Tituba - Ethnic Background

Ethnic Background

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" (Native American) woman, in the 1860s her race began to change.

In supporting the African origin of Tituba, Veta Smith Tucker claims that Puritan society “…did not perceive African and Indian as thoroughly contrasting racial identities,” and often lumped the two together. According to Smith Tucker, 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 black Woman…” The question posed then is how did the public perception of Tituba's change from Indian to black over time?

The origins of the debate can be traced to Charles Upham’s Salem Witchcraft, published in 1867. Upham wrote that Tituba and her husband, John Indian, hailed from the Caribbean, or, New Spain as it was called in the 19th century. 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 States had reached one of its 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 magic.’ Obeah (also spelled Obi) is a specifically African and Afro-American system of magic.” 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.

Further complicating the debate is the name Tituba itself. According to Smith Tucker, 'Tituba' is a Yoruba word. Prominent in Nigeria, Yoruba is an ethnic group which speaks a language of the same name. Smith Tucker points out that titi in Yoruba means 'endless.' Also, the word Tituba in that same language is a verb that means ‘to atone.' However, in the Spanish language, the word titubear means ‘to stammer.’ If Tituba hailed from the Caribbean, or was 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.” In Latin, often a source of slaves' names in Europe and America, tituba means 'totter' or 'stagger'. The name Tituba could easily be assumed to originate from any one of the above sources.