John henry folklore biography
John henry fashion
John henry company.
The Man - Facts, Fiction and Themes
By Carlene Hempel
There are two John Henrys, the actual man and the legend surrounding him.
Defining the first is a matter of assembling facts.
John henry folklore biography
He was born a slave, worked as a laborer for the railroads after the Civil War, and died in his 30s, leaving behind a young pretty wife and a baby.
Pinning down the second, the legend, is not so easy. It's as varied as the thousands of people - menial workers, scholars, professional musicians - who have studied, sung and recorded it over the years.
The story of John Henry, told mostly through ballads and work songs, traveled from coast to coast as the railroads drove west during the 19th Century. And in time, it has become timeless, spanning a century of generations with versions ranging from prisoners recorded at Mississippi's Parchman Farm in the late 1940s to present-day folk heroes.
From what we kn