Charm's meaning

Recently there’s been some interest in the meaning of the hand charms found at the Governor Calvert House and the Maynard-Burgess House. Charms similar to the one pictured here were also found in the former living areas of African American laborers at Thomas Jefferson’s plantation, Poplar Forest in Virginia, and Andrew Jackson’s plantation, the Hermitage in Tennessee.

These charms were most likely sewn on to clothing as decoration or functioned as jewelry charms for a necklace or bracelet. There have been different interpretations for the meaning of these charms. Some feel that the charms are symbolic of the wounds of Christ and therefore have meaning within Christianity. Others believe that the charms have meaning within an Islamic context and are representative of the Hand of Fatima which symbolizes benevolence and good fortune. It is also possible these charms could be symbolic of the Mediteranean figa symbol which is represented as a fist with the thumb between the index and middle fingers. Figas are a symbol of fertility and were used for protection from the dangers of the “evil eye.”

Considering these charms were found in an African American context we may be more likely to interpret them as relating to the Hand of Fatima symbolism within Islam but it’s difficult determine how exactly these charms were used and understood. It is possible African Americans understood these charms to have meaning that drew from all three of the given interpretations.

The above information was taken from Chris Fennell’s book Crossroads and Cosmologies: Diasporas and Ethnogenesis in the New World, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 2007. To read more about the possible meaning of the hand charms see an excerpt from this book in the African Diaspora Newsletter http://www.diaspora.uiuc.edu/news1207/news1207-2.html.