The Elders Speak: The West Feliciana Parish African American Oral History Project
By Teresa Parker Farris
Illness & Home Remedies
As professional medical treatments were either too costly or inaccessible, the interviewees' parents, grandparents, and other elders administered plants, teas, and a variety of home remedies in times of illness or injury. Individuals recalled that household products like turpentine, baking soda, and castor oil were used in lieu of medicines. Herbal remedies included Life Everlasting (Eupatorium perfoliatum) for breaking fevers, Stinking Weed (Chenopodium ambrosioides) for treating intestinal worms, asafetida for curing stomach aches, and Palma Christi (Ricinus communis) for alleviating headaches. Once the interviewees gained access to the medical resources previously limited to whites, traditional healing methods were increasingly dismissed as either ineffective or outright harmful.
Audio PlayerSallie Smith recalls how her grandmother made tea from "stinky weeds" to treat worms.
Audio PlayerAlice Johnson notes how deep flesh wounds were once treated with fat salt meat and coal oil.
Audio PlayerRobert Sterling describes house visits from the local doctor and how families often paid him with vegetables.
Audio PlayerGeraldine London explains how salt meat and turpentine were used together to healing wounds.
Audio PlayerZack Cavalier states that the combination of kerosene and sugar was administered for colds and turpentine used for cuts.
Audio PlayerElizabeth Lee remembers that tea made from corn shucks was given for measles and Indian Shot plant (also known as canna) was used to treat fever.
