African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 929
pillows. They name their patterns “Men,” “Dolly Dingle Dolls,” “Cowboys,” “Man with
Two Dogs,” and “Fashionable Ladies.”
Mojo
The African American term Mojo refers to a hex or spell, healing medicine, and the
charm or amulet used to lift a spell or protect one from evil forces, as in the folksong
“Got My Mojo Working,” popularized by the blues singer Muddy Waters. A small square
red African American cloth charm called a Mojo, or a Hand (in the sense that a charm is
a helping hand), fuses West African and Central African charm concepts. Zora Neal
Hurston (1931) collected this information about a “hand”:
Take a piece of the fig leaf, sycamore bark, John de Conquer root, John de
Conquer vine, three paradise seeds. Take a piece of paper and draw a
square and let the party write his wishes. Begin, “I want to be successful
in all my undertakings.” Then cut the paper from around the square and let
him tear it up fine and throw it in from of the business place or house or
wherever he wants. Put the square in the “hand” and sew it all up in red
flannel. Sew with a strong thread and when seams are closed, pass the
thread back and forth through the bag ‘til all the thread is used up. To
pour on “hand:” oil of anise, oil of rose geranium, violet perfume, oil of
lavender, verbena, bay rum. “Hand must be renewed every six months.”
During the Civil War, triangles in a quilt design signified prayer messages or a prayer
badge, a way of offering a prayer, or asking for protection. Many African American
quilters prefer patterns, such as the “Nine Patch,” or the “Log Cabin,” which incorporate
small red squares to look like a Mojo. Some are decorative; others may be allusions to
protective charms.
African American quilts have been described as protective baffles to guard loved ones
in the night. We are just beginning to examine the many ways in which African American
artist use textiles to protect, heal, and encode ideas.
Conclusions
African American quilt patterns involve aesthetic decisions, but many of those aesthetic
choices derive from rich cultural tradi-tions. In their choice of techniques, textiles, forms,
design names, and colors, African American quilters perpetuate African techniques and
cloth forms. Strip quilts reflect the strong West African textile traditions that are also
evident in African-Caribbean fabrics. Many quilt patterns may have been chosen because
they awakened a memory of ceremonial textiles.
If only one or two African forms occurred in African American quilts, it could be
coincidental. But the numerous instances of similar forms, and sometimes similar
meanings, is evidence of a cultural heritage that is stronger than any one lineage. Like
many other African American folk artists, quilters are inspired by dreams. Not the dreams