Most people in the United States are more familiar with images of black magic as it relates to Louisiana Voodoo, which is distinct from Haitian Vodou or Dominican Vudú or other religions throughout the Caribbean. Louisiana Voodoo emerged as a hyperlocal response to slavery and colonialism in the Mississippi Valley, concentrated in New Orleans. While it’s influenced by Haitian Vodou, it is a system of its own, with its own history, and it pulls more from African folk practices of rootwork and divination than it does from the Afro-Caribbean diaspora via the transatlantic slave trade. For instance, there is a greater emphasis on amulets and charms, like the gris-gris, in Louisiana Voodoo.