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KERA's Think

The lost history of ‘Black girl magic’

KERA's Think

KERA

Society & Culture, 071003, Kera, Think, Krysboyd

4.8861 Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The phrase “Black girl magic” has deep roots in enslaved women’s lives. Lindsey Stewart is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Memphis, and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the medicine that stemmed from African traditions that was often more trusted than white doctors’ advice, how this magic was passed down through generations, and how it endures today. Her book is “The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, Ira Flato here from Science Friday. Each episode we give you surprising facts.

0:07.5

There's a whole phenomenon of moths visiting eyes of mammals. Expert insights. It doesn't

0:13.5

take a lot of brain to run a lion, actually. And we tackle the big questions. How is this going to

0:20.3

affect the future?

0:21.8

From space to climate to tech to medicine,

0:24.7

get a new view on the world around you.

0:26.8

That's Science Friday, wherever you get your podcasts.

0:31.8

A Better Help ad.

0:33.8

Lewis Capaldi partnered with BetterHelp

0:35.8

to get word out about how important therapy can be.

0:38.3

I struggle most weeks to get up, get myself up and ready and go to therapy or whatever.

0:44.3

Even like to open the laptop to talk to, my therapist sometimes can be really difficult,

0:48.3

but I do it because I realise how important it is for me to continue to feel good.

0:53.3

Because I felt the best I've felt in a long time through therapy.

0:57.1

Learn more about online therapy at betterhelp.com.

1:09.3

For generations in the United States, being born into slavery, nearly guaranteed you would live your whole life and eventually die as the legal property of someone else.

1:19.7

How could anyone possibly find joy and even hope in such a life?

1:24.0

Well, for that, people needed magic, the kind quietly brought from West Africa, refined

1:28.8

in the forests around plantations, and then passed down like an heirloom through generations

1:33.8

of women.

1:35.0

From KERA in Dallas, this is think.

1:37.9

I'm Chris Boyd.

...

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