Who's Who in Hoodoo History: Guinea Sam Nightingale
Well, I tell you what, Guinea Sam Nightingale is one ancestor that takes us to unexpected places: the intersection of Conjure and communism, Petro magick, and flying Africans. And that is what I love about studying the lives of the OGs of Hoodoo and conjure. The gifts just keep coming. Their lives have us learning about things we never even thought of, or if we did, they have us looking at things in completely different ways. That's the beauty of getting to know the ancestors - our worlds open up, our minds become sharper, we become curiouser and curiouser, we grow, and our own stories seem to become a little more important when we think in terms of legacy. How will our descendants speak of us? What lessons do we have intwined in our lives for others to learn? Do you have a story to tell?
Sam Nightingale was born in Guinea sometime between 1787 and 1810, brought to the U.S. as a captive at some point after a bán on the importation of slaves had gone into effect in 1808. According to legend, he manifested here by Petro Vodou inspired, explosive means, shot from a canon in Guinea all the way to Boonville, Missouri. This makes him a mighty powerful ancestor. If you need an ancestor who will literally blow shit up, get to know Guinea Sam. He was one of those African-born healers, resistànce fightèrs, and workers of magick who played central roles in the slave uprisings in the Americas, just like Nat Turner and Gullah Jack. He became a widely respected healer and conjuror in Central Missouri and a local celebrity in the city of Boonville.
In 1845, Guinea Sam was sold into the expanding cotton and sugar plantation sláve economy of the Deep South in Louisiana, where he stayed for about a decade. By the time he was forty, Nightingale was working along with more than sixty other slaves on a sugar plantation in Assumption Parish. He would be so well remembered in the state that a New Orleans African American newspaper ran an obituary of him when he died almost forty years later.
In Boonville, Guinea Sam was a respected figure and well-dressed man, known for his distinctive attire and community roles. He was renowned for his conjuring and healing abilities, curing illnesses, and performing remarkable feats like conjuring snakes and frogs for purpóses of luck and protection. He adopted the name "Guinea" to cónnect to Voudou traditions and as a way to signify a connection to his origins. His encounters with people who could "fly" in Georgia added to his mystique, connecting Africa to political thought.
Guinea Sam’s story intersected with the political landscape of antebellum Missouri, where German émigrés with radical ideologies were active, contributing to the struggle against slavery and the emergence of international communism. According to Lucy Broaddus, who grew up in slavery in Boonville, conjure men like Sam Nightingale had been more important than the Union leadership in ending slávery: “It was them that freed the slaves," she explained. "They give a hand to Lincoln and them other big emancipator men so that they could bring it about a gift from the colored people of conjuration and power.” Now I don't know if "they give a hand to Lincoln" means they assisted him or gave him a mojo hand (hand is another term for mojo bag) and I guess it doesn't really matter because either way they made an impact. They extended their support to figures like Lincoln and other prominent emancipators, contributing through the unique powers and conjurations they possessed. Healers in these traditions treated not only individual diseases but also social ailments, including those brought about by slavery, capitalism, and imperialism. Their approach to addressing the challenges faced by working people in the capitalist Atlantic world differed from European revolutionary doctrines, offering an alternative perspective on healing and empowerment.
After the Civil Wár, Guinea Sam continued practicing Conjure in Boonville, often alongside his wife, Maria, who was the widow of a U.S. Colored Troops veteran.
Nightingale diéd in 1887, during the early August festivities with which African Americans had long celebrated the end of slavery. In Boonville each year, thousands of African Americans participated in a parade, a picnic, and a festival in Thespian Hall, the main theater in the city. On the day of the 1887 August emancipation celebrations, Sam Nightingale died “peacefully . . .while the streets were crowded with his brethren celebrating the anniversary of freedom, a fitting time for the true and wearied soul to secure that freedom and peace he so well deserved."
Cc: Crossroaduniversity
Gúys let's gèt óur YóuTube chánnel (ÝT: Histórical Africa) to 3OOķ súbscribers. Kindly cliçk on the linķ to súbscribe https://youtube.com/c/HistoricalAfrica
Well, I tell you what, Guinea Sam Nightingale is one ancestor that takes us to unexpected places: the intersection of Conjure and communism, Petro magick, and flying Africans. And that is what I love about studying the lives of the OGs of Hoodoo and conjure. The gifts just keep coming. Their lives have us learning about things we never even thought of, or if we did, they have us looking at things in completely different ways. That's the beauty of getting to know the ancestors - our worlds open up, our minds become sharper, we become curiouser and curiouser, we grow, and our own stories seem to become a little more important when we think in terms of legacy. How will our descendants speak of us? What lessons do we have intwined in our lives for others to learn? Do you have a story to tell?
Sam Nightingale was born in Guinea sometime between 1787 and 1810, brought to the U.S. as a captive at some point after a bán on the importation of slaves had gone into effect in 1808. According to legend, he manifested here by Petro Vodou inspired, explosive means, shot from a canon in Guinea all the way to Boonville, Missouri. This makes him a mighty powerful ancestor. If you need an ancestor who will literally blow shit up, get to know Guinea Sam. He was one of those African-born healers, resistànce fightèrs, and workers of magick who played central roles in the slave uprisings in the Americas, just like Nat Turner and Gullah Jack. He became a widely respected healer and conjuror in Central Missouri and a local celebrity in the city of Boonville.
In 1845, Guinea Sam was sold into the expanding cotton and sugar plantation sláve economy of the Deep South in Louisiana, where he stayed for about a decade. By the time he was forty, Nightingale was working along with more than sixty other slaves on a sugar plantation in Assumption Parish. He would be so well remembered in the state that a New Orleans African American newspaper ran an obituary of him when he died almost forty years later.
In Boonville, Guinea Sam was a respected figure and well-dressed man, known for his distinctive attire and community roles. He was renowned for his conjuring and healing abilities, curing illnesses, and performing remarkable feats like conjuring snakes and frogs for purpóses of luck and protection. He adopted the name "Guinea" to cónnect to Voudou traditions and as a way to signify a connection to his origins. His encounters with people who could "fly" in Georgia added to his mystique, connecting Africa to political thought.
Guinea Sam’s story intersected with the political landscape of antebellum Missouri, where German émigrés with radical ideologies were active, contributing to the struggle against slavery and the emergence of international communism. According to Lucy Broaddus, who grew up in slavery in Boonville, conjure men like Sam Nightingale had been more important than the Union leadership in ending slávery: “It was them that freed the slaves," she explained. "They give a hand to Lincoln and them other big emancipator men so that they could bring it about a gift from the colored people of conjuration and power.” Now I don't know if "they give a hand to Lincoln" means they assisted him or gave him a mojo hand (hand is another term for mojo bag) and I guess it doesn't really matter because either way they made an impact. They extended their support to figures like Lincoln and other prominent emancipators, contributing through the unique powers and conjurations they possessed. Healers in these traditions treated not only individual diseases but also social ailments, including those brought about by slavery, capitalism, and imperialism. Their approach to addressing the challenges faced by working people in the capitalist Atlantic world differed from European revolutionary doctrines, offering an alternative perspective on healing and empowerment.
After the Civil Wár, Guinea Sam continued practicing Conjure in Boonville, often alongside his wife, Maria, who was the widow of a U.S. Colored Troops veteran.
Nightingale diéd in 1887, during the early August festivities with which African Americans had long celebrated the end of slavery. In Boonville each year, thousands of African Americans participated in a parade, a picnic, and a festival in Thespian Hall, the main theater in the city. On the day of the 1887 August emancipation celebrations, Sam Nightingale died “peacefully . . .while the streets were crowded with his brethren celebrating the anniversary of freedom, a fitting time for the true and wearied soul to secure that freedom and peace he so well deserved."
Cc: Crossroaduniversity
Gúys let's gèt óur YóuTube chánnel (ÝT: Histórical Africa) to 3OOķ súbscribers. Kindly cliçk on the linķ to súbscribe https://youtube.com/c/HistoricalAfrica