High John the Conqueror
High John the Conqueror is a legendary figure in African American folklore, a trickster hero and spirit of liberation who moved invisibly among the enslaved. According to traditions collected by Zora Neale Hurston, High John was an African prince sold into slavery whose spirit could never be broken. When the whip fell, John would 'take the spirit of his people out of their bodies' so they could not feel the pain. He could be heard laughing in the slave quarters, a sound that reminded the enslaved that freedom was coming. After emancipation, John returned to Africa, but according to Hurston, 'H