John the Conqueror Root

So, in 1833 Frederick Douglass was a slave who rebelled against a brutal farmer and went on to become “The Sage of Anacostia” and is one of the most prominent figures in African American and United States History. Well that’s according to Wikipedia. But I read this interesting story* about another version of his rebellion. The story said that one day after a brutal beating Douglass ran out into the woods to hide. While he was out there he ran into an old Black man. The man told Douglass that he had something that could help him out with his problem. He handed Douglass some John the Conqueror root. He said that the root would protect him from anyone wanting to do him harm. So Douglass took the root and went back home where the brutal farmer continued to beat him. But this time Douglass lashed out at him and overcame the farmer. Douglass won this confrontation and the man never tried to beat him again. What’s interesting is that later after winning his freedom and writing his first autobiography, Douglass retold the story and attributed at least in small part his new found strength to the John the Conqueror root. But later in life he told the story again in another biography and this time left out all mention of the man in the forest giving him the root. So what really happened? Why did his story change? Did the root really protect him? Who knows..

*Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation -Mitch Horowitz