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Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America
Probes historical documents and uncovers a unique aspect of the African-American cultural experience where, because of slavery and racial discrimination, few magicians of color became famous even though they achieved great skill and a flare for entertaining audiences.
174 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2001
About the author
James Haskins
212 books41 followersHaskins, James (1941–2005), author of nonfiction books for juveniles and adults, biographer, educator, critic, editor, and educational consultant. Born into a large family in a racially segregated middle-class section of Demopolis, Alabama, where he was not allowed to visit the town's public library, James S. Haskins was deeply affected by the swirl of events related to the mid-century civil rights movement. He received his bachelor's degree in history at Alabama State College, but limited career opportunities in the South in the early 1960s led him to seek employment in New York City. Two years of selling newspaper advertisements and working as a Wall Street stockbroker brought him to the realization that he was better suited for a career in education and thus he applied for a position in the New York City public school system. After teaching music at several locations, he found a job teaching a special education class at P.S. 92. Obsessed with the plight of his inner-city pupils, he was glad to discuss their problems with anyone who would listen, including a social worker who encouraged him to write his thoughts and experiences in a diary. This resulted in the publication of his first book, Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher (1969), which was widely acclaimed. This initial success attracted the attention of major publishers who approached him to write books for children and adolescents.
An admitted need to reconcile social disparities and a desire to interpret events to young people and to motivate them to read and be influenced by accomplished individuals—particularly deprived youth whom he felt had far too few role models to read about—led him to author more than one hundred books on a diverse array of topics. Written for a general audience of juveniles, his titles include The War and the Protest: Viet Nam (1971), Religions (1973), Jobs in Business and Office (1974), The Consumer Movement (1975), Your Rights, Past and Present: A Guide for Young People (1975), Teen-age Alcoholism (1976), The Long Struggle: The Story of American Labor (1976), Who Are the Handicapped (1978), Gambling—Who Really Wins (1978), Werewolves (1981), and The New Americans: Cuban Boat People (1982).
Haskins launched his college teaching career in 1970 and continued lecturing on psychology, folklore, children's and young adult literature, and urban education at schools in New York and Indiana before landing a full-time professorship in the English department at the University of Florida at Gainesville in 1977. That same year he authored The Cotton Club, a pictorial and social history of the notorious Harlem night club, which seven years later was transformed into a motion picture of the same name directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Among his books intended for adults or college-level readers are The Psychology of Black Language (1973) with Dr. Hugh Butts; Black Manifesto for Education (1973), which he edited; Snow Sculpture and Ice Carving (1974); Scott Joplin: The Man Who Made Rag-time (1978); Voodoo and Hoodoo: Their Tradition and Craft as Revealed by Actual Practitioners (1978); Richard Pryor, A Man and His Madness (1984); and Mabel Mercer: A Life (1988). He has contributed numerous critical essays and reviews to periodicals. Still, he is best known for his biographies, tailored for elementary and high school students. Most of these recount the triumphs of well-known contemporary African Americans, with whom many young people readily identify. The long list of persons he has profiled (often using the pen name Jim Haskins) include Colin Powell, Barbara Jordon, Thurgood Marshall, Sugar Ray Leonard, Magic Johnson, Diana Ross, Katherine Dunham, Guion Bluford, Andrew Young, Bill Cosby, Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Shirley Chisholm, Lena Horne, and Rosa Parks. Biographies of prominent individuals who are not African American include Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, Shirley Temple Black, Corazón Aquino, Winnie Mandela, and Christopher Columbus.
An admitted need to reconcile social disparities and a desire to interpret events to young people and to motivate them to read and be influenced by accomplished individuals—particularly deprived youth whom he felt had far too few role models to read about—led him to author more than one hundred books on a diverse array of topics. Written for a general audience of juveniles, his titles include The War and the Protest: Viet Nam (1971), Religions (1973), Jobs in Business and Office (1974), The Consumer Movement (1975), Your Rights, Past and Present: A Guide for Young People (1975), Teen-age Alcoholism (1976), The Long Struggle: The Story of American Labor (1976), Who Are the Handicapped (1978), Gambling—Who Really Wins (1978), Werewolves (1981), and The New Americans: Cuban Boat People (1982).
Haskins launched his college teaching career in 1970 and continued lecturing on psychology, folklore, children's and young adult literature, and urban education at schools in New York and Indiana before landing a full-time professorship in the English department at the University of Florida at Gainesville in 1977. That same year he authored The Cotton Club, a pictorial and social history of the notorious Harlem night club, which seven years later was transformed into a motion picture of the same name directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Among his books intended for adults or college-level readers are The Psychology of Black Language (1973) with Dr. Hugh Butts; Black Manifesto for Education (1973), which he edited; Snow Sculpture and Ice Carving (1974); Scott Joplin: The Man Who Made Rag-time (1978); Voodoo and Hoodoo: Their Tradition and Craft as Revealed by Actual Practitioners (1978); Richard Pryor, A Man and His Madness (1984); and Mabel Mercer: A Life (1988). He has contributed numerous critical essays and reviews to periodicals. Still, he is best known for his biographies, tailored for elementary and high school students. Most of these recount the triumphs of well-known contemporary African Americans, with whom many young people readily identify. The long list of persons he has profiled (often using the pen name Jim Haskins) include Colin Powell, Barbara Jordon, Thurgood Marshall, Sugar Ray Leonard, Magic Johnson, Diana Ross, Katherine Dunham, Guion Bluford, Andrew Young, Bill Cosby, Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Shirley Chisholm, Lena Horne, and Rosa Parks. Biographies of prominent individuals who are not African American include Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, Shirley Temple Black, Corazón Aquino, Winnie Mandela, and Christopher Columbus.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 26, 2018
Haskins details what is known biographically of each person (to an extent), follows their career, highlights some of their most popular tricks/acts, and puts it all in the context of US (and world) history and social changes/challenges. It was disappointing that of the entire book only 4 pages are dedicated to a female magician (who isn't just "assistant to her husband, the magician").
There is likely a lot more which could be added at this point to bring this book more up to date with modern magicians but for a historical look at the field this is a good read (if a bit dry/litany-feeling at times).
Downside: Published in 2001; the language in this is outdated and a tad cringe-worthy at times. However; it was interesting to see a bit of the history of black magicians in the United States.
There is likely a lot more which could be added at this point to bring this book more up to date with modern magicians but for a historical look at the field this is a good read (if a bit dry/litany-feeling at times).
Downside: Published in 2001; the language in this is outdated and a tad cringe-worthy at times. However; it was interesting to see a bit of the history of black magicians in the United States.
June 12, 2017
There is much to be said for getting a good idea first. In Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America, Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson introduce us to numerous noteworthy illusionists, nearly none of whom I'd heard of before, and all of whom we ought to have had. Among them:
* Richard Potter, the first American born magician (of any color), according to the authors. He opened his act with a little jingle: "They call me a mulatto/ And my name is Little Potter/ And for cutting up the capers/ I'm the dandy O".
* Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped a life of slavery on a Virginia plantation by having himself boxed and shipped to an abolitionist in the North. For years, he told his hair-raising story on the lecture circuit and after a while he added magic tricks.
* Alonzo Moore, the Black Herrmann
* William Carl, who successfully made the transition from minstrelsy to vaudeville
* Ellen Armstrong, a pathbreaking female African American magician
* A long succession of "Oriental" conjurers, i.e. African Americans who wore turbans and pretended to be Indian so they could work at segregated venues. One of these, "Chandu the Magician" taught magic to a young Arsenio Hall
* Benjamin Rucker, the other Black Herman
* Lemont Haskins, whom we have presented at our own American Vaudeville Theatre (see bio here)
* David Blaine, whom (it never occurred to us) is part black. And I'd even seen him live once, but then again he was in a sphere of water which seemed to be adulterated with what looked like particles of his own shedding skin. At any rate, the book gives one of his secrets, which turns out to be a somewhat old, common illusion known as the Balducci Levitation
* And dozens of others.
As we said at the outset, the book's primary virtue is its worthy subject. It's written for the Young Adult market, and is a worthy addition to that part of the library. It's the kind of book I absolutely would have loved to read as a kid, and I may even share it with my boys! Hopefully it'll inspire some scholars to pursue the topic to give us more to read on the subject. As it is, this book is a great beginning, with some excellent research (and images from the author's own collection) that are unavailable anywhere else.
* Richard Potter, the first American born magician (of any color), according to the authors. He opened his act with a little jingle: "They call me a mulatto/ And my name is Little Potter/ And for cutting up the capers/ I'm the dandy O".
* Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped a life of slavery on a Virginia plantation by having himself boxed and shipped to an abolitionist in the North. For years, he told his hair-raising story on the lecture circuit and after a while he added magic tricks.
* Alonzo Moore, the Black Herrmann
* William Carl, who successfully made the transition from minstrelsy to vaudeville
* Ellen Armstrong, a pathbreaking female African American magician
* A long succession of "Oriental" conjurers, i.e. African Americans who wore turbans and pretended to be Indian so they could work at segregated venues. One of these, "Chandu the Magician" taught magic to a young Arsenio Hall
* Benjamin Rucker, the other Black Herman
* Lemont Haskins, whom we have presented at our own American Vaudeville Theatre (see bio here)
* David Blaine, whom (it never occurred to us) is part black. And I'd even seen him live once, but then again he was in a sphere of water which seemed to be adulterated with what looked like particles of his own shedding skin. At any rate, the book gives one of his secrets, which turns out to be a somewhat old, common illusion known as the Balducci Levitation
* And dozens of others.
As we said at the outset, the book's primary virtue is its worthy subject. It's written for the Young Adult market, and is a worthy addition to that part of the library. It's the kind of book I absolutely would have loved to read as a kid, and I may even share it with my boys! Hopefully it'll inspire some scholars to pursue the topic to give us more to read on the subject. As it is, this book is a great beginning, with some excellent research (and images from the author's own collection) that are unavailable anywhere else.
October 8, 2026
This is one of the times I’m grateful for my local library system, since it allowed me to avoid paying stupid amounts of money to get this used from Amazon or the like. Which is especially nice because what I didn’t realize until I had this book in hand is it’s really a children’s book, meant to give kids an overview of black magicians in American history. Plus this is from 2001, which means there’s new magicians I’m sure it’s missing and likely some info about the older magicians uncovered since this was written.
But for what it is, this is a fun book. I’ll admit that if you’d asked me, I would’ve assumed stage magicians were mostly a twentieth century and on thing. But this book makes it clear that they go back much further than that, with the first man discussed being a black man who was likely the first stage magician born in America. From there it goes on to discuss a magician who escaped slavery by shipping himself north, then traces black stage magicians through minstrel shows and vaudeville to the modern day. The chapter on Black Herman is what originally brought me to this book and I found it interesting, though I’m not sure I learned a ton about him I hadn’t already learned from the podcast that introduced me to him.
I think in some ways the best part of this book is how it doesn’t just discuss a little known part of history, but it also illustrates the arc of history of black people and particularly black entertainers in America. The chapters on minstrel shows and vaudeville are interesting, but to me the most fascinating part was a chapter on how black magicians could get accepted by white audiences by pretending to be Indian (the subcontinent) magicians, leaning into orientalism and legends of fakirs. They would dress in turbans and pretend to be visiting princes or other notables and thus become accepted in a way they never would be if they stayed true to their blackness. I also enjoyed reading about the ways magicians would learn from and be inspired by each other, particularly in the case of Fetaque Sanders. And the idea of doing stage magic as an ad at trade shows was one I’d never considered.
So this was a nice little introduction to the subject matter. But mostly it’s made me want to learn more about stage magicians, both black and generally. Unfortunately the bibliography here doesn’t help much, especially since one of the big sources is a self published book that only had a single printing of 600 copies. I don’t know that this book is specifically worth seeking out given its rarity now, but I did enjoy it.
But for what it is, this is a fun book. I’ll admit that if you’d asked me, I would’ve assumed stage magicians were mostly a twentieth century and on thing. But this book makes it clear that they go back much further than that, with the first man discussed being a black man who was likely the first stage magician born in America. From there it goes on to discuss a magician who escaped slavery by shipping himself north, then traces black stage magicians through minstrel shows and vaudeville to the modern day. The chapter on Black Herman is what originally brought me to this book and I found it interesting, though I’m not sure I learned a ton about him I hadn’t already learned from the podcast that introduced me to him.
I think in some ways the best part of this book is how it doesn’t just discuss a little known part of history, but it also illustrates the arc of history of black people and particularly black entertainers in America. The chapters on minstrel shows and vaudeville are interesting, but to me the most fascinating part was a chapter on how black magicians could get accepted by white audiences by pretending to be Indian (the subcontinent) magicians, leaning into orientalism and legends of fakirs. They would dress in turbans and pretend to be visiting princes or other notables and thus become accepted in a way they never would be if they stayed true to their blackness. I also enjoyed reading about the ways magicians would learn from and be inspired by each other, particularly in the case of Fetaque Sanders. And the idea of doing stage magic as an ad at trade shows was one I’d never considered.
So this was a nice little introduction to the subject matter. But mostly it’s made me want to learn more about stage magicians, both black and generally. Unfortunately the bibliography here doesn’t help much, especially since one of the big sources is a self published book that only had a single printing of 600 copies. I don’t know that this book is specifically worth seeking out given its rarity now, but I did enjoy it.
August 22, 2020
The author, James Haskins, was primarily a children's and YA author, and that style is apparent in Conjure Times. Well- but simply-written. With a lot of glossing over. Which, for better or for worse, makes the book an incredibly swift read.
And what stories! The story of every single magician portrayed was fascinating -- and often heartbreaking. Take for instance Henry "Box" Brown, who, in 1848, managed to escape slavery by being shipped in a wooden box (occasionally upside-down, despite the 'This Side Up' warning on the box, nearly dying from the blood rushing to his head "causing his eyes to swell and veins to protrude.") Brown went on to become a magician specializing as an escape artist.
An incredible collection of stories about magicians with lives so painfully impacted by racism, who, despite it all, were in some way able to live their dreams.
And what stories! The story of every single magician portrayed was fascinating -- and often heartbreaking. Take for instance Henry "Box" Brown, who, in 1848, managed to escape slavery by being shipped in a wooden box (occasionally upside-down, despite the 'This Side Up' warning on the box, nearly dying from the blood rushing to his head "causing his eyes to swell and veins to protrude.") Brown went on to become a magician specializing as an escape artist.
An incredible collection of stories about magicians with lives so painfully impacted by racism, who, despite it all, were in some way able to live their dreams.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews