Tituba

Tituba, also called "TIBULA" or Tituba Indian, was one of the first three people accused of practicing witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts.

Salem witch trials

Tituba was the thirdperson accused of, but first person to confess to witchcraft in Salem Village. She, at first, denied that she had anything to do with witchcraft, but then quickly confessed to having spoken with the Devil. Tituba then went on to accuse the other two women, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, who were also arrested for witchcraft. Both Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne maintained their innocence. Tituba also went on to say that there were two other women and one man that were also involved in witchcraft to hurt the children of Salem Village. Tituba would not say who these people were.

Many scholars believe that without Tituba's confession, the Salem Witch-hunts and trials would never have gotten out of hand. Elaine Breslaw, a scholar that studied Tituba closely, writes, "Tituba's subsequent testimony confirmed the worst fears of a diabolical presence and gave the Salem worthies reason to launch a witchhunt." [Elaine G Breslaw, "Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies" (New York: New York University Press, 1996), 107.] Tituba, who did not name any other names, besides Good and Osborne, left it open to any number of people, including men, to fill those spots of witches she spoke of. Breslaw also says that Tituba's confession opened the border of the witchhunt beyond Salem Village. Other women and men from surrounding villages were accused and arrested of witchcraft at the Salem witchcraft trials. [Elaine G. Breslaw, "Tituba's Confession: The Multicultural Dimensions of the 1692 Salem Witch-hunt," "Ethnohistory" 44(Summer 1997): 544.]

Another issue discussed about Tituba is why she confessed in the first place. Some scholars, such as Charles Upham, believe that she was beaten into giving a confession by her master Samuel Parris. The only source that is written about this is by Robert Calef who wrote, "The account she since gives of it is, that her master did beat her, and otherwise abuse her, to make her confess and accuse (such as he called) her sister-witches." [Charles Upham, "Salem Witchcraft: With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions of Witchcraft and Kindred Subject" (1867; repr., New York: Frederick Ungar, 1969), 32.] Breslaw, though, warns about trusting Calef as a source because he was set out to discredit Increase and Cotton Mather, and therefore may have exaggerated the truth about Tituba's abuse. [Breslaw, "Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem", 223 n.5.] Scholars such as Marion L. Starkey and Peter Charles Hoffer, believe that Tituba's confession was to get revenge on the Puritans, who oppressed her. Starkey believes that at first Tituba was cued by the magistrates, but then saw the power she held over them and began to confess things from other cultures to make them afraid and get the revenge she deserved. [Marion L. Starkey, "The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Enquiry into the Salem Witch Trials" (1949; repr., New York: Anchor Books, 1969), 58-59.]

Scholars also like to discuss what Tituba confessed in her confession and how it had an impact on the Salem Witch-hunts. Not only did Tituba accuse others in her confession, but she talked about black dogs, hogs, a yellow bird, red and black rats, cats and a wolf. Tituba talked about riding sticks to different places. Tituba confessed that Sarah Osbourn had a thing with a head of a woman, two legs, and wings. Tituba also mentions a hairy beast in shape of a man. Breslaw believes that all of this is a mixture of the things that Tituba viewed as witchcraft and got from the different cultures she was exposed to. By mixing the different views on witchcraft she unintentionally sets Salem Village into chaos by confirming that Satan was among them. [Breslaw, "Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem", 170.]

Historical debate

The physical description of Tituba has been surrounded by controversy from the first historical analysis of her. It was initially assumed that she was of Indian descent [Elaine G. Breslaw, "Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies." (New York: New York University Press, 1996)] . But over time the origins of Tituba have begun to be re-evaluated and old theories have been contested. One scholar who disagrees with the old theory that Tituba was Indian is Maryse Condé [Maryse Conde, "I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem 1992." (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994)] . Conde tells the story of Tituba from a narrative and fictional point of view. Conde suggests Tituba was an African slave whose mother was raped on the passage from Africa and then gave birth to Tituba after she arrived in Barbados. This account of Tituba’s origins does not claim to rely on facts for all of its evidence, but there is no way to conclude with any certainty where Tituba was in fact from. In "Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem", Elaine G. Breslaw writes,

according to local legend, Tituba and her husband, John, “were spoken of as having come from New Spain…that is, the Spanish West Indies, and the adjacent mainland,” is borne out by the record of known slave-capturing activities in South America.

Breslaw believes that Tituba was an Arawak Indian from Guiana who was either kidnapped and then brought to Barbados or her tribe had migrated there though South America.

Veta Smith Ticker [Veta Smith Ticker, author of "Purloined Identity: The Racial metamorphosis of Tituba of Salem Village." Journal of Black Studies (March 2000) 624-634.] , writes

17th-century Puritans blended the categories Indian, African, and slave. In seventeenth century Massachusetts, such discriminations among unregenerate peoples of color were considered unnecessary, especially for slaves. By 1692 (exactly 2 centuries after first contact)Columbus' misnaming had yielded a catchall term variously applied to the Guanahani, the Caribbe, the Aztecs, and West Indies Africans.

Thus Ticker illustrates why we will probably never know where Tituba was really from. Since there was no clear distinction by the Puritans on the racial differences between Indians, Africans, and slaves it remains hard to truly identify Tituba’s origin. This however is not the only reason for the scholarly debate over the identity of Tituba. Another reason is covered by Chadwick Hansen. In Hansen's article the issue of the racial identity of witches during Puritan times is addressed. Hansen states [Chadwick Hansen, " The Metamorphosis of Tituba, or Whey American Intellectuals Can’t Tell an Indian Witch from a Negro." The New England Quarterly 47 (March 1974) 3-12.]

Over the years the magic Tituba practiced has been changed by historians and dramatists from English, to India, to African. More startlingly, her own race has been changed from Indian, to half-Indian and half-Negro, to Negro…There is no evidence to support these changes, but there is an instructive lesson in American historiography to be read in them.

In the Name of Black Magic

The race of Tituba has been debated for 150 years. Undoubtedly, the racial politics of the mid-19th century is responsible for this debate. Although all the documents from the Salem Witch Trials that mention Tituba characterize her as an Indian woman, in the 1860s her race began to change.

In supporting the African origin of Tituba, Veta Tucker Smith claims that Puritan society “…did not perceive African and Indian as thoroughly contrasting racial identities,” and often lumped the two together. [Veta Smith Tucker, "Purloined Identity: The Racial Metamorphosis of Tituba of Salem Village," "Journal of Black Studies", (March 2000) 624-634.] According to Smith, this would explain why 17th century documents labeled Tituba an Indian. However, a simple glance into those same documents proves that Smith’s analysis falls short of reliability. The case of Mary Black, another accused witch of Salem, clearly shows that 17th century Puritans did in fact distinguish Indians and Africans. In the examination of Black, the records states, “mr Samuell parris being desired to take in wrighting the Examination of Mary Black a Negro Woman…” [Verbatim transcripts of the Salem Witch Trials accessed online at etext.virginia.edu] The question posed, then, is how did Tituba become black over time?

The origins of the debate can be traced to Charles Upham’s "Salem Witchcraft", published in 1867. Upham wrote that Titiba and her husband, John Indian, hailed from the Caribbean, or, New Spain as it was called in the 19th century. [Chadwick Hansen, “The Metamorphosis of Tituba, or Why American Intellectuals Can’t Tell an Indian Witch From a Negro,” "The New England Quarterly" Vol 47 No 1 (March 1974), 3-12.] Because slaves in colonial Spain were allowed to commingle and often entered into sexual relations with each other, scholars began to assume that Tituba was of mixed heritage. In the 1860s and the decades that followed, race relations in the United State had reached one of it’s lowest points. At a time when blacks were perceived as being inferior in every conceivable way, and often blamed for societal transgressions, it is not hard to see why scholars at the time would imagine Tituba as being, at the very least, ‘tinged’ with African ancestry.

A year after Upham’s contribution, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow went a step further in "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms" and claimed Tituba was “’the daughter of a man all black and fierce…He was an Obi man, and taught [her] magic.’ Obi, or Obeah, is a specifically African and Afro-American system of magic.” [Hansen, “The Metamorphosis of Tituba.”] It is generally agreed by scholars since the mid-19th century that Tituba had taught and practiced voodoo with the young girls of Salem. Voodoo is certainly a West African religious rite that was practiced in the Caribbean during the 17th century. To be sure, if Tituba did indeed come from that region, she could have learned some form of voodoo from other slaves. However, this does not necessarily mean that Tituba herself was black. More importantly, there is nothing in the Salem documents that says Tituba practiced voodoo. In fact, in her confession, all of the magic Tituba admitted to having practiced was European in nature, such as signing the Devil’s book, and making the infamous “witchcake.”

Further complicating the debate is the name Tituba itself. According to Smith, 'Tituba' is a Yoruba word. Prominent in Nigeria, Yoruba is an ethnic group who speak a language of the same name. Smith points out that "titi" in Yoruba means 'endless.' Also, the word "Tituba" in that same language is a verb that means ‘to atone.' [Smith, "Purloined Identity."] However, in the Spanish language, the word "titubear" means ‘to stammer.’ If Tituba hailed from the Caribbean, or was a native to the South American continent bordering the Caribbean, as Elaine G. Breslaw claims, she could have surely been given a Spanish name. Furthermore, in the 16th century the Spanish identified a tribe of Indians around the Orinoco River that they named “Tibetibe.” Anthropologists also distinguished a group of Arawaks around the Amacura River called the “Tetebetana.” [Elaine G. Breslaw, "Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies", (New York University Press: New York, 1997).] The name Tituba could easily be assumed to originate from any one of the above sources.

Despite the complications with the her name, and Tituba’s confession lacking anything resembling black magic (i.e. African, Caribbean, Voodoo, or even AmerIndian magic for that matter), 19th century scholars sent the American imagination whirling. Gradually, Tituba’s image blackened and she was repeatedly referred to as “half-Indian, half-Negro.” By the time Arthur Miller’s play, "The Crucible," debuted on Broadway in 1953, Tituba was simply, “a Negro.”

Fiction

Tituba is the protagonist of the novel "I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem" (1982) by Maryse Condé. She also featured prominently in the play "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller. The image of Tituba as the instigator of witchcraft at Salem was reinforced by the opening scene of "The Crucible", which owes much to Marion L. Starkey’s work "The Devil in Massachusetts" (1949).

In the play, Tituba was brought to Salem from Barbados, was taught how to conjure up spirits, and had allegedly dabbled in sorcery, witchcraft, and Satanism. These fictional accounts hold that Abigail Williams and the other girls tried to use her knowledge when dancing in the woods before the trials began; it was, in fact, their being caught that led to those events. With the original intention of covering up their own sinful deeds, Tituba was the one to be accused by Abigail, who had in fact drank from a magic cup Tituba made, to kill John Proctor's wife Elizabeth and to bewitch him into loving her. She and the other girls claimed to have seen Tituba "with the Devil."

It is ironic that the belief that Tituba led these girls astray has persisted in popular lore, fiction and non fiction alike. The charge, which is seen by some as having barely disguised racial undertones, is based on the imagination of authors like Starkey, who mirrors Salem’s accusers when she asserts that "I have invented the scenes with Tituba .... but they are what I really believe happened."

Tituba is also the main character in the book "Tituba of Salem Village" by Ann Petry. Ann Petry's book was written for children 10 and up and is important to the historical relevance of Tituba and her role as a witch in Salem. Tituba is made a character symbolizing slavery and witchcraft who causes a great deal of distress in the Salem Village in the late 17th century.

References

External links

*Link to Salem witchcraft video [http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/story/story.html]
*Link to information on Barbados [http://www.barbados.org/history1.htm]