Tituba Obituary
“Illustration of Tituba by John W.
Ehninger, 1902” in courtesy of https://goo.gl/images/SiLsz8 “Untitled” in courtesy of https://goo.gl/images/6NDc5p
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Tituba, an American Indian slave, lived a brutal life from multiple beatings about being accused she was a witch. She was accused of talking with the devil, making potions, tormenting little girls, told fortunes, practiced magic on the side, etc. She was hated by many people just because of her race. Back then, it was a really racial time, so even though she could have been telling the truth, no one believed her because she wasn’t white. She was born in an Arawak Village in South America where she was captured during her childhood and taken to Barbados as a slave. Reverend Parris bought her, which is how she came to Massachusetts in 1680. 9 years later, Parris moved Tituba and his family to Salem after he became the new minister of Salem Village. She was first accused of witchcraft in 1962. Parris’ daughter and her cousin started experiencing strange fits and complaining of pain. The following week, the girls symptoms took a turn for the worse, which resulted in Parris blaming Tituba. He accused her of being a witch and for putting a spell on the girls. There was no evidence of her making potions or teaching the girls fortune telling. Tituba had no money, so she had to confess. She thought that if she confessed it would save her life. Tituba remained in jail. She was then sold to someone else, and no one had heard of her again.
Endnotes: I wrote about Tituba because she was a significant character back then. Because of her race, she was treated differently and I wanted to touch upon a brief summary of her life. I couldn’t imagine being accused of something and couldn’t do anything to change the result. http://historyofmassachusetts.org/tituba-the-slave-of-salem/ This is the site I used to get little details. |