The Importance of Herbal Medicine in Black and Indigenous Communities
The Importance of Herbal Medicine in Black and Indigenous Communities
By Talaya Robinson-Dancy
Disclaimer: It is important that you do not attempt herbal abortions without assistance from a professional, training, or without the understanding of how it will interact with your body.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a resurgence in the use and interest of herbal medicine within the United States (Komolafe). This began as folks began to circulate different herbal remedies on social media that helped aid with the symptoms caused by the virus such as fatigue, difficulty breathing, muscle aches, fever, and cough. Remedies that contained elderberry, echinacea, mullein, ginseng, ginger, turmeric, oregano, lemon, and zinc became common household items and are now included in the formulas for popular cold medicines today. While these remedies recently gained popularity, many of them were already common within Black and Indigenous households. Black and Indigenous people have had a long history of exchanging herbal knowledge between their communities that can be dated back to slavery in the U.S. In a quote from “Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing” by Michele E. Lee, she details these origins and how they are still relevant today:
“Native American and African American bloodlines have a special bond that began during the violent birth of this country. Both people were disenfranchised and enslaved side by side. After a slave ship dropped off its African cargo in the New Land, it sometimes replaced the cargo with enslaved Native Americans to sell in another land…Native American medicinal practices-along with knowledge of the American medicinal plants crossed over into the African American world at the same time Native Americans on the East Coast and in the South were being introduced to African American healing practices brought over on the slave ships. This is one of the reasons why there are many similarities between African American and Native American traditional medicine.” (Lee,58)
The trading of medicinal practices was essential to the survival of Enslaved Africans and Native peoples for many reasons. Still, some of the most important practices were those that aided them in their liberation movements. One plant in particular that aided in liberation was the Peacock Flower. The Peacock Flower, known by many names, is the national flower of Barbados. Technically a shrub, it has a mix of pink, yellow, red, orange, and white flowers. The plant grows long and has slim seed pods that resemble an enlarged pea pod. The stems are covered in short thorns and can grow to the size of a small tree. This plant has many uses, and each part of the plant can be used to treat a different ailment. Its roots are a diarrhea treatment and stimulate blood to the pelvis or uterus. Its leaves function as an emmenagogue (a substance that increases menstrual flow), fever reducer, and are generally invigorating. An infusion made with the leaves can help with constipation, and kidney stones, and accelerate childbirth. Its yellow leaves calm stomach aches. Its flowers, when fresh, can be used as a sudorific (to increase sweating), or as a febrifuge (to decrease fever) when dried. They can also be used for issues in the gallbladder. And its red flowers aid urinary tract issues.
One of the Peacock Flower’s most important uses is that in its entirety, in large doses, it can be used as an abortifacient, a drug that can cause an abortion. Usage of the Peacock Flower as an abortifacient for enslaved women, both Black and Indigenous, has been well preserved by Black and Indigenous herbalists, with the only public documentation of its usage being recorded in the book“Plants and Insects of Surinam” by naturalist and artist Maria Merian. Merian was able to write this book through information provided by women she shadowed during her time on a plantation in Suriname. She writes,
“This plant Flos pavonis has parts which are used by the slave women to induce abortion. The Indian slave women are very badly treated by their white enslavers and do not wish to bear children who must live under equally horrible conditions. The black slave women, imported mainly from Guinea and Angola, also try to avoid pregnancy with their white enslavers and actually seldom beget children. They often use the root of this plant to commit suicide in the hope of returning to their native land through reincarnation, so that they may live in freedom with their relatives and loved ones in Africa while their bodies die here in slavery, as they have told me themselves.” (National History Museum)
Black and Indigenous women made the conscious decision that their lives, the bodies, and that of their children, belonged to no one but themselves. It was common practice that enslavers would deem enslaved women with multiple children as “breeders” and would often have sold their babies off to another enslaver before the child was even born. (Berry,12-13) It is extremely empowering to know that our ancestors had the knowledge that assisted them in taking charge of their destiny and resisted further exploitation with something that was hidden in plain sight. In the modern day, Black and Indigenous women face maternal mortality disparities that have only been exacerbated by Covid-19 with both groups being at least three times more likely to experience pregnancy-related complications than white women. (Hil et al.) Babies born to Black and Indigenous women are also more susceptible to birth defects, preterm birth and low birth weight, maternal pregnancy complications, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). These disparities have been linked to unequal access to quality healthcare, doulas, prenatal care, and postpartum care. Access to paid family and medical leave also plays a significant role in these disparities as over 62% of Black and Brown households are not eligible for these benefits. (National Partnership for Women and Families) Black and Indigenous women continue to bear the labor of childbirth without the necessary resources to ensure a better quality of life for both their children and themselves.
In times, where states in the U.S. are currently removing access to safe abortions, and limiting access to postpartum and prenatal care, doulas, and other resources for those looking to have children or not, looking to our ancestors for their herbal knowledge is important. The Peacock Flower is just one example of how herbal remedies can help improve the quality of life of those who connect with their ancestral backgrounds and take the time to learn about herbal remedies that could not just improve their life, but for generations to come.
Works Cited
Berry, Daina Ramey. The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation. Beacon Press, 2017.
Hil, Latoya, et al. “Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Efforts to Address Them | KFF.” Kaiser Family Foundation, 1 November 2022, https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/racial-disparities-in-maternal-and-infant-health-current-status-and-efforts-to-address-them/. Accessed 20 February 2024.
Komolafe, Kayode. “Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Herbal Therapy: Pertinent Issues Relating to Toxicity and Standardization of Phytopharmaceuticals.” NCBI, National Library of Medicine, 11 March 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7951132/. Accessed 21 February 2024.
Lee, Michele E. Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing. Edited by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, Wadastick Publishers, 2014.
National History Museum. “Slavery and the natural world.” National History Museum, https://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources-www/legacy/slavery-files/chapter-6-resistance.pdf. Accessed 20 February 2024.
National Partnership for Women and Families. “Paid Family and Medical Leave: A Racial Justice Issue — and Opportunity.” National Partnership for Women & Families, August 2018, https://nationalpartnership.org/report/paid-family-and-medical-leave-a-racial-justice-issue-and-opportunity/. Accessed 20 February 2024.