Healers: these pages record the lives and teachings of herbal healers. They are history, not medical advice. Talk to a doctor before stopping or changing any treatment, especially for HIV, cancer or diabetes.
Healers
Healers and herbal traditions
The herbalists and healing teachers who shaped how many Black communities think about food, plants and health, recorded with what is documented, what is claimed, and what the evidence says.
Featured
Dr. Sebi (Alfredo Bowman)
The 1988 trial: his patients came to court, and he walked out free
Honduran-born herbalist Alfredo Darrington Bowman (1933–2016), known as Dr. Sebi, built a large following in New York and beyond with his herbal compounds and plant-based diet. When the State of New York put him on trial, about 70 of his patients came to court to speak for him, and the jury found him not guilty.
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Why a section for healers
Herbal healing has deep roots in Africa and across the diaspora, from village herbalists to the root workers of the American South. In the late 20th century a new generation of teachers brought plant-based healing and diet to large audiences in the United States, and their names are now widely shared online.
These pages record who they were, what they taught, and what happened to them. Each page separates the documented facts of a healer's life from the healing claims made by or about them, and gives those claims an evidence label.
How to read this section
Where an event is well documented, such as a court case, it is shown in a highlight box with its own label. The healing claims are labeled separately. A label is about the evidence, not about a person's sincerity or the respect they hold in the community.
The labels
- Documented
- Backed by artifacts, texts or published research most scholars accept.
- Debated
- Real evidence exists, and named scholars disagree about what it means.
- Modern interpretation
- A claim made by a named writer or teacher, with little support from evidence.
- Contradicted
- Evidence points against it. The page explains what the evidence shows instead.
- Testimony
- Accounts from the people who were treated and from the healer, recorded as they told them.
More healers
Mary Seacole
Jamaican healer and businesswoman Mary Seacole (1805–1881) learned Creole herbal medicine from her mother in Kingston, treated cholera patients in Panama, and nursed soldiers on the front lines of the Crimean War after the British government turned her away.
Dr. Alvenia Fulton
Tennessee-born naturopath Alvenia Moody Fulton (1906–1999) ran one of Chicago's first Black-owned health food and fasting centers on the South Side, and became the mentor who set Dick Gregory on his path as a nutrition teacher.
Dick Gregory
Comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory (1932–2017) became one of America's best-known teachers of fasting and natural diet, carrying the lessons of his mentor Alvenia Fulton to a national audience.
Queen Afua
Brooklyn-born holistic healer, author and Kemetic priestess Queen Afua (born Helen Odel Robinson, 1953) has taught natural healing for more than four decades through her books Heal Thyself and Sacred Woman and her Brooklyn wellness center.
Dr. Llaila O. Afrika
Author, lecturer and naturopath Dr. Llaila O. Afrika wrote African Holistic Health, one of the most widely read books on natural healing in Black communities, along with more than 80 books, recordings and videos on health, history and nutrition.
Yah'ki Awakened
Yah'ki Rapha Elohim, known online as Yah'ki Awakened, is a self-described master herbalist whose videos about herbs, fasting and detox reach a large audience. He credits Dr. Sebi as an influence. This page is awaiting editorial review.