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May 13, 2024 · John Henry, hero of a widely sung African American folk ballad. It describes his contest with a steam drill, in which John Henry crushed more rock than did the machine but died “with his hammer in his hand.”
The Ballad of John Henry was an Afro-American folk song dating back to the late 1800s. The song tells of a man who worked as a steel driver when the railroads were being built across Western America.
Folklorists have long thought John Henry to be mythical, but historian Scott Nelson has discovered that he was a real person—a nineteen-year-old from New Jersey who was convicted of theft in a Virginia court in 1866, sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary, and put to work building the C&O Railroad.
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May 5, 2024 · What is the origin of The Ballad of John Henry? The Ballad of John Henry has its roots in the African American folk tradition. The song was popularized during the construction of the railroads in the late 1800s and became a symbol of the struggle against oppression. What is the meaning behind the lyrics of The Ballad of John Henry?
Name: “John Henry” was actually an uncommon name among black men in the South in the 1870s. There were fewer than a score of black John Henry’s in the 1870 census, most too young or too old...
- John Garst
While the character may or may not have been based on a real person, Henry became an important blue-collar icon as the saga of his race against a steam powered hammer developed mythic proportions. Bonamassa explained to the HMV magazine why he penned this tribute to the working class legend and made it the title track: "Here's a guy who ...
On August 28, 1830, the driver of a horse-drawn carriage challenged the Tom Thumb, the first American-built steam locomotive, to a race on the newly formed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The locomotive was winning the race until a mechanical malfunction caused it to slow, allowing the horse-drawn car to pull ahead.
