Page 185 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

337 ● (FORTUNE—TELLING AND
“HOODOO.”) DYE, “AUNT CARO-
LINE” TRACY. Real Photo Post Card
and two Autograph Letters Signed on
her own letterhead. Silver print photo-
graphic post card with signs at the corners
of having been pinned to something; the
letters are 8vo, single page and two pages
with the original hand-addressed
envelopes, addressed to a Miss Jimmi
Summer.
Arkansas, 1916 [1,000/1,500]
A VERY RARE PHOTOGRAPH AND TWO LET-
TERS FROM “HOODOO WOMAN”Caroline
Tracy “Aunt Caroline” Dye. Dye (1843-
1918) was a well-known fortune teller, healer
and “seer,” born into slavery in Spartanburg,
South Carolina. She was freed at the end of the
Civil War in Arkansas where her mistress had
moved. As a young child, Dye had already
established a reputation as a seer of future events
and after the war, she remained in Arkansas.
There, people from far and wide would come to
her home for readings, and remedies. For her ser-
vices she would receive a modest sum, a dollar or
two depending on the pocketbook of the client. “Aunt Caroline” used only a deck of cards to help her
concentrate and steadfastly refused to give any readings on love or war. She did have an exceptional
track record, but made a couple of spectacular errors, including the prediction that the tail of Haley’s
Comet would brush up against Earth causing terrible destruction.
The letters are rather difficult to decipher but seem to be written to a friend and concern advice, for
which she asks: “In close $10.00 dollar for me to help you out in your bizness so that you can be
better satisfied . . .” Dye is mentioned in at least a couple of blues songs by W. C. Handy and as a
“hoodoo woman” in Johnny Temple’s “Hoodoo Women” (1939) where she’s mentioned by name.
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