Start Date
4-10-2021 9:00 AM
End Date
4-10-2021 10:15 AM
Disciplines
History
Subjects
Trials (Witchcraft) -- Massachusetts -- Salem, Witchcraft -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- History -- 17th century., Trials (Witchcraft) -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- History -- 17th century, Tituba
Description
Abstract: The Salem Witch trials in seventeenth century New England focused on poor women who defied the social order of Puritans. One woman in Salem history who stood out among the women accused of the devil's bidding was Tituba. She was an enslaved servant in the household of Rev. Samuel Parris of Salem Village. She was accused of practicing voodoo due to her otherness stemming from her African or Indian descent. Accused of witchcraft, Tituba “confessed” to having practiced witchcraft and testified against others, leading to their condemnation and execution. In my essay, I will explore this question: Given Tituba’s outsider status as an enslaved person of African and Indian racial identity, why would the Puritans give credence to the confession to the extent of executing other women on the basis of her word?
PART OF SESSION 5B. WITCH TRIALS:
Comment: Theresa Earenfight, Seattle University
Chair: Charity Urbanski, University of Washington
Strangely Doesburg, Western Washington University, undergraduate student
“Allotrioemeis: Or, a Preposterous Preponderance of Pins Produced”
Ryan P. Mealiffe, University of Washington, undergraduate student
“Familiar Ecology: The Demonization of Spirit Knowledge in Early Modern England and its Ecological Ramifications”
Brooke Nicole Nicholson, Eastern Washington University, graduate student
“A ‘Confessed’ Witch: Tituba and Salem Witchcraft, 1692–1693”
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35234
Included in
A ‘Confessed’ Witch: Tituba and Salem Witchcraft, 1692–1693
Abstract: The Salem Witch trials in seventeenth century New England focused on poor women who defied the social order of Puritans. One woman in Salem history who stood out among the women accused of the devil's bidding was Tituba. She was an enslaved servant in the household of Rev. Samuel Parris of Salem Village. She was accused of practicing voodoo due to her otherness stemming from her African or Indian descent. Accused of witchcraft, Tituba “confessed” to having practiced witchcraft and testified against others, leading to their condemnation and execution. In my essay, I will explore this question: Given Tituba’s outsider status as an enslaved person of African and Indian racial identity, why would the Puritans give credence to the confession to the extent of executing other women on the basis of her word?
PART OF SESSION 5B. WITCH TRIALS:
Comment: Theresa Earenfight, Seattle University
Chair: Charity Urbanski, University of Washington
Strangely Doesburg, Western Washington University, undergraduate student
“Allotrioemeis: Or, a Preposterous Preponderance of Pins Produced”
Ryan P. Mealiffe, University of Washington, undergraduate student
“Familiar Ecology: The Demonization of Spirit Knowledge in Early Modern England and its Ecological Ramifications”
Brooke Nicole Nicholson, Eastern Washington University, graduate student
“A ‘Confessed’ Witch: Tituba and Salem Witchcraft, 1692–1693”