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Tituba of Salem Village

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Tituba of Salem Village
First edition
AuthorAnn Petry
Cover artistJohn Wilson
LanguageEnglish
GenreAfrican-American Literature
PublisherThomas Y. Crowell
Publication date
1964
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages272
ISBN978-0-06-440403-7 Paperback)
OCLC24857720

Tituba of Salem Village is an African-American children's novel by Ann Petry about the 17th-century West Indian slave of the same name who was the first to be accused of practicing witchcraft during the 1692 Salem witch trials. Written for children 10 and up, it portrays Tituba as a black West Indian woman who tells stories about life in Barbados to the village girls. These stories are mingled with existing superstitions and half-remembered pagan beliefs on the part of Puritans, and the witchcraft hysteria is partly attributed to a sort of cabin fever during a particularly bitter winter. Petry's portrayal of the helplessness of women in that period, particularly slaves and indentured servants, is key to understanding her view of the Tituba legend.

See also