How did African slaves and their descendents come to believe that the root of a wild morning glory plant, found in Mexico, Louisiana, and Florida was a powerful magical herb?

The slaves brought from Africa to the united states of america were constantly in touch with the red indians or native americans, who were natural healers.

Any intelligent herbal healer or shamanic healer who was transported to a new place would find out a list of regional plants whose uses corresponded to the ones with which he or she was familiar.

So, it is only reasonable to assume that Ipomoea jalapa was the designated surrogate for a West African plant with similar magical or medical properties.

The Native Americans made use of various regional species of Ipomoea both as a laxative and for magic. To them, the plant was “Man Root” or “Man In the Earth” — and men carried it while hunting to strengthen themselves and increase their endurance. It was even said that if a man rubbed his root before hitting another man in a fight, he could kill his opponent with one blow.

It is also believed that there was an african prince by the name of John who was also captivated and brought to the US as a slave. But he refused to be subservient and he opposed the masters, found ways to escape punishment and finally managed to escape. It is believed that he transferred his spirit into the root and gave the power to the root to never be defeated.

There are three John-roots in the African-American hoodoo tradition because each in its own way substituted for some part of an African root that incorporated diverse qualities. That is, an African root that could be chewed for male power was analogous to the native Man Root — except that Man Root could not be chewed, so Chewing John was added to the retinue of John Roots to cover for that aspect of the African knowledge-base. Likewise the African root was used to help women in childbirth — so the obvious substitution by Native shaman for this would be Birth Root or Dixie John.