Tituba

Tituba was an enslaved woman in Salem Village during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was the first to be accused of witchcraft.[1] She was a central part of the Trials, which were an important moment in American colonial history.

Tituba is a character in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.[2]

Background

Journey to Salem

Historians do not know much about Tituba's background or personal life. There are no historical records about her early life, where she was born, or how she became enslaved.[3]

According to one source:[1]

[A]ll [that] historians know for sure about Tituba comes from the court testimony she gave during the infamous trials. What is certain is that Tituba was a woman of color, and likely an Indigenous Central American, who was an enslaved worker in the house of Reverend Samuel Parris, Salem’s Puritan minister. [He] bought Tituba in Barbados, where she had been enslaved since her capture during childhood. He brought her to Massachusetts in 1680, when she was a teenager.

Heritage

Tituba was called an "Indian Woman, servant" in all court documents relating to the Trials.[4] However, later texts referred to her using a variety of terms, including "Negro," "half-breed," "colored," or "half-Indian, half-Negro."[4]

Because of this, not all historians agree on where Tituba was born.[5] Some say Barbados; others say she was born in Africa[6] or near Venezuela,[7] where she was captured and sold into slavery.

Accusations of witchcraft

Background

In the past, Tituba had practiced incantations and songs to conjure spirits. In Salem, a woman named Ann Putnam asked Tituba to conjure up the spirits of her dead children. She had lost these children to miscarriage, but believed they had actually been murdered.

When people found out that Tituba had done folk magic and fortune-telling, they accused her of practicing witchcraft on four girls.[4]

Confession

Years after the trials, Tituba said Rev. Parris beat her for weeks until she confessed to being a witch.[3] She claimed she had practiced witchcraft - and that two other women had too.[3] Her testimony was used as proof of a conspiracy of witches in Salem. This ignited the witch hunt.

After the trials

As a confessed witch, Tituba was sent to jail, but she was later released. She was never tried or executed as a witch. It is unknown what happened to her after her release.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Blakemore, Erin (2018-07-17). "The Mysterious Enslaved Woman Who Sparked Salem's Witch Hunt". HISTORY. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  2. ↑ Miller, Arthur (2016). The Crucible. Penguin Classics.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Boomer, Lee. "Life Story: Tituba - Women & the American Story". wams.nyhistory.org. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Salem Witch Trials: Tituba". salem.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  5. ↑ Mary Beth Norton. In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. Vintage, 2007. p.21.
  6. ↑ Hoffer, Peter Charles (1996). The devil's disciples: makers of the Salem witchcraft trials. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 8. ISBN 978-0-8018-5200-8.
  7. ↑ Breslaw, Elaine G. (1996). Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies. NYU Press. pp. 12–14. ISBN 978-0-8147-1307-5. JSTOR j.ctt9qg919.6.
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