Skip to main content

[Review of The Conjure Woman]

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, publish "The Conjure Woman," by Charles W. Chestnut[sic]. The scene of these exquisite stories of the negro strategy and superstition is in North Carolina, and the time is "after the wah." A Yankee and his wife from the north buy a plantation that has been lying uncultivated for several years, notwithstanding the warning of the venerable colored squatter on the place, that it had been hoodoed by a conjure woman of marvelous accomplishments, and devotes himself to grape culture. The old squatter is propitiated by his appointment as coachman to the new establishment, and the other conjure stories are related by him from time to time as circumstances seem to make them necessary to influence his employers and especially his mistress, who is much impressed with them. The collection is one of the best of recent contributions to Afro-American lore. Price, cloth, $1.25. For sale by H. W. Brown, South Eleventh street.

↑