John the conqueror root bag – History

The best reference for good stories, I think, is Zora Neale Hurston. I think you would enjoy her writings (if you haven't read them in the past)!

The root itself, named after the slave, John is, of course: High John the Conqueror (ipomoea purga) or "Jalap" and is a mainstay of African American magick, the root of this morning glory is named for a slave who refused to be servile. High John's ability to fool his master inspired many stories; he's considered a representative of African trickster gods.

Historians say that he was a black slave whose real life has been questioned in detail (some thought is that he was a fictional character developed by slaves to empower other slaves and give them hope). At any rate, real or fictional, the job was well done as he was an inspiration to slaves who wanted to rebel against their masters but could not do so openly. "John" was said to be the son of an African king and although he was a slave he never became subservient. His apparent cleverness at tricking his master supplied a great variet of stories with a very clear moral ending. If he was a real being, he soon acquired some of the characteristics of mythical trickster figures like the Native American Coyote, the African- American Bre'r Rabbit, and the West African deity known variously as Elegua, Legba, and Eshu. He gave — only to take away. He bet — and never lost. He played dumb — but he was never outsmarted. The reputation of High John is so great that, as recorded by the folklorist Harry Middleton Hyatt in the 1930s, just reciting the words "John over John" and "John the Conqueror" is a powerful spell of magical protection against being hoodooed.

According to Nora Zeale Hurston: "There is a story in which High John tells the people, "What we need is a song." . . . "It ain't here, and it ain't no place I knows of as yet. Us better go hunt around. This has got to be a particular piece of singing." She describes how John got the slaves to leave their bodies behind on the plantation while their souls went searching. They had to "reach inside yourselves and get out all those fine raiments you been toting around with you for the last longest." John brought them "a great black crow. The crow was so big that one wing rested on the morning while the other dusted the evening star." Riding on this crow, the people had many adventures, visited Hell and Heaven, found their song, and returned to the plantation. John told them, "Don't pay what he [Massa] say no mind. You know where you got something finer than this plantation and anything it's got on it, put away. Ain't that funny? Us got all that, and he don't know nothing at all about it. Don't tell him nothing. Nobody don't have to know where us gets our pleasure from."

And Muddy Waters (and I think someone else, I can't remember) recorded this song:

MY JOHN THE CONQUER ROOT

My pistol may snap, my mojo is frail

But i rub my root, my luck will never fail

When i rub my root, my John the Conquer root

Aww, you know there ain't nothin' she can do, Lord,

I rub my John the Conquer root

I was accused of murder in the first degree

The judge's wife cried, "Let the man go free!"

I was rubbin' my root, my John the Conquer root

Aww, you know there ain't nothin' she can do, Lord,

I rub my John the Conquer root

Oh, i can get in a game, don't have a dime,

All i have to do is rub my root, i win every time

When i rub my root, my John the Conquer root

Aww, you know there ain't nothin' she can do, Lord,

I rub my John the Conquer root

 

In Service, 

Mambo Sam