African American Vampires

Vampire beliefs have not been prominent among Africa, which believed in both vampires and witches who acted like vampires, and were brought to the United States either directly or by way of Haiti or the other French islands in the Caribbean. Folklorists working among African Americans in the southern United States in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries found a number of accounts of vampires. Some were more traditional bloodsuckers. One account from Tennessee told of an old woman whose health seemed to constantly improve while the children's health declined because she sucked their blood while they slept: "de chillun dies, an' she keeps on a-livin'."

The most definable vampire figure reported among African Americans was the fifollet, or the feu-follet, known to the residents of Louisiana. The fifollet, the traditional will-o-the-wisp (light seen at night over the swamp areas), derived from the French incubus/succubus figure, was the soul of a dead person that had been sent back to Earth by God to do penance, but instead attacked people. Most of the attacks were mere mischief, but on occasion, the fifollet became a vampire who sucked the blood of people, especially children. Some believed that the fifollet was the soul of a child who had died before baptism.

Modern African American Vampires: Vampires have made only infrequent appearances in African American folklore, and, similarly, African Americans have been largely absent from modern vampire movies and novels. The few black vampire movies emerged in the era of blaxploitation movies in the early-and mid-1970s. Only one African American vampire character, Prince Mamuwalde (better known as Blacula), attained any fame beyond the fans of vampire movies. The Prince, portrayed by Shakespearean actor William Marshall , appeared in two movies, Blacula (1972) and Scream Blacula Scream (1973). Released the same year as Blacula was Alabama's Ghost (1972), a blaxploitation movie in which a vampire rock group battles a ghost. Another lesser-known African American vampire movie is the 1973 Ganja and Hess (released in video under a variety of names including Blood Couple, Double Possession, Black Evil, and Black Vampire). Like Blacula, the movie was set in New York. It concerned Dr. Hess Green (played by Duane Jones), who becomes a vampire after being stabbed with an ancient African dagger by his assistant. The vampire never became a prominent role for black actors, however, and with a few notable instances-Teresa Graves in Old Dracula (also known as Vampira) and Grace Jones in Vamp)-few have appeared in leading roles.

Brandon, Elizabeth. "Superstitions in Vermillion Parish." In Mody C. Boatright, Wilson M. Hudson, and Allen Maxwell, eds. The Golden Log. Dallas: Southern Methodist University, 1962, 108-18.
Gross, Edward, and Marc Shapiro. The Vampire Interview Book: Conversations with the Undead. East Meadow, NY: Image Publishing, 1991. 134 pp.
Lavergne, Remi. A Phonetic Transcription of the Creole Negro's Medical Treatments, Superstitions, and Folklore in the Parish of Pointe Coupée. New Orleans, LA: Master of Arts thesis, Louisiana State University, 1930. Murphy, Michael J. The Celluloid Vampires: A History and Filmography, 1897en>1779. Ann Arbor, MI: Pierian Press, 1979. 351 pp.
Puckett, Newbell Niles. Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1926. Reprint. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1968. Rovin, Jeff.
The Encyclopedia of Super Villains. New York: Facts on File, 1987. 416 pp.