Martha Ward

8. The story you tell in Voodoo Queen is really a tale of conflict, of free women of color without power battling for justice. What forces did the Maries have to battle?

Slavery. Slavery. Slavery. Anglo American fixed ideas of the proper racial order. Anglo American laws against mixed race people in New Orleans. Louisiana laws against free people of color. Civil War and enemy occupation. Segregation, Jim Crow, and the tragic destruction of Creole culture.


9. Was Marie Laveau a saint? A sinner? A shrewd businesswoman? A female Moses?

Yes to all. Furthermore—each one danced like there was no tomorrow; everyone who saw them remembered. They attended Catholic church on Sunday morning and danced with a 20 foot snake in Congo Square in the afternoon. They led their people through bondage, war, and plague. They brought a team of spirits into town and performed certifiable feats of healing magic.

10. The hold Marie Laveau has on New Orleans is like no other woman’s hold on any other great city I can think of—Cleopatra on Alexandria or even Catherine the Great on St. Petersburg. What is the appeal?

New Orleans is a high-spirited place where you invite the dead to your parties. Travelers in the Big Easy—a local phrase for getting high, getting off, or getting in the groove—are filled with saints, music, food, and spirits, if only those of Bourbon Street. For good reason thousands of pilgrims visit her grave each year. Marie Laveau rules the public culture; she is its spiritual center.

12. What is the difference between Voodoo and Hoodoo?

Both center on “master magic,” spiritual and social agency in a dangerous world. Both are the descendants of the African Diaspora. New Orleans Voodoo marched under the banners of folk Catholicism and gave birth to stunning public ceremonials. Southern Hoodoo was its subversive and Protestant country cousin—yet just as powerful and stigmatized as its urban relative.


13. History often records people accomplishing amazing things by being the right people in the right place at the right time. What portions of that fomrula are at work here in the story of the two Marie Lavieaus?

I think they bloomed where they were planted and helped others bloom—in the midst of the killing fields of slavery and racism. Regardless of the time or place in which we live, all of us need help in matters of love, luck, and the law—special abilities the two Maries had.

14. Why is there so little archival evidence of the two Maries and their accomplishments?

One librarian told me—anything with Marie Laveau’s name on it gets stolen. That makes sense, her name or signature still carries magic and power. Both spoke but did not read or write French. They also falsified documents to protect themselves and those they loved.


15. Some librarians and archivists wanted you to turn your talents to some other New Orleans subject. Why would they discourage a book on Marie?

They believed everything had already been said, that Voodoo is shameful, and that the Maries didn’t deserve my attention. Not true. VOODOO QUEEN is the first biography about them, the first time a woman and a scholar who respects Voodoo tells their life stories.


16. Were there any journalists or writers in Marie’s day who gave her a fair shake?

Not that I found. They all bought into the official party line—Voodoo is evil and its leaders are up to no good. It’s still hard to get a fair shake for them. The New York Times and Times-Picayune don’t even capitalize the word “Voodoo” in a list of world religions.


17. Did Lafcadio Hearn record two Maries? What did he know of her?

The eccentric writer admitted a mixed-race affair with a Creole woman in the French Quarter as well as his attraction to “alternative spirituality”—three scandals in one. But both priestesses were too old to have been Hearn’s mistress. Besides, they had far more handsome and daring men in their beds.


18. When did you start writing VOODOO QUEEN: THE SPIRITED LIVES OF MARIE LAVEAU?

On January 1, 2000—the first day of the new millennium.


19. Do you think she will curse or protect you for uncovering her secrets?

My friendship with these women grows deeper with each step I take to tell their story. They knew the secrets of healing a suffering community, and how to shift the fortunes of love, luck, and the law in your favor. I for one need their help.