Marie Kingué

Marie Kingué, also known by the slave name Marie Catherine, was a Haitian healer and diviner. She was of Kongolese provenance and was born between 1746 and 1750. After being transported to Saint-Domingue as a slave, she adopted the name "Kingué" to display her ancestry. In 1784 and 1785, while working on a plantation in Port-Margot, Kingué gained prominence for nursing supposed evil spells, providing herbal remedies, and selling protective talismans. Many slaveowners trusted her to divinate poisoners in their workshops, and they often killed the slaves she accused.

In 1785, Kingué moved to Plaisance to live with a militia commander. With more freedom, she began traveling to clients all across the northern part of the island—Africans at first, then multiple white colonists and free people of color. Kingué attempted to silence her detractors. Still, she eventually lost support from white colonists, a few of whom sent complaints regarding her deadly activities to the attorney general of Cap-Français. He ordered her arrest that September, and her life afterwards is unknown.

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