Introduction The Amerindia n slav e woma n calle d Titub a wa s amon g th e firs t thre e persons t o b e accuse d o f witchcraf t i n Salem , Massachusetts , i n 1692 . The othe r two—Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good—vehemently proteste d their innocence. Bu t Tituba confessed an d thereby gave the Sale m magis- trates reason s t o suspec t tha t th e Devil' s follower s ha d invade d thei r midst. Ninetee n peopl e wer e subsequentl y hange d fo r witchcraft , on e man wa s presse d t o death , an d clos e t o tw o hundre d wer e accuse d o f witchcraft; over fifty of them confessed. Th e lives an d fate of accused an d accusers hav e captivated the American imagination. 1 Tituba, however , i n spit e o f he r centra l an d earl y rol e i n tha t witch - hunt, ha s attracte d littl e seriou s attention. 2 Th e Sale m record s provid e very spars e details abou t her background and few scholar s hav e turned t o alternate source s fo r informatio n o n he r life . Sh e ha s n o descendant s who ca n spea k fo r he r o r spar k ne w interes t i n he r guil t o r innocence. Surprisingly, ther e ha s bee n minima l interes t i n he r ethnicit y o r th e relationship o f he r racia l background to the accusations. Mos t important, the multicultura l dimension s o f Tituba' s confession, th e mos t significan t evidence o f a diabolical conspirac y i n Salem , hav e been eithe r misunder - stood or ignored. Tituba's role s i n tha t tragedy, a s bot h victi m an d willin g participant , as bot h scapegoa t an d manipulato r o f Purita n fears , be g fo r reexamina - tion. Titub a i s her e viewe d i n th e contex t o f th e Sale m event s a s a woman, a s a slave, a s an American Indian, an d a s an outsider i n a Puritan society. Thi s biograph y bring s th e America n Indian slav e woma n t o th e xix xx • Introduction forefront o f event s tha t s o overwhelmed he r contemporaries the y almos t destroyed their own society . Tituba th e storytelle r prolonge d he r lif e i n 169 2 throug h a n imagina- tive abilit y t o weav e an d embellis h plausibl e tales . I n th e proces s o f confessing t o fantastic experiences, sh e create d a new idio m of resistanc e against abusiv e treatmen t an d inadvertentl y le d th e wa y fo r othe r inno - cents accuse d o f the terribl e crime of witchcraft. He r resistance, a calcu- lated manipulatio n o f th e Purita n fears , wa s intimatel y relate d t o he r ethnic heritages . Puritan s wer e predispose d t o believ e tha t Indian s will - ingly participate d i n Devi l worship . Tha t perceptio n o f Indian s a s sup- porters of the Devil encouraged Tituba t o fuel thei r fantasies o f a diaboli- cal plot . A s sh e hesitantl y capitalize d o n Purita n assumptions regardin g Satanism, Tituba drew on the memories o f her past life fo r the wondrous details of a story s o frightening i n its implication s tha t she ha d to be kept alive as a witness. Interest i n Titub a an d he r rol e i n th e 169 2 event s ha s traditionall y focused o n he r suppose d indoctrinatio n o f a group of girl s int o a witch- craft molde d b y the practic e of voodoo. I n the accepte d wisdom, Titub a stood a t th e cente r o f a circl e o f girl s practicin g sorcer y derive d fro m African folklore. 3 He r confession notwithstanding , ther e i s no proo f that Tituba eve r took part in occult activities. Nor i s there any proof that the girls, a t her instigation, too k part in occult rituals or danced in the wood s or dran k bloo d o r stuc k pin s i n dolls . Bu t thos e allegation s an d th e sensationalist natur e o f th e trial s hav e overwhelme d th e importanc e o f Tituba's background and her status a s a symbol of Puritan fears.4 There i s goo d reaso n fo r Tituba's low profil e i n th e histor y books . I t stems from the dearth of useful, direc t information abou t her. Historian s need reliabl e written, artifactual , o r statistica l evidenc e wit h whic h the y can detai l event s o r o n whic h t o bas e thei r conclusions . Th e absenc e o f reliable source s ofte n mean s tha t a particula r potentially significan t ele - ment ha s to be omitted fro m a study. Suc h has bee n th e case fo r most of the underclas s i n history , particularl y women, Africans , an d American Indians, wh o leav e fe w usefu l trail s fo r other s t o follo w an d are , there - fore, eas y to ignore in the historical record. As expected , th e biographica l information abou t Tituba i n the Sale m documents i s ver y thin . Nevertheless , som e importan t informatio n ca n be extracte d fro m thes e meage r sources . I t i s clearl y eviden t fro m al l references i n thos e writte n record s tha t Tituba wa s a n American Indian Introduction • xx i and not Africa n a s late r writer s hav e assumed , an d tha t sh e an d he r husband, John, als o an American Indian, were slaves living in the house - hold o f th e Reveren d Samue l Parris . There is n o referenc e anywher e i n the seventeenth-centur y document s t o Tituba a s a n African or a s some - one o f Africa n background. Lik e th e mytholog y o f Titub a a s a voodo o priestess, ther e i s no indication i n the extant records that either Tituba or her husban d ha d African ancestry. Non e o f he r contemporaries sa w he r as a n Africa n o r eve n someon e o f mixe d ancestry. 5 Sh e wa s neve r de - scribed a s blac k o r a s a Negro . Nowher e i n th e seventeenth-centur y records i s there so much a s a hint that she was of even partia l African de- scent. Thus ther e shoul d b e n o questio n o f he r ancestry. Al l of he r contem- poraries, withou t exception , describ e Titub a a s a n India n woma n o r a s Parris's India n servant . He r husban d John's racial-ethni c backgroun d i s just a s clearl y delineate d i n thos e records . H e i s alway s identifie d a s Indian John o r John Indian , o r simpl y a s th e India n man . Th e gradual metamorphosis o f Titub a fro m a n India n t o a n Africa n sinc e th e nine - teenth century i s a n unfortunate mistake based on embellishment, imagi - nation, an d a tinge of racial bias, an d has been a convenient way to fill in blanks left by the absence of more substantive information. What i s les s dea f fro m thos e seventeenth-centur y commentarie s i s where Tituba cam e from , ho w an d whe n Parri s acquired her , an d what kind o f intellectua l an d cultural baggage she brough t with he r to Massa- chusetts. Th e mos t reasonabl e theor y fo r Tituba' s origins wa s first pu t forward b y Charle s Upham , writin g i n th e middl e o f th e nineteent h century. Titub a an d Joh n "wer e spoke n of, " Upha m said , "a s havin g come fro m Ne w Spai n . tha t is , th e Spanis h Wes t Indies , an d th e adjacent mainland." 6 The y wer e the n sol d i n Barbado s a s slave s an d subsequently brought to Massachusetts by Samuel Parris.