The Praxis of Church and State in the (Under)Development of Women's Religion from France to the New World
William & Mary Journal of Race
The P raxis of Church and State in the (Under)Development of Women's Religion from France to the New World
Barbara L. Bernier 0
0 Barbara L. Bernier, Th e Praxis of Church and State in the (Under)Development of Women's Religion from France to the New World, 7 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 659 (2001), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol7/iss3/4
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"There is no penalty cruel enough to punish the evil ofwitches
... since all their wickedness, blasphemies and all their designs
rise up against the majesty of God to offend Him in a thousand
ways."
INTRODUCTION
I was surprised to learn of the insurrection of black, white and
colored women in New Orleans in the late eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries.2 My initial research indicated that witchcraft
was alive and well in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, but it appeared to be lost as Europeans crossed the
Atlantic. Upon further inquiry, I discovered that in certain parts of
France women accused of witchcraft were often banished, rather
than burned at the stake.3 These banished women often arrived in
San Domingue, currently known as Haiti, as indentured servants.4
* Associate Professor of Law, Roger Williams University School of Law; B.A. 1972, State
University of New York (Plattsburgh); M.S.W., 1974, Adelphi University;, J.D. 1978, Howard
University;, L.L.M. 1980, Temple University. I would like to thank Bethany Foose and
Daphne Clarke for outstanding research assistance. I would also like to thank Kari Lou
Frank, Sheryl Orr and Juli Horka-Ruiz of the William and MaryJournalof Women and the
Law for their work on this Article. I dedicate this Article to the women who took a stand and
continue to take a stand for justice and freedom.
1. JONATHAN L. PEARL, THE CRIME OF CRIMES: DEMONOLOGY AND POLITICS IN FRANCE,
1560-1620, at 121 (1999) (quoting JEAN BODIN, ON THE DEMON-MANIA OF WITcHES 1580, at
204 (Jonathan L. Pearl & Randy Scott eds. & trans., 1995)).
2. See William H. Seymour, A Voudou Story, TIMES PICAYUNE (New Orleans), Aug. 14,
1806, at 14. This newspaper article discusses a meeting ofwhite and black women engaged
in a voodoo ritual with a woman named Celeste as the main character. Id. The incorporation
of the French influence on witchcraft in New Orleans is evident from the story's conclusion:
On the banks of the Seine, in France, on a bright summer day, might be seen, in company
with a holy sister, a pale, wan woman; as she walks along she mutters incoherent words; at
times a sad smile pervades her countenance, her actions strange, all betray a mind diseased,
a body from whence all reason has forever flown. Within the cloistered walls wherein she has
resided for years, only to the mother superior is known the melancholy fate of her who at
times answers to the name ofCeleste.
Id.
3. BRIAN P. LEVACK, THE WITCH-HUNT IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE 83-84 (1987).
4. LASNNEC HURBON, VOODOO: SEARCH FOR THE SPIRIT 19 (Lory Frankel trans., 1995)
(noting that "[inorder to meet the pressing demands for labor, the company even imported
impoverished whites, called engages, who were treated like slaves for thirty-six months").
[Vol. 7:659
The connection between France and Haiti is reinforced by
comparing the names given to witches in these areas. A common
French term for witches in some regions was vaudois.5 This is very
similar to the Haitian terms voodoo and voodooiennes. The Haitian
revolution unleashed both slaves and indentured servants onto the
shores of North America, specifically in Louisiana.6 New Orleans is
particularly interesting because the slaves from San Domingue
brought the concept of voodoo with them, which the New Orleans
culture incorporated.7 Furthermore, the French Code Noir, which
was enacted in Louisiana, prescribed a different approach to the
legal rights and responsibilities of both slaves and slave owners
than was typical in the colonies.' The legal system in New Orleans
provided the opportunity for interaction between whites and people
of color.9 This in turn permitted women of all colors to unite to
practice the woman-based religion known as witchcraft. This
Article presents the historical roots of witchcraft in France, the
emergence of voodoo and witchcraft in Louisiana and the
interconnection of white women and women of color who practiced this
religion, which conflicted with patriarchal norms grounded in law
and religion.
This Article consists of three components. Part I looks to the
historical significance of witchcraft in France. Part II discusses the
interconnection of legal slavery, pla~ageand witchcraft in the state
of Louisiana and Part III discusses contemporary social and legal
5. E. WILLIAM MONTER, WITCHcRAFT IN FRANcE AND SwITzERLAND: THE BORDERLANDS
DURING THE REFORMATION 195 (1976).
6. See GWENDOLYN MDLO HALL, AFRICANS IN COLONIAL LOUISIANA: THE DEVELOPMENT
OFAFRO-CREOLE CULTURE INTHE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY302 (1992) ("Pon and Yoruba [ancient
African nations] religious practices deep (...truncated)