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Oct 8, 2022 · There is, however, some truth to the stories of these great American folk heroes. John Henry, for example, may not have single-handedly beaten a steam-powered drill in a digging contest, but the Virginia Museum of History and Culture notes that there was a real John Henry who worked in the C&O Railroad's Lewis Tunnel.
Oct 11, 2023 · John Henry was a hammer man, and while constructing the Lewis Tunnel, Henry and his coworkers were tested against steam drills, a fact that lines up with the famous ballad. The real John Henry likely died from this work, just like his mythic counterpart, but probably not from a heart attack: Instead, lung disease was the likely culprit.
A West Virginia Legend. Now John Henry was a mighty man, yes sir. He was born a slave in the 1840’s but was freed after the war. He went to work as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, don’t ya know. And John Henry was the strongest, the most powerful man working the rails. John Henry, he would spend his day’s drilling holes ...
Jul 6, 2021 · Said differently: there may have been a real, historical John Henry, but there are as many John Henry stories as there are beliefs about labor. And we should be careful about the stories we tell. In Hinton, just past Talcott, there’s an old white man named Jimmy Costa who specializes in local lore and can play and sing dozens of variations on ...
Nov 6, 2020 · It was a book St. Louis filmmaker Matthew Rice came across years ago, and it inspired his new film “The Ballad of John Henry.” “There are many versions, or many theories, on who the real ...
Dec 26, 2007 · Who was the real John Henry? The story of this legendary African-American figure has come down to us in so many songs, stories, and plays, that the facts are often lost. Historian Scott Nelson brings John Henry alive for young readers in his personal quest for the true story of the man behind the myth. Nelson presents the famous folk song as a ...
- Scott Reynolds Nelson