Meghan Kramer
April 26, 2015
UNIV 112
Jeffrey W. Murray
“Voodoo And Public Schools”
Introduction
Voodoo has historically been misinterpreted due to the prejudices of the racial majority.
Hollywood has sensationalized this religion, and in turn, the media has as well. Because of this,
Voodoo is not seen as a legitimate religion, and practitioners are oppressed and sometimes have
their right to practice this religion away. Voodoo first originated in Africa and travelled to the US
and Caribbean with the slave trade, and that is where the prejudice and misconceptions
originated. Most practitioners were forced to convert to Catholicism, and to this day most
Voodoo practitioners practice both religions. In Haiti, many of the spirits of Voodoo have been
syncretized with Catholic saints. However, Voodoo is not often viewed as a legitimate religion.
America was founded on principles of religious diversity, and this is ridiculous. Voodoo is
practiced heavily in many parts of America— most notably in Louisiana (Louisiana even has its
own form of Voodoo titled “Louisiana Voodoo.”), New York, and Southern America. Without
education on Voodoo expanding, Voodoo practitioners are oppressed daily due to
misinformation. Voodoo is also practiced heavily world wide.There is a simple solution to this:
American public high schools should teach students about Voodoo in Sophomore required
courses on world religion.
Argument 1 (Circumstance)
Due to racial prejudice, Voodoo has been misunderstood over time and even the word
“voodoo” has gained negative connotations because of this. Many dictionaries show the bad
connotation the word voodoo has in the media. Oxford Dictionary’s definition is perhaps the
most shockingly naïve and has the most undertones of prejudice: “a black religious cult practiced
in the Caribbean and the southern US, combining elements of Roman Catholic ritual with
traditional African magical and religious rites, and characterized by sorcery and spirit
possession,” with synonyms listed such as “black magic,” “witchcraft,” and “dark arts” (Oxford
Dictionary). The American Heritage Dictionary has a more knowledgable definition of the actual
religion; however, their third definition shows how the word has come to mean something
derogatory:
“1. A religion of West African origin practiced chiefly in Haiti and other Caribbean countries,
based on animism, magic, and elements of Roman Catholic ritual, and characterized by belief in
a supreme God and a large pantheon of local and tutelary deities, deified ancestors, and saints,
who communicate with believers in dreams, trances, and ritual possessions. Also called vodoun.
2. A practitioner, priest, or priestess of voodoo.
3. Deceptive or delusive nonsense” (American Heritage Dictionary).” Alasdair Pettinger,
journalist for the website Bulldozia, explains why the Library of Congress and other scholarly
institutions have been switching from the word “Voodoo” to “Vodou” in the article “Voodoo to
Vodou.” She states, “Librarians are giving up voodoo. The word voodoo, that is: the conveniently
rhyming disyllable that first emerged in English in antebellum New Orleans and by the end of
the nineteenth century had become almost obligatory in every British and North American report
on Haiti - of which there were many, especially in the years following the invasion by U.S.
marines in 1915” (Pettinger). Pettinger goes onto explain that many anthropologists made the
switch to Voodoo in the 1930’s, “marking their distance from the sensationalist travelogues and
feature films popular at the time” (Pettinger). In October 2012, after lobbying by advocacy
groups, the Library of Congress changed all mention of “voodoo” to the term “vodou” in
reference to the religion (Pettinger). They released a statement saying that they found “'found the
documentation of the scholars’ and practitioners’ arguments that ‘voodoo’ is pejorative to be
compelling'” (Pettinger). B.A. Robinson of the website “ReligiousTolerance.org”, operated by
the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, describes the origin of the misunderstanding of
voodoo by American culture: “An inaccurate and sensational book (S. St. John, "Haiti or the
Black Republic") was written in 1884. It described Vodun as a profoundly evil religion, and
included lurid descriptions of human sacrifice, cannibalism, etc., some of which had been
extracted from Vodun priests by torture. This book caught the imagination of people outside the
West Indies, and was responsible for much of the misunderstanding and fear that is present today.
Hollywood found this a rich source for Voodoo screen plays. Horror movies began in the 1930's
and continue today to misrepresent Vodun. It is only since the late 1950's that accurate studies by
anthropologists have been published” (Robinson). Now that we have discussed some of the
negative connotations the word Voodoo has gathered over time, we will move on to why the
misconceptions about Voodoo will impact practitioners and what we should do about it.
Argument 2 (Consequence)
If we implement my policy, American students will no longer hold misconceptions about
voodoo. If we do not change misconceptions about voodoo, millions of practitioners worldwide
will continue to be oppressed or possibly have their right to practice the religion taken away.
When historically racist implications paint an entire religion, practitioners of the religion are
often oppressed or have their right to practice the religion taken away. For example, in Haiti,
voodoo was banned in 1934 and practitioners had to practice underground (Fleeson). In 1986, a
voodoo purge took place and at least 100, possibly several-hundred priests and practitioners were
burned, hacked, or beaten to death (Fleeson). Following the murders, in 1987, a new Haitian
constitution ended the 53-year ban on the religion (Fleeson). Haitian anthropologist Antenor
Firmin claims when speaking of Voodoo that “Arguably no religion has been subject to more
maligning and misinterpretation from outsiders over the past century” (Ulysse). In a Huffington
Post article, anthropologist Gina Athena Ulysse discusses Kate Henson’s book The Spirit And
The Law, which won an award for best book published in any field of history in 2011. Ulysse
says that the book lays out the different ways “the religion has been (mis)used to restrict the
“barbaric” black nation, which eventually defied its colonizers and won its freedom. [Kate
Henson’s] undertaking not only exposes the imperialist "roots" and "routes" of the stigma but
also Haitians' complicity in damning this cultural heritage, an issue that remains pertinent
today” (Ulysse). If we do not change misconceptions about Voodoo, restrictions and purges like
this could happen again, possibly even in America, and that can not be tolerated. We have
covered the possible consequences of not educating people on Voodoo, but do any authorities on
religion or education agree?
Argument 3 (Authority)
The Interfaith Center of New York came up with the idea of offering a “Live Teaching”
course to teachers, in which they took them to mosques, temples, and churches to have them
view religious rituals firsthand so as to better teach world religion to their students (Webster). In
the summer of 2014 The Interfaith Center of New York took twenty teachers on these “field
trips” and encouraged them to repeat the same sort of “field trips” with their classroom
(Webster). One of the places they took this group of teachers was to see one of the African
Diaspora leaders, a Voodoo priestess, perform a ritual so that they could teach about the
experience to their students (Webster).Regarding the encounter, here is what two teachers said:
“Amy Frost Boyd, of the Social Studies Department at KAPPA International High School in the
Bronx said, ‘Stepping outside my zone of familiarity has been useful. It makes me mindful of the
feelings of awkwardness and confusion that my students feel whenever I begin to teach them
about faiths they don’t know anything about.’ And Suki Highers, a Social Studies teacher in
Fayetteville, Arkansas said: ‘It blew my mind. Overnight, I am completely re-thinking my class
curriculum’”(Webster). The fact that teachers who teach religious studies were so blown away by
this encounter with legitimate Voodoo practices shows how deeply rooted misconceptions about
this religion are in the American consciousness. If American public high schools alone add
sensitivity to Voodoo to the core curriculum, the nearly 15 million high school students who
attend public high school each year will be more educated on Voodoo and be able to dispel
misinformation for the rest of American students and spread the idea that this is a legitimate
religion over the Internet to the rest of the world (US Department of Education). They may even
prevent the Hollywood sensationalization of the religion by not showing up at the box office
when a movie is glaringly offensive to voodoo practitioners. Now that we have discussed
authorities that advocate for Voodoo education and the statistics for how many people we
could be educating with this policy, we will compare the idea of teaching Voodoo to
functions American public schools already perform.
Argument 4 (Comparison)
Most high schools in America teach units on Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity,
Shinto, and Buddhism (Laycock). Similarly, these high schools could offer short units on
Voodoo, a religion Americans are also likely to encounter. Teacher Joseph Laycock, who used to
teach high school but now teaches religious studies at Texas State University, explains, “When I
worked as a public school teacher, I found that religion made administrators extremely nervous. I
continually encountered colleagues who believed that the Constitution requires public schools to
be ‘religion-free zones.’ This notion is not only inaccurate; it undermines the very educational
standards that public schools are charged with teaching” (Laycock). Joseph Laycock argues that
it is irresponsible and immoral to fail to educate students on Islam in a country shaped by the war
on terror (Laycock). Similarly, it is irresponsible to not educate students on Voodoo, a religion
heavily present in America that originated with the slaves America was built on the backs of. A
huge issue in this country is the quality of religious education. “Despite being such a religiously
diverse nation, America has levels of religious literacy that are abysmal. In a 2010 survey, the
Pew Forum asked more than 3,000 Americans some simple questions about the world’s religions.
Most respondents could answer only half of them correctly……This does not bode well.
Religious literacy is necessary to the health of a democratic, pluralistic society” (Laycock). Now
that we have covered why religious literacy should be taught in schools, we will discuss why
Voodoo should be taught and define the problem.
Argument 5 (Definition)
As we just discussed, America’s religious literacy is abysmal (Laycock). Considering the
fact that this is an extremely religiously diverse nation, this is a problem. But why should schools
teach Voodoo specifically? Dr. Mary Clark teaches at both Yavapai College in Prescott and the
University of Houston Clear Lake. Here is what she has to say on the subject: “The connection
between the Orisha religions and ideas about ‘black witchcraft’ continues. ‘Black’ in this
instance refers to both the purported African underpinnings and a way of distinguishing between
that and so-called ‘white’ or ‘good’ witchcraft. In the common understanding, ‘black’ magic is
malevolent and self-concerned, caught up in wickedness or death. The generalized term for this
doubly black magic is ‘voodoo,’ the form of sorcery brought by Africans and practiced by
unsavory characters. This usage leads both the police and the media to describe any unusual or
ritualistic crimes as involving ‘voodoo or Santeria’”(Clark) Just as Santeria, a religion of
African/Latino origins that came to America with the slave trade, has been oppressed and
misconstrued by police and the media, Voodoo has as well (Clark). National Geographic
estimates that 60 million people practice Voodoo worldwide (Gunyup) . This is 60 million
people who are potentially being oppressed or possibly having their religion banned in the place
where they live. Now that we have discussed the way Voodoo is misunderstood and how
many people are oppressed because of this, we will discuss why you should care.
Argument 6 (Value)
America is founded on principles of religious freedom, as stated in the 1st amendment,
which allows for diversity. Without diversity, and the ability for people to practice their own
religion unhindered by racism, we are shirking an important American value. One of the most
embarrassing parts of American history, the Salem witch trials, was probably started on the basis
of discrimination against voodoo. That situation began in Puritan Salem, Massachusetts, when
several young girls were caught practicing rituals with the slave Tituba. Tituba was from
Barbados, and probably practiced a variation of voodoo from the accounts of what they did with
her. The girls and Tituba were accused of witchcraft and pacts with the devil, beginning the
Salem witch trials. Preventing misunderstanding of Voodoo can prevent situations like this.
Introducing Voodoo into academia can prevent discrimination, and hopefully without the
discrimination and sensationalization of the religion it can continue to be practiced in America,
contributing to our continued diversity. More Americans have gotten better over time at
defending discrimination against Muslims in forums such as the Internet and public buses since
the religion has been taught in public schools. In a similar vein, more Americans may come to
the aid of Voodoo practitioners and stop treating this legitimate religion like a tourist attraction or
Hollywood subject. This should be taught specifically to Sophomores because they are old
enough to have more understanding and empathy than middle school students, but we are
instilling the information young enough to not let discriminatory ideas continue to persist. The
longer you allow someone to hold a racial stereotype, the harder it will be to change their
perception. Now that we have discussed why you should care and how this is affecting
Americans, I will conclude my essay.
Conclusion
America has a duty to educate its students, and Voodoo is a religion that has historically
been misrepresented due to racism. If we ever intend to move past racism as a nation, educating
our students on African religion is a crucial step. Voodoo is older than all of the Abrahamic
religions and is practiced heavily in America, Haiti, and the world at large. We must stop the
oppression and make sure that people are educated. American public high schools should teach
students about Voodoo in Sophomore required courses on world religion.
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Fleeson, Lucinda. “Voodoo Comes Out Of Hiding In Haiti. Once Banned, It Now Has Legal
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