There’s an ongoing joke on the internet about Black folks and our unwavering faith in Ginger Ale and laying down as a cure all. In reality, this represents the ways our community has always used what we had at our disposal to heal ourselves and our loved ones. My grandmother recently shared with me that her father wasn’t big on doctors. Instead, he often created his own home remedies with an assortment of herbs. I mean, who could blame him given the racism Black folks have faced in healthcare then and now? We have always been a people who learned to adapt to our environment. That is an inheritance that goes all the way back to when our ancestors were first brought to this land.

Black Joy has curated a list of books detailing the history of Black healing traditions and how they continue to play a pivotal role in our community today.

A noted author of several books on Black spirituality, Stephanie Rose Bird takes the reader on a personal and historical journey of the forest and the magic it holds. “The Healing Tree” honors the deeply complicated, but intimate relationship African Americans have with the trees—and celebrates the ancestral wisdom that has been inherited across the African diaspora on the healing and restorative power of the natural world.

This groundbreaking guide provides a comprehensive history of African American herbal healing and highlights notable healers whose legacy lives on in more modern herbalism practices of today. From herbal remedies to foraging, “African American Herbalism” is a practical toolkit for anyone wanting to learn more about the healing and medicinal uses of herbs.

“Working the Roots” is a collection of interviews, stories and recipes rooted in the 400+ years legacy of African American healers in the rural south and west coast regions of the United States. This body of work is not only a history of the medicinal practices of formerly enslaved folks and their descendants, it is also an encyclopedia of ancestral knowledge on healing herbs and remedies. This is a book you will return to over and over again for mind, body and soul wisdom.

In “Hoodoo Medicine”, author and anthropologist Faith Mitchell documents the unique history of the Gullah people of the South Carolina Sea Islands. Mitchell illustrates how formerly enslaved folks and their descendants were able to use their medicinal practices brought over from the continent and adapt it to their new environment. “Hoodoo Medicine” captures the ways the Gullah people held on to their indigenous practices for generations, in addition to providing a directory of the roots and herbs that were commonly used.

“African American Folk Healing” explores the history of Black healing practices dating back to slavery. Author and researcher, Stephanie Mitchem reveals the expansiveness of these practices and how they are expressed throughout Black communities. This book demonstrates how these healing traditions were, and remain, an extension of the social, political and spiritual lives of Black Americans.

You can find and purchase all these books on the Black Joy Bookshop page.