Editing John the Conqueror

{{Short description|Folk hero of African-American folklore}}
{{for|Jean le Conquéreur|John V, Duke of Brittany}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}

[[Image:Koeh-077.jpg|thumb|250px|The roots of ''[[Ipomoea jalapa]]'', when dried, are carried as the John the Conqueror root [[amulet]].]]
'''John the Conqueror''', also known as '''High John the Conqueror''', '''John''', Jack, and many other folk variants, is a [[deity]] from the African-American spiritual system called [[Hoodoo (spirituality)|hoodoo]]. Due to there being little early written information on the John the Conqueror root, many of the earliest mentions  are from oral traditions and in tales from escaped slaves like [[Frederick Douglass]] in his autobiography "[[Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass|Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself |url=https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass/douglass.html |access-date=2025-04-26 |website=docsouth.unc.edu}}</ref>" published in 1845. He is associated with the roots of ''[[Ipomoea purga]]'', the '''John the Conqueror root''' or '''John the Conqueroo''', a plant native to the South-eastern United States. Tales of [[magic (paranormal)|magical]] powers are ascribed in [[African-American folktales|African-American folklore]] to the plant, especially among practitioners of [[Hoodoo (folk magic)|Hoodoo]].<ref name="Reference B">{{cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Carolyn Morrow |title=John the Conqueror: From Root-Charm to Commercial Product |journal=Pharmacy in History |date=1997 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=47–48, 51 |jstor=41111803 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41111803}}</ref><ref name="Reference A">{{cite journal |last1=Tyler |first1=Varro |title=The Elusive History of High John the Conqueror Root |journal=Pharmacy in History |date=1991 |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=165–166 |jstor=41112508 |pmid=11612725 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41112508}}</ref><ref name="The sanctified church : Hurston, Zora Neale : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive">{{cite book |last1=Hurston |first1=Zora Neale |title=The Sanctified Church |date=1981 |publisher=Berkeley |pages=69–78 |isbn=9780913666449 |url=https://archive.org/details/sanctifiedchurch00hurs/page/70/mode/2up?q=High+John}}</ref> [[Muddy Waters]] mentions him as Johnny Cocheroo in the songs "[[Mannish Boy]]" and "[[Hoochie Coochie Man|I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man]]". In "Mannish Boy", the line is "I think I'll go down/To old Kansas too/I'm gonna bring back my second cousin/That little Johnny Conqueroo". This line is borrowed from the [[Bo Diddley]] song "[[I'm a Man (Bo Diddley song)|I'm a Man]]", to which "Mannish Boy" is an [[answer song]].<ref>Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 4 - The Tribal Drum: The rise of rhythm and blues. [Part 2]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.</ref> 

== Use in Hoodoo ==
[[File:Frederick Douglass as a younger man.jpg|thumb|left|Frederick Douglass received a High John root from an enslaved conjurer named Sandy Jenkins for protection against slaveholders.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Simmons |first1=Alicia |title=The Power of Hoodoo: African Relic Symbolism in Amistad and The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave |journal=The Oswald Review|date=2000 |volume=2 |issue=5 |pages=41–44 |url=https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=tor |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref>]]
High John the Conqueror has its earliest known roots in Congolese culture with the folk hero thought to have originated from stories of a Congolese Prince who was sold into slavery. Symbolizing luck and strength, the "High John root" has strong connections to use in hoodoo, with some even believing High John's spirit could be summoned and used for guidance and even protection on plantations.  [[African Americans|African-American]] Hoodoo practitioners place High John roots inside [[Mojo (African-American culture)|mojo bags]] for protection, victory, empowerment, good luck, love, and protection from evil spirits. "...practitioners do this out of their reverence for or worship of the spirit (or in this case, John de Conquer, who also symbolizes ties to their enslaved ancestors through the land or 'soil of the South.')" ..."we not only find that the spirit of John de Conquer inhabits or 'possesses' a root, but he is also woven into a mojo bag that practitioners wear on their persons or store in a ‘secret place’ of their house."<ref name="ABC-CLIO">{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Leslie |last2=Rucker |first2=Walter |title=Encyclopedia of African American History |date=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781851097692 |page=207 |url=https://issuhub.com/view/index/30167?pageIndex=244}}</ref><ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal |title=Chapter 4 "Winning [Our] War from Within": Moving beyond Resistance |journal=The Politics of Black Joy: Zora Neale Hurston and Neo-Abolitionism |pages=103–104 |jstor=j.ctv1wd02rr.12 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wd02rr.12 |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Pasciuto |first1=Greg |title=6 African Folklore Figures that Survived the Atlantic Slave Trade |url=https://www.thecollector.com/mythological-african-folklore-americas/ |website=The Collector |date=March 22, 2023 |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> The root was used during slavery in the [[Southern United States]] by [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved African-Americans]] to protect from slaveholders. [[Frederick Douglass]] and [[Henry Bibb]] used the High John root to prevent whippings and protection from slaveholders.<ref name="Reference B"/><ref name="Reference A"/> In an [[Arkansas]] [[Slave Narrative Collection|slave narrative]], ex-slave Marion Johnson used High John roots to conquer his enemies and receive protection from [[Hoodoo (spirituality)|conjure]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Federal Writers' Project |title=SLAVE NARRATIVES A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves |journal=The Library of Congress Project Work Projects Administration |date=1941 |volume=2 |issue=4 |page=121 |url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mesn/mesn-024/mesn-024.pdf |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref>

=== Cultural appropriation ===
In the twentieth century, white drug store owners appropriated Hoodoo and put a white man on High John the Conqueror product labels. As a result, some people do not know of the cultural and historical origins of the African-American folk spirit John the Conqueror in the [[The Slave Community|enslaved Black community]] and in present day Black American culture. In 2012, Rob Cleveland, an African-American stage performer, created a play about High John the Conqueror to demystify the folk spirit to audiences. The play focuses on John the Conqueror as an enslaved man whose spirit of resistance could never be broken and who outwitted his enslavers. The spirit of resistance in John the Conqueror encouraged enslaved people to resist their slaveholders to gain their freedom.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Farmer |first1=Jim |title=Rob Cleveland brings the myth of slave hero High John the Conqueror to life on stage |url=https://www.artsatl.org/preview-actor-rob-cleveland-takes-legend-high-john-conqueror/ |website=ArtsATL |date=July 25, 2012 |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> In 2022 ''[[MadameNoire]]'', an online magazine geared toward the lifestyles of African-American women, interviewed Black Hoodoo practitioners who voiced their concerns about the appropriation of Hoodoo. "'White-washed Hoodoo doesn’t even acknowledge John the Conqueror that much because he’s been white-washed to be the type of Spirit that helps men with their virility, help men get women, help gamblers get lucky, and he’s so much more than that...'”<ref>{{cite web |last1=Whitcomb |first1=Leah |title=Hoodoo Heritage Month: Conjuring, Culture, And Community |url=https://madamenoire.com/1325640/hoodoo-heritage-month/#vuukle-comments |website=MadameNoire |date=October 18, 2022 |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="Reference B"/><ref name="Reference A"/> Storyteller Diane Ferlatte performed the African-American folk tale about High John Conqueror that tells the victories of John the Conqueror on the plantation and how he unified the slave community to escape from slavery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Diane Ferlatte Storyteller--High John |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QxzuRETWU |website=youtube.com |publisher=Diane Ferlatte |access-date=6 May 2024}}</ref> Ferlatte tells other African-American folk stories about Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Uncle Remus. African-American scholars explain that High John the Conqueror symbolized freedom from slavery. High John the Conqueror was a trickster and was able to outsmart his enslavers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Mike |title=Ferlatte's masterful performance captivates St George audience |url=https://www.royalgazette.com/lifestyle/article/20220430/ferlattes-masterful-performance-captivates-st-george-audience/ |access-date=14 July 2023 |agency=The Royal Gazette |date=April 30, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=High John The Conqueror |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1kU3g0WaL8 |website=Auburn Avenue Research Library |access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref>

== Folk hero ==
[[File:Zora Neale Hurston and unidentified man 1935 Belle Glade FL.tif|thumb|left|Zora Neale Hurston and unidentified man 1935 Belle Glade, Florida. Hurston documented stories about High John the Conqueror from African-Americans in the Southern United States.]]

Sometimes, John is an African [[prince]] (son of a king of Congo), said to have ridden a giant crow called "Old Familiar." He was sold as a [[slavery|slave]] in the Americas. Despite his enslavement, his spirit was never broken. He survived in [[folklore]] as a reluctant folk hero, a sort of [[trickster]] figure, because of the tricks he played to evade those who played tricks on him. [[Joel Chandler Harris]]'s [[Br'er Rabbit]] of the ''[[Uncle Remus]]'' stories is a similar archetype to that of High John the Conqueror, outdoing those who would do him in. [[Zora Neale Hurston]] wrote of his adventures ("High John de Conquer") in her folklore collection ''The Sanctified Church''.<ref name="ABC-CLIO" /><ref name="jstor.org" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hurston |first1=Zora Neale |title=The Sanctified Church |date=1981 |publisher=Berkeley: Turtle Island |pages=6, 10, 16–19 |isbn=9780913666449 |url=https://archive.org/details/sanctifiedchurch00hurs/mode/2up?q=John+de+Conquer}}</ref> 

In one traditional John the Conqueror story told by [[Virginia Hamilton]], and probably based on "[[Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter]]", John falls in love with the [[Devil]]'s daughter. The Devil sets John a number of impossible tasks: he must clear sixty [[acre]]s (25 [[hectare|ha]]) of land in half a day and then sow it with [[maize|corn]] and reap it in the other half a day. The Devil's daughter furnishes John with a magical [[axe]] and [[plow]] that get these impossible tasks done, but warns John that her father the Devil means to kill him even if he performs them. John and the Devil's daughter steal the Devil's own horses; the Devil pursues them, but they escape his clutches by [[shape-shifting]].

In "High John De Conquer", Zora Neale Hurston reports that:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hurston|first=Zora Neale|date=October 1943|title=High John De Conquer|journal=The American Mercury|pages=450–458}}</ref>

{{blockquote|like [[King Arthur]] of England, he has served his people. And, like King Arthur, he is not dead. He waits to return when his people shall call him again&nbsp;... High John de Conquer went back to Africa, but he left his power here, and placed his American dwelling in the root of a certain plant. Only possess that root, and he can be summoned at any time.}}

This is from Hurston's published article in ''American Mercury'' magazine in 1943. In this article, she relates a few stories about High John, enough to define him, but not an exhaustive survey of the folklore. The purpose was to present the nation with the hope-building and the power of this inspiring figure during the darkest days of World War II. The article ends with:

{{blockquote|So the brother in black offers to these United States the source of courage that endures, and laughter. High John de Conquer. If the news from overseas reads bad, if the nation inside seems like it is stuck in the Tar Baby, listen hard, and you will hear High John de Conquer treading on his singing-drum. You will know then, that no matter how bad things look now, it will be worse for those who seek to oppress us. ... White America, take a laugh from out of our black mouths, and win! We give you High John de Conquer.|The American Mercury, October 1943, pp. 450-458<ref>{{Cite journal|date=October 1943|title = High John de Conquer, by Zora Neale Hu..., THE AMERICAN MERCURY}}</ref>}}

==Plant information==
[[File:Jalapae1.JPG|thumb|Jalapae root]]
The root known as High John the Conqueror or John the Conqueror root is said to be the root of ''[[Ipomoea jalapa]]'', also known as ''[[Ipomoea purga]]'', an ''[[Ipomoea]]'' species related to the morning glory and the [[sweet potato]]. The plant is known in some areas as bindweed or [[jalap]] root. It has a pleasant, earthy odor, but it is a strong [[laxative]] if taken internally. It is not used for this purpose in folk magic; it is instead used as one of the parts of a [[mojo (African American culture)|mojo bag]]. It is typically used in sexual spells of various sorts and it is also considered lucky for [[gambling]]. It is likely that the root acquired its reputation in sexual magic  because, when dried, it resembles the [[testicle]]s of a dark-skinned man. Because of this, when it is employed as an [[amulet]], it is important that the root used should be whole and unblemished. Dried pieces and chips of the root are used in formulating oils and washes that are used in other sorts of spells.

[[Cecil Adams]] has erroneously written that John the Conqueror root is the root of [[St. John's wort]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_318.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010124123200/http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_318.html |archive-date=January 24, 2001 |title=The Straight Dope: What is the "John the Conqueroo" made famous by blues singers?}}</ref> St. John's wort root is a thin and thread-like root while John the Conqueror root is a tuber. John the Conqueror root is carried by the user and the spell is cast by rubbing the root, which could not be done with a filamentous root.

== Other herbs related to the legend ==
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2012}}
Other roots are linked to the same body of legends.

Low John is the root of the [[trillium]] or wake-robin, ''[[Trillium grandiflorum]]''.  It is carried on the person for assistance in family matters. It is also known as [[Dixie]] John or Southern John and additionally is the basis for a [[Hoodoo (folk magic)|hoodoo]] formula called Dixie Love Oil.

"Chewing John" is [[galangal]], ''[[Alpinia galanga]]'', a member of the [[ginger]] family. This is chewed much as [[chewing tobacco]] is chewed, to sweeten the breath and to calm the stomach. It is said that if you spit the juice from chewing this root onto the floor of a courtroom before the [[judge]] enters, you will win your case. Other names for this root are Little John and Little John to Chew. It is called "Low John" in the Deep South.

==References==
{{reflist}}

=== General references ===
{{more footnotes needed|date=October 2012}}
* {{cite book |title=[[Mules and Men]] |first=Zora Neale |last=Hurston |publisher=Harper Perennial |year=1990 |isbn=978-0060916480}}
* {{cite book |title=The Sanctified Church: The Folklore Writings of Zora Neale Hurston |first=Zora Neale |last=Hurston |publisher=Turtle Island Foundation |year=1981 |isbn=978-0913666449 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sanctifiedchurch00hurs }}
* {{cite book |title=Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce |first=Carolyn Morrow |last=Long |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-1572331105}}

{{Hoodoo}}
{{Gullah topics|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:John The Conqueror}}
[[Category:Folklore of the Southern United States]]
[[Category:Herbs]]
[[Category:Hoodoo conjurors]]
[[Category:Heroes in mythology and legend]]