NO one knows what nationality Tituba was. They only guess and there is a big controversy about this and so an author would just pick what went well with the story he wished to portray. I will give an excerpt although this isn't where I found information and it will depend on which belief someone researches from what they will say about her and who she was.
"The physical description of Tituba has been surrounded by controversy from the first historical analysis of her. It was initially assumed that she was of Indian descent. But over time the origins of Tituba have begun to be re-evaluated and old theories have been contested. One scholar who disagrees with the old theory that Tituba was Indian is Maryse Condé. Conde tells the story of Tituba from a narrative and fictional point of view. Conde suggests Tituba was an African slave whose mother was raped on the passage from Africa and then gave birth to Tituba after she arrived in Barbados. This account of Tituba’s origins does not claim to rely on facts for all of its evidence, but there is no way to conclude with any certainty where Tituba was in fact from. In Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem, Elaine G. Breslaw writes,
according to local legend, Tituba and her husband, John, “were spoken of as having come from New Spain…that is, the Spanish West Indies, and the adjacent mainland,” is borne out by the record of known slave-capturing activities in South America.
Breslaw believes that Tituba was an Arawak Indian from Guiana who was either kidnapped and then brought to Barbados or her tribe had migrated there though South America. Veta Smith Ticker, writes:
17th-century Puritans blended the categories Indian, African, and slave. In seventeenth century Massachusetts, such discriminations among unregenerate peoples of color were considered unnecessary, especially for slaves. By 1692 (exactly 2 centuries after first contact) Columbus' misnaming had yielded a catchall term variously applied to the Guanahani, the Caribbe, the Aztecs, and West Indies Africans.
Thus Ticker illustrates why we will probably never know where Tituba was really from. Since there was no clear distinction by the Puritans on the racial differences between Indians, Africans, and slaves it remains hard to truly identify Tituba’s origin. This however is not the only reason for the scholarly debate over the identity of Tituba. Another reason is covered by Chadwick Hansen. In Hansen's article the issue of the racial identity of witches during Puritan times is addressed. Hansen states:
" Over the years the magic Tituba practiced has been changed by historians and dramatists from English, to Indian, to African. More startlingly, her own race has been changed from Indian, to half-Indian and half-Negro, to Negro…There is no evidence to support these changes, but there is an instructive lesson in American historiography to be read in them."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tituba
The Crucible isn't very accurate from what I have read about the story it is an adaptation of happenings with certain author license taken for dramatic means. It is suppose to be a good book and movie but it just isnt accurate. I am not at home or I would give you the exact information about all this but I don't have it on this computer.
None of them were burned but hung and a couple died in captivity as well as the man they pressed with stones. It was a tragic occurence but over time it has grown bigger than life. As for the other thing about Wicca yes words mean things and can be used but most often that word was used derogatorily and why most that were actually living during the times didn't use it and used other words or no name at all and Wicca is not very close to original practices in all actuality its really is a modern nature worship that only remotely resembles what some call the Craft.
Wicca is a new religion formed in 1954 by Gerald Gardner that was based on old witchcraft only to a minor degree. Therefore, there are many things in Wicca that do not appear in Trad Wichcraft. Trad Witchcraft beliefs, ritual, practices, customs, and the use of Magic Arts are very different than in Wicca.
http://www.blue-moon-manor.com/faq.html#2
One cannot assume that the witchraft practiced then remotely resembles anything practiced in Wicca today and there are still those in the Isles and some parts of Europe that practice much older traditions that are not called Wicca. Many who I have read that go into the historical end say that the church used that word as a derogatory description and they did not call themselves that. I know in Wales they go by Pellars and there are other names. Some of this happened due to the witch laws enacted that were not repealed until early 1900s.
So whatever they thought of these people it would be by what the Puritans believed at the time and not what anyone believes or practices in this time period. Gardner added practices known to Crowley and things from different cultures as well which makes it a very unique religious practice in its own right. None of this would have been known to these people in the Salem area which wasn't really Salem but Salem's Village, Ipswich and another place. It is only in Wicca and ceremonial magick that they call the guardians of the watchtowers. European Traditionslists do not do this or many things like that it wasn't part of what the Celts did. Therefore they wouldn't have thought they were drumming up anything in Salem except those superstions of what that group believed about anything outside of their faith...paganism. That in a nutshell was associated with the devil.
