blow tobacco smoke in the mouth (11), and chew tobacco

to numb it (33).

Temperature related to the following: hold ice on the gum/tooth (15), put a hot

towel on the cheek (16, 29), put a hot water bottle on the jaw (18), or place warm baking

soda in the cavity (32).

For a child, a dime could be put on a string and worn around the neck (7). A dime

on a string is considered a good luck amulet as well as a protective device warding off

any conjuration that may be worked against the wearer. The African belief is that a string

tied around the waist of a child acts as a protective fetish (Puckett 1926:314). A child

could also wear an asafetida bag around the neck (7).

29
 Miscellaneous approaches to a cure were: rub vanilla flavoring and red liniment on

the gums (2), yank the tooth out then lay an aspirin directly on the socket (4), aspirin (9),

make a paste from cloves and vanilla and apply (12); if there is a hole in the tooth, fill it

with lemon extract, or perfume, or salt heated in a spoon to burn and kill the nerve

endings (13); apply drops of oil of clove (19); vanilla (23); kerosine (25); or, cinnamon

(27).

(Other Sources: McGlasson 1941:1-2; Rogers 1941:32)

Burns

Most informants reported using butter for burns. Temperature related treatments

were: flush with cold water (3, 5, 10, 16, 34), and application of ice (10, 27, 33).

Treatments included topical application of scorched flour (6), mullein juice (7), vasoline

(9), cocoa butter (9), clorox and water wash (15), mustard (18), toothpaste (19), a soda

and syrup paste (23), mayonnaise (30), lard (32), and sulphur poultice [dampen it and

strap it on the burn] (26).

A burn can also be packed with ashes from a fireplace or wood stove (1, 24), or

packed with black soot from the chimney (30).

One informant recommended pouring baking soda in water. Let the baking soda

settle to the bottom, then scoop it out with a clean white rag and place it on the burn (11).

(Other Sources: Cooke and Hamner 1976:65; Norris 1958:102-103)

30
 TB/Consumption

Twenty-seven informants reported that they knew of no treatment for TB. That

could be because of the decline in reported TB cases, or that there is no memory of the

disease, or no remembered or currently known cure. The treatments mentioned varied:

the patient is bedridden and isolated (1), exposure to sunshine and drinking a lot of fluids

(6), a couple tablespoons of lemon extract (12), drink milk with a raw egg in it (19), a

dose of castor oil and a warm compress on the chest (22), goat’s milk (29), simply

quarantine the patient and wait on them to die (30, 33).

Sore Eyes

‘Sore Eyes’ is a non-specific term used in reference to a variety of ocular

disorders, ranging from mild eye irritation to conjunctivitis. Most of the data can be

broken down into the categories of compresses and eye washes.

Eye washes: boric acid solution (2, 14, 19), salt water (5, 23), water (15), and milk

(21).

Compresses: hot pads (8), tea bags (24), sulphur poultice (26), and cold compress

(27, 30).

Various other remedies are: over-the-counter eye drops (6), hemorrhoidal medicine

(12), put olive oil around the eyes (33), wipe with a sterilized cloth soaked in hot water

(11), and put vasoline around the eyes to open them up (29, 33).

31
 An informant warned: “Don’t let anyone look in their eyes because they could get

it” (30).

(Other Sources: Cook and Hamner 1976: 68)

Boils

The majority of the remedies mentioned employ the use of fatback, or salted pork

to dry up boils and bring them to a head (1, 4, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 25, 28).

Other remedies reported were: scriffin [membrane that lines the inside of an egg shell] (4,

18), egg white (19), egg yolk (8), apply a white potato (22), warm compress (22), sulphur

poultice (26), eat raisins (30), Epson salts in a hot water bath (5), sterilize a needle by

burning it and open it up (14, 29), juice from a mullein leaf [tie off the boil with a string,

then put a cloth with the juice over it to bring it to a head] (7); put a piece of paper in a

bottle and light it, let the bottle fill with smoke, then let the smoke out over the boil and it

will come to a head (9).

One informant (6) offered the following magical remedy: “Cross a fork over the

boil in the shape of the cross three times, then the boil goes away in three days. While

crossing with the fork say, ‘In Jesus’ name.’” The cure invokes the blessing of Jesus

Christ as a miracle worker and healer. Use of the fork could simply be symbolic of a

puncturing device, or the metal could be used for other properties. This remedy illustrates

trichotomy in American folk medicine which is evident in other magical cures such as an

32
Ozark cure for boils: put your hands behind your back and repeat three times “Bozz

bozzer, mozz mozzer, kozz kozzer” (Randolph 1947:132)!

(Other Sources: Norris 1958: 107-108; Wilson 1968:178)

Ringworm

The few remedies mentioned were: Watkins salve [over-the-counter] (4), caliber

pinks [prescription pills] (6), Absorbin, Jr. (13), Tinactin (28), Adam Powder (23),

Curdeure ointment with sulphur (19), baking soda (32), oatmeal paste (35), walnut husk

(15), and the application of one’s own urine with a rag (5).

Castor oil (21) was also mentioned which implies a survival of purging.

(Other Sources: Wilson 1968:326)

Hookworm

There was a stronger vestige of purging in the data for this illness: castor oil (8, 25,

32), and “take a laxative” (22). One variation of castor oil was the addition of sugar (8).

Over-the-counter approaches were not as strong as with ringworm – caliber pinks (6) was

the only one mentioned. Turpentine was mentioned three times (7, 29, 30). All uses of

the turpentine were different: take with a little sugar (7), place around their navel to “knot

them [worms]” and they will come out through their bowels (29), and “take three drops

with sugar, they [worms] will come out and you burn them” (30).

33
 Other remedies were: drink vinegar (9), eat egg shells mixed with syrup (19),

apply oatmeal paste (35).

(Other Sources: Rogers 1941:22)

Arthritis

Heat was a commonality in the remedies: massage and keep warm (4), apply dry

heat (9, 22), liniment rub and heating pad (14), keep the bone warm (15).

Two other common elements were vinegar and copper. The vinegar was used as

such: apply a brown paper bag soaked in boiled vinegar, then wrap the bag with a cloth

(5), apply a brown paper bag soaked in vinegar (8), drink vinegar and honey (11); mix

kerosene, vinegar, and pepper and apply (23). Uses of copper were: place a dime on a

copper chain and wear it around the ankle (15), wear a copper bracelet (17, 25, 27),

copper wire around the wrist or ankle (30), copper pennies with a hole in them, strung and

worn as a necklace (30).

Other remedies reported were: commercial liniment (7, 21, 32), teaspoon of honey

(9), pokeberry wine (19), commercial mechanical lubricant WD-40 (33); apply Varsaw

and camphor [put the camphor in the Varsaw, a motor cleaner, then after it dissolves rub

it on] (6); Octagon soap chipped in rubbing alcohol [let the mix set till the soap melts,

then rub it on] (12).

(Other Sources: Hunter 1962:101; Wilson 1968:179)

34
 Rheumatism

Liquor was the most common element reported: take a shot (9, 13, 18, 27), mix

camphor with whiskey and rub it on the joints (30). All other remedies were topical:

turpentine and lye soap (8), WD-40 (12, 33), camphorated oil (19), commercial liniment

(21), wear a copper bracelet (25), kerosine, vinegar and pepper mixed together and

applied (23), Varsaw and camphor (6), and Octagon and rubbing alcohol (13) [both

prepared and applied the same as with arthritis].

(Other Sources: Hunter 1962:101; Waller and Killion 1972:87)

Skin Cancer

The only remedy given was breast milk from a church member (28).

Related Folk Medical Practices

Respondents were asked for information concerning venereal disease,

menstruation, and abortion, all of which have been grossly overlooked in previous

research.

Venereal Disease

Respondents were not asked about any specific type of VD. Everyone who gave

information associated venereal disease with ‘crabs:’ gasoline wash (5), kerosene (13),

35
Blue Ointment [over-the-counter salve] (25, 33).

Menstruation

Drinks for menstruation were: ginger tea (2, 11, 15); whiskey and sugar, red

pepper tea, and hot pepper tea (2); sassafras tea (4); turpentine, or a little liquor (7); hot

tea for the cramps – the temperature is more important than the type (33, 35); drink flour

and water to cut off the bleeding (13).

Other things done for menstruation were: heating pad (14, 15); hot liniment (14),

cold shower (18); and, exercise (15).

Abortion

Abortion, or “throwing the baby” (33) was performed by: falling down the steps

(15), coat hanger (3, 13, 15, 16, 22), drink a lot of vinegar (5), ginger tea (15), ingest

turpentine with sugar to taste (7), castor oil (8), castor oil and turpentine (33), “run around

the track until you pass out, or get punched in the stomach” (34), “lift something heavy

and it will do you in, or drink hot whiskey if it’s in your first month. Drink it and it will

bring your period on” (30), or, drink bleach straight, “it’s supposed to hurt for payment of

the sin” (13).

36
 Summary

There was an overwhelming number of “I don’t know” responses in the data. This

could mean that respondents could not remember, or would not divulge the information,

or simply did not know or had not heard of it. This is an indicator of the degree to which

folk traditions, at least in the sample, have disappeared. In collecting the data it was

unclear at times when remedies were active or passive. Vague detailing from the

informants could be a result of their distancing themselves from their heritage as a

testament to social evolution and the purposeful shedding of stereotypes. It also could be

a simple problem of losing information in memory. Regardless, most of the remedies

given were actively used, or were used at some point in the informants’ lives. This

suggests that the generations sampled in the interview are the very generations that could

possibly be discarding their own ancestry.

There were twenty magical remedies reported. The weak representation of the

magico-religious component to the folk medical belief system is suggestive of the degree

to which Christianity has replaced spiritist beliefs. It is representative of the

disappearance of ancestral belief systems and traditions like the Powwow doctors,

European, South American, African, and Afro-Caribbean magical remedies and

conjuration, as well as Native American shamanism.

37
 CHAPTER 4

HEALTH BELIEF SYSTEM

This chapter presents the data obtained from Part Three of the questionnaire and is

broken down into the following themes: Concepts of Illness Causation, Folk Illnesses,

Religiosity, and Attitudes Towards Biomedicine. Each section summarizes informant

responses related to these themes and elucidates patterns of folk medical belief and

practice.

Illness Causation

Most of the respondents said illness is caused by germs and not taking care of

oneself. One respondent had a slightly different response from the others, he identified

three factors associated with maintaining good health: 1. Physiological – the immune

system is the key; 2. Emotional – stress breakdown; and, 3. Spiritual – God is in control

of everything (33). This response offers a shared responsibility for health and healthcare

between human beings and God as opposed to total responsibility suggested by the

absolute belief of germs as the primary source for illness. Hill (1976:14) notes that for

some Southerners a causal explanation of illness is an imbalance in the individual’s life

due to social misconduct, i.e. actions that are not in alignment with fundamentalist

religious codes of conduct. It is the state of imbalance that puts the individual in a state

of crisis. In that state of crisis, the individual seeks to bring their life back into balance

38
and cleanse himself of the transgression, or sin, and thus become a member of the

harmonious moral order again. This suggests that the social structure is a sanctified

structure and can take on the powers of the supernatural, if by no other means than to

punish those who fail to stay within expected social guidelines. Regardless, the result is

the same: the social structure has the power to create life balance and thus has healing

potential for those who believe.

Folk Illnesses

Folk illnesses exist within the cultures that create them. “Etiology, diagnosis,

preventive measures, and regimens of healing” (Rubel 1977:120) are provided by the

culture. Those afflicted by a folk illness tend to seek out traditional healers who are

trained in coercion of occult forces as well as herbalist remedies. Physicians normally

consider such illnesses to exist only in the minds of the afflicted. They are seen as

psychosomatic disorders and superstitions.

The folk illnesses included in the questionnaire have all been recorded as existing

in the Southern Appalachian region. They are livergrown, white-liver, bold hives, and

marking. There was no information provided by informants concerning livergrown.

White-liver

White-liver is a syndrome identified by an insatiable sexual appetite. It seems to

39
be primarily attributed to women, but can refer to a man. Randolph (1947) identifies

white-liver as meaning over-sexed.

When a lively, buxom, good-looking woman loses several husbands by death, it is

often said that her inordinate sexual passion has killed ‘em off, and she is referred
to as a white-livered widder. Usually it is only a figure of speech, but there are
people who actually believe that a ‘high nature’ is correlated with white spots on
the liver, and that this condition has often been revealed by postmortem
examination (p. 172).

Randolph also reports that a lot of sexual intercourse is thought of as a cure for

maladies of the bladder and kidney in women (p. 103). One seems to compensate for the

other.

Of nine responses on white-liver, three reported that white-liver is a male specific

disorder. “A man with an over-sex drive. It’s not treatable. If a woman is with a man

who has this she gets a bad infection from it” (8).

“If a man who is white-livered marries a woman who is not, it will eventually

cause her death” (11).

“When a man can’t get enough sex. He’s born like that. It’s very rare. A man

died from it; he stayed erected” (30).

Three responses referred to white-liver as a female condition: “A nymphomaniac;

woman can’t be satisfied” (13).

“When a girl is over-sexed. It’s caused by the Devil; plenty, plenty sex” (22).

(This is the only response in the entire study that referenced the Devil as a force that

wreaks havoc among Christians.)

40
 One informant simply said it meant over-sexed (19). One said it meant the liver

turned one-half white for an unknown reason (20).

Two respondents said they had heard the term but did not know what it meant (12,

27).

Bold Hives

Bold hives is an infant-specific folk illness not to be confused with the biomedical

condition of urticaria. It is believed that all babies are born with this malevolent entity

inside them that must be brought out of the body after birth. The manifestation of that

entity are hives that can kill the child if they are allowed to turn inwards and descend into

the body from the skin. Therefore, it is essential that the infant be ‘hived’ just after birth.

Catnip tea is used for that preventative measure, ensuring that the hives will break out and

‘leave the body’ (Stekert 1970:142).

Pruitt (1964:69) describes how death comes with the bold hives: “Its victims were

infants under one month of age, and it often proved fatal. Death always came during the

night: the child was found in the morning, dead in its cradle.”

Death is death, when encountered it is more real than a psychosomatic disorder.

Something had to kill the baby, something other than bold hives. “It may be that bold

hives served, and still serves today, as a culture-specific mode of explaining what

biomedicine today terms Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” (Cavender 1996:18).

41
 Two informants had information concerning bold hives. One informant mentioned

information concerned two tea remedies: catnip and cornhusks (7). The other informant

simply had knowledge of the existence of bold hives. “Bold hives will kill you, if they go

back in you” (29).

Marking

Fife (1976) offers the common definition of marking:

...if a woman’s emotions get sufficiently stirred up during pregnancy, then the
fetus itself may feel and register the shock as a blemish on the body, as a
deformity, or as a pattern or behavior. The mark frequently resembles the object or
circumstance which produced the mother’s emotional state (p. 273-74)

Of the informants’ responses the majority fall into the common definition. The

few oddities are: “The person delivering a child could mark it, like witchcraft – could

pray over the child. Could be good, marked to be a preacher. If the person delivering the

child is bad, could mark the baby as bad” (4). “Called bad blood: child of a bad person,

inherits bad blood, is marked to be bad” (5).

The following are more conventional examples of marking obtained from the

interviews:

“A woman’s pregnant and makes fun of [someone], or an emotion is strong and

marks the child. You laugh at someone deformed, or feel over-sympathetic and that will

deform the child. It’s a true fact” (6).

“Momma was pregnant with me and she wanted a steak real bad and I have a mark

42
on me like a steak” (8).

“I craved greens when I was pregnant. My son has a birthmark that looks like a

green leaf” (14).

“A woman laughs at somebody while she’s pregnant, the child will be deformed.

A pregnant woman can’t do anything without marking the baby. It’s like a curse” (25).

Blood Types

As Moerman (1981) and Snow (1993) report, blood is a central feature in the

African American folk medical belief system. The volume of the blood can be high or

low (the same as tree sap), viscous, thick or thin (thick in the winter for warmth and to

adjust to a slower physical lifestyle; and thin in the summer), and have an essence, bitter

or sweet.

The majority of informants had no information concerning blood conditions. High

blood was referred to as high blood pressure and thin blood concerned platelets and

anemia. The depth of the informants’ knowledge of blood states in the biomedical sense

was impressive. The lack of knowledge concerning blood states in the folk medical

tradition was a surprise as blood is normally considered the foundation of folk medical

belief systems in America.

There were, however, some respondents who understood blood in a folk medical

context.

43
 1. High Blood:

A. “Excessive blood, nose bleeds from high blood. There’s not a

known remedy” (4);

B. “Drink vinegar” (17, 35);

2. Low Blood: “No energy; sickly. Use a tonic, sulphur dose” (4);

3. Thin Blood: “Cold natured. Eat beets, liver. Liver’s a blood builder” (4);

4. Thick Blood:

A. “Drink vinegar” (17);

B. “They have to draw it out of me, rare; and throw it away. No one can

use it” (30);

5. Sweet Blood: “Only heard others to refer to people who are homosexual” (35);

6. Bitter Blood: “Anger between people” (27, 35);

7. Dirty Blood:

A. “Born with bad blood; demon possessed. From a long line of bad

people” (4);

B. Prostitute (30);

C. “Someone born with a blood disease, or got a bad transfusion” (35).

The few data provided by informants correlate with other documented ideas

concerning the blood in folk medical terms (Cavender 1992). This observation supports

the notion that black folk medicine in Southern Appalachia is part of a larger,

44
homogenous system of American folk medicine.

Religiosity and Attitudes Towards Biomedicine

Existing collections of folk medical traditions have a higher degree of mysticism,

magic and spiritualist beliefs than do the informants in this study. In Chapter 1, Hill’s

observation was noted: “The belief system of both blacks and whites is essentially

synonymous, partially because it is inextricably bound to their religious teachings or

beliefs and their status in the social structure of American society” (12). The point

intended is that these data indicate the presence of an American folk medical belief

system that encompasses both blacks and whites. The second part of Hill’s quotation

offers an explanation: The acculturation of blacks in American culture has been marked

by the systematic stripping away of all traces of African and Afro-Caribbean belief

systems in a slow process that began with slavery and continues today. It is virtually

impossible to tell where Africa ends and America begins – perhaps a similar place where

all immigrants cease being from another place and begin being Americans.

The respondents consistently emphasized the belief in God as a healing force, but

there was virtually no support for spiritualist beliefs or worship. There was one account

of root doctors in an informant’s extended family in rural Georgia. The informant

referred to the group as Voodoos but they are probably Hoodooists – which is a watered-

down version of the Bokor in Haitian Vodou and is more consistent with root doctors

45
(naturalist and supernatural workings that use malevolence for profit). It should be made

clear that none of these things are consistent with or representative of Haitian Vodou.

The work of the Bokor is often confused with the Vodoun priest. That confusion was

born in power struggles with the Catholic Church, pulp fiction, and ‘B’ movies. The

hoodooists make up the majority of reported ‘Vodoun’ enclaves in the Deep South.

When asked about faith healing and hands-on healers, respondents agreed that God

can heal. The mediator laying on hands raised conflicting explanations. Below are

several excerpts from respondent interviews concerning God as a healing agent.

“God can heal. It doesn’t require a mediator to lay hands on. The mediator

becomes more important than God. The messenger becomes more important than the

message” (1).

“Believe in the power of prayer. The messenger of God is the person laying hands

on” (4).

“I can do it. Anybody can do it. Hands get warm like holding them in front of a

hot stove” (35).

“There’s an agreement between the mediator laying on hands and the person sick

that it’s the power of God. I was healed of Lupus by prayer” (5).

“Nothing but the good Lord and a healing preacher” (29).

“Believe. Has to be God’s will. Believe that God can do it” (33).

“My mother was diagnosed with cancer. She decided she didn’t have it, would not

46
claim it. She’s gone to the oncologist every six months since then and it hasn’t shown up

again” (12).

“I have been acquainted with some folks who trusted God for their healing and

many times they receive Divine healing and many times they received healing in death:

permanent healing” (11).

“...You think you’re healed and you’re not. If you don’t have any faith you aren’t

healed” (29).

Even in light of the pronounced belief that God is the ultimate source of healing,

the respondents gave inconclusive support for biomedical healthcare practices. Most saw

Christianity as working in tandem with official healthcare. At the same time, however,

respondents supported using those folk medical practices that worked for them.

“The Lord has given doctors wisdom. But there’s also faith healing. You can pray

and ask the Lord to guide you” (6).

“Doctors are better. Folk medicine can be used sometimes, though” (21).

“Folk medicine is sometimes better, sometimes isn’t” (17).

Use folk medicine with biomedicine, not instead of (12).

“I think you should go to the doctor. But home remedies can cure. If you have

cancer you need to go to the doctor” (32).

“Considering the illnesses we face today, we need some assistance (other than

faith). Folk medicine relies more on natural elements” (35).

47
 “A doctor can only heal if he has faith in God” (19).

“It’s [biomedicine] important but feels shaky sometimes. God’s prognosis takes

precedence over the doctors. ...[I] use both folk and professional healthcare treatment

systems together” (35).

Another possibility for preferring biomedicine over folk medicine may stem from

the Civil Rights Movement. One informant offered the following commentary:

“Understand that growing up and having to sit in the backroom waiting room to

see a doctor who may take the time to see and treat you or not; then be graduated with

human rights and be able to sit in the front waiting room and see the doctor in fair turn

and be treated” (1). This suggests that going to see the doctor is an act of exercising basic

and fragile human rights. Relying on traditional healing modalities may reproduce past

stereotypes and therefore perpetuate racial inferiority.

The active use of magico-religious remedies in traditional healthcare is

documented as still being used (Hill 1976; Snow 1974, 1978, 1993). However, the

erosion of such beliefs as found in this study could suggest strong commitment to

fundamentalist religion.

48
 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Remedies gathered are consistent in content and application with those

documented in other studies in the South among blacks and whites and across the country.

Data on religiosity and spiritist beliefs are not consistent with other studies (Hill 1976;

Hill and Mathews 1981; Moerman 1981; Snow 1974, 1981, 1993). Perhaps respondents

were concerned with impression management and filtered their responses to a caucasian

researcher. Filtering could also be a result of the informants expressing mainstream

middle class values. The de-emphasized magic and occult remedies and factors could

possibly have been an attempt by informants to dis-identify with rural/folk/black

stereotypes based on those stereotypes perpetuating an idea of black inequality.

As long as people live in marginal communities, traditional healing modalities will

never completely disappear. As an inherently evolutionary system, the non-static nature

of folk medicine could simply be in the process of adapting to cultural change. The

magico-religious aspect of folk medical belief systems could be in the process of being

replaced by over-the-counter medications, herbs in pill form purchased at Wal-Mart, and

the omnipotent power of God. The congruency between the data found in this study as

demonstrated in Chapter 3 confirms Hill’s (1976) thesis of the close correspondence

between black and white folk medical belief systems.

It seems the most pertinent examples of this close correspondence lie in the

49
existence of folk illnesses reported by informants for this study. This is important

because folk illnesses are culturally created phenomena. The shared beliefs about the folk

illnesses mentioned implies the inherent homogenous nature to the study area. It also

implies the historical dominant influence of European beliefs over African and Caribbean

on American soil. The concept of white-liver appears to be of Scottish origin, and it is

reported in non-ethnic-specific studies in the Southern Appalachian region, and was

reported in this study by black informants. Likewise, bold hives is of Scottish origin and

is known among African Americans as a folk illness. Information reported concerning

the blood system in folk medical traditions is synonymous with other studies and has its

origins in Greek humoral medicine and a long-standing stronghold in European medical

beliefs.

Folk medical knowledge is specific to those who practice the art: a community, a

family blood-line, an individual. The tenuous nature of those who practice the art of folk

healing makes the survival of the healing art just as tenuous and unpredictable as the

practitioners. The dissolution of traditional African belief systems began in the

Caribbean on the slave route with the introduction of European medicinal ideas and

practices and continued under the American plantation system. The data gathered in this

study suggests all vestiges of traditional Afro-Caribbean and African medical belief

systems have been systematically stripped away from an evolving, more homogeneous

American folk medical belief system. When one culture over-powers another there is a

50
degree of cultural exchange. What that exchange may have been is unknown. The

specific contributions made by the slaves that became an intricate part of the whole, and

still remain, are not know. That survivals of Africa and the Caribbean folk medical belief

systems exist but have become anonymous contributions or have fallen under the

umbrella of European contributions is an hypothesis that requires further research.

51
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Pruitt, Virginia (1964, June). “The Bold Hives in Tennessee.” Tennessee Folklore
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56
APPENDICES

57
APPENDIX A: Survey Instrument

58
 African American Folk Medicine Questionnaire

Part 1

1. Date:____________

2. Questionnaire No./Tape No.:____________

3. Name of Interviewer:__________________________________________________________

Informant Information

4. Address (borough/township)/Location of Interview:__________________________________

5. Date of Birth:____________________

6. Birthplace (home, or hospital/midwife, or medical doctor):____________________________

7. Religious Affiliation:_______________________________

8. Occupation:_________________________________________________________________

9. Parent’s Birthplace:___________________________________________________________

10. Number of Children:_________

11. Level of Education (grade level, location):__________

Part 2

Can you provide treatments for the following; also, have you ever actually used the treatment? If
you have, who taught you? If you haven’t, where did you hear about it from?

1. Chicken Pox:

2. Colic:

3. Thrush:

59
4. Ulcers:

5. Nerves:

6. Cold:

7. Influenza/The Grippe:

8. Nosebleed:

9. Earache:

10. Toothache:

11. Burns:

12. TB/Consumption:

13. Sore Eyes:

14. Boils:

15. Ringworm:

16. Hookworm:

17. Arthritis:

18. Rheumatism:

60
19. Skin Cancer:

Part 3

1. Could you talk about how illness happens – where it comes from, what causes it?

2. Have you ever heard of an ailment called white-liver? If so, could you talk about that? What
is it? What’s it caused by? How is it treated?

3. Have you heard of an ailment called livergrown? What is it? What’s it caused by? How is it
treated?

4. Do you have any experiences or knowledge or a child being marked?

5. Do you have any experiences or knowledge of faith healing, or hands on healing?

6. Do you know any healers – folks who channel the spirit for the purposes of healing? Have
you ever sought out the services of a healer?

7. What are your opinions of biomedicine?

8. How does biomedicine compare with folk medicine?

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9. Do you practice folk medicine – use of home remedies or faith healing? Do you know anyone
who does? If so, where did the knowledge come from?

10. Can you give any information on bold hives? What is it? How is it caused? How is it
treated?

11. Can you give any information on blood and disease? What role does blood play in disease
and ailment?

12. Have you heard of different blood types, or conditions, like: High Blood, Low Blood, Thick
Blood, Thin Blood, Sweet Blood, Bitter Blood, Dirty Blood? And, if so, do you know their
cause, symptoms, and treatment?

A. High Blood:

B. Low Blood:

C. Thick Blood:

D. Thin Blood:

E. Sweet Blood:

F. Bitter Blood:

G. Dirty Blood:

13. Do you know of any ‘home remedy’ methods of performing abortions?

14. Do you have any knowledge of home remedies for venereal disease?

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15. Do you have any knowledge of home remedies for menstruation?

16. Do you have any information or knowledge about how to cure alcoholism?

17. Do you have any information about how to stop smoking?

63
APPENDIX B: Informant Contextual Data

64
Informant Sex Year of Birth Place of Birth
Number

1 female 1933 Russellville

2 female 1931 Russellville
3 female 1967 Johnson City
4 female 1957 Churchill
5 female 1949 Greenville, South Carolina
6 male 1924 Birmingham, Alabama
7 female 1919 Morristown
8 female 1958 Morristown
9 male 1962 Morristown
10 female 1949 Morristown
11 female 1945 Morristown
12 female 1958 Johnson City
13 male 1956 Johnson City
14 female 1955 Morristown
15 female 1960 Morristown
16 male 1964 Morristown
17 male 1956 Morristown
18 male 1976 Morristown
19 female 1933 Chattanooga
20 female 1936 Rome, Georgia
21 female 1932 Chattanooga
22 female 1954 Chattanooga
23 female 1907 Chattanooga
24 female 1958 Russellville
25 male 1944 Morristown
26 female 1956 Morristown
27 male 1952 Johnson City
28 female 1976 Chattanooga
29 female 1936 Morristown
30 female 1935 Morristown
31 female 1949 Morristown
32 male 1950 Johnson City
33 male 1940 Johnson City
34 male 1972 Johnson City
35 female 1970 Johnson City

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 VITA

STEVEN CROWDER

Personal Data: Date of Birth: February 9, 1965

Place of Birth: Johnson City, Tennessee
Marital Status: Single

Education: Public Schools, Jonesborough, Tennessee

The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington;
Playwrighting, B.A., 1999
East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee;
Sociology, M.A., 2001

Professional
Experience: 1983-1989 U.S. Navy; E-5, Aircraft Maintenance
Administrationman, Honorable Discharge
1990-1992 Fringe theatre; Seattle, Washington
writer, director, actor, technician
1994-1995 Babylon 5; Set Decorator, North Hollywood,
California
1998-1999 Babylon 5; Set Decorator, North Hollywood,
California

66