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- An amazing story of the human spirit and work ethic, yes, but was John Henry a real person? Most historians agree that he was, as thousands of African-Americans worked on the railroad, with hundreds perishing during the drilling of the Great Bend Tunnel. Their unmarked graves lie at entrance of the tunnel, at the feet of a statue of John Henry.
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An amazing story of the human spirit and work ethic, yes, but was John Henry a real person? Most historians agree that he was, as thousands of African-Americans worked on the railroad, with hundreds perishing during the drilling of the Great Bend Tunnel .
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.
Jul 24, 2018 · This West Virginia Town Is Where the Real John Henry Died. Outside the Big Bend Tunnel in Talcott, West Virginia, stands a statue of a powerfully built man holding a hammer in his hands. It pays tribute to John Henry, the American folk hero whose larger-than-life feats inspired the popular song, “The Ballad of John Henry.”.
John Henry is a hero to everyone, especially African Americans and labor-union members. He is celebrated in novels, poems, cartoons, comics, paintings, sculptures, movies, etc., and he is...
- John Garst
Feb 28, 2006 · 2-28-06. John Henry real? Truth or tall tale, the John Henry story has been told for more than a hundred years. Many historians believe it is based, in part, on a real person and event...
Aug 26, 2007 · Finding the Real John Henry. By Alanna Nash on August 26, 2007. Scott Reynolds Nelson. John Henry, the mighty railroad worker with a sledgehammer who beat a steam-powered drill in a spike-driving contest, long has been a celebrated folk hero. But most people assume he was only a legend.
In his nonfiction account Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend (Oxford University Press 2008), historian Scott Reynolds Nelson attempts to find the real man behind the legend, with a particular focus on Reconstruction-era Virginia and the use of prison labor for building railroads.