Author: Louis Watson Chappell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Author: Louis W. Chappell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Author: John Garst
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476645809
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
The song "John Henry," perhaps America's greatest folk ballad, is about an African-American steel driver who raced and beat a steam drill, dying "with his hammer in his hand" from the effort. Most singers and historians believe John Henry was a real person, not a fictitious one, and that his story took place in West Virginia--though other places have been proposed. John Garst argues convincingly that it took place near Dunnavant, Alabama, in 1887. The author's reconstruction, based on contemporaneous evidence and subsequent research, uncovers a fascinating story that supports the Dunnavant location and provides new insights. Beyond John Henry, readers will discover the lives and work of his people: Black and white singers; his "captain," contractor Frederick Dabney; C. C. Spencer, the most credible eyewitness; John Henry's wife; the blind singer W. T. Blankenship, who printed the first broadside of the ballad; and later scholars who studied John Henry. The book includes analyses of the song's numerous iterations, several previously unpublished illustrations and a foreword by folklorist Art Rosenbaum.

Author: John Garst
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476686114
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
The song "John Henry," perhaps America's greatest folk ballad, is about an African-American steel driver who raced and beat a steam drill, dying "with his hammer in his hand" from the effort. Most singers and historians believe John Henry was a real person, not a fictitious one, and that his story took place in West Virginia--though other places have been proposed. John Garst argues convincingly that it took place near Dunnavant, Alabama, in 1887. The author's reconstruction, based on contemporaneous evidence and subsequent research, uncovers a fascinating story that supports the Dunnavant location and provides new insights. Beyond John Henry, readers will discover the lives and work of his people: Black and white singers; his "captain," contractor Frederick Dabney; C. C. Spencer, the most credible eyewitness; John Henry's wife; the blind singer W. T. Blankenship, who printed the first broadside of the ballad; and later scholars who studied John Henry. The book includes analyses of the song's numerous iterations, several previously unpublished illustrations and a foreword by folklorist Art Rosenbaum.

Author: Scott Reynolds Nelson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199741144
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The ballad "John Henry" is the most recorded folk song in American history and John Henry--the mighty railroad man who could blast through rock faster than a steam drill--is a towering figure in our culture. In Steel Drivin' Man, Scott Reynolds Nelson recounts the true story of the man behind the iconic American hero, telling the poignant tale of a young Virginia convict who died working on one of the most dangerous enterprises of the time, the first rail route through the Appalachian Mountains. Using census data, penitentiary reports, and railroad company reports, Nelson reveals how John Henry, victimized by Virginia's notorious Black Codes, was shipped to the infamous Richmond Penitentiary to become prisoner number 497, and was forced to labor on the mile-long Lewis Tunnel for the C&O railroad. Equally important, Nelson masterfully captures the life of the ballad of John Henry, tracing the song's evolution from the first printed score by blues legend W. C. Handy, to Carl Sandburg's use of the ballad to become the first "folk singer," to the upbeat version by Tennessee Ernie Ford. Attractively illustrated with numerous images, Steel Drivin' Man offers a marvelous portrait of a beloved folk song--and a true American legend.

Author:
Publisher: First Avenue Editions
ISBN: 0822564777
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Book Description
Retells the life of the legendary African American hero who raced against a steam drill to cut through a mountain.

Author: Brad Kessler
Publisher: ABDO
ISBN: 9781591977643
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
This is a larger-than-life tale about the African American hero who was born with a hammer in his hand. Join John Henry on a scenic journey from cotton country to the wilderness, where he finds men of all colors working together to build a great railroad. In no time, John Henry becomes king of the railroad camps by driving more steel than any man alive. And, in an exciting contest that pits man against machine, he single-handedly out-performs a new-fangled steam drill. This rousing tale delivers an inspirational message about pride and perseverance.

Author: Ezra Jack Keats
Publisher: Turtleback Books
ISBN: 9780833539755
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Describes the life of the legendary steel-driving man who was born and who died with a hammer in his hand

Author: Scott Reynolds Nelson
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 9781426300004
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
Historian Scott Reynolds Nelson recounts how he came to discover the real John Henry, an African-American railroad worker who became a legend in the famous song.

Author: Ted Gioia
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822337263
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
DIVThe place of music in different forms of work from the earliest hunting and planting to the contemporary office./div