Was john henry a real person
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John Henry (folklore)
Folklore character
"The Ballad of John Henry" redirects here. For the album by Joe Bonamassa, see The Ballad of John Henry (album).
John Henry | |
|---|---|
John Henry illustration by Roy E. LaGrone (1942) | |
| Born | 1840s or 1850s |
| Occupation | Railroad worker |
| Known for | American folk hero |
John Henry is an American folk hero. An African American freedman, he is said to have worked as a "steel-driving man"—a man tasked with hammering a steel drill into a rock to make holes for explosives to blast the rock in constructing a railroad tunnel.
The story of John Henry is told in a classic blues folk song about his duel against a drilling machine, which exists in many versions, and has been the subject of numerous stories, plays, books, and novels.[1][2]
Legend
According to legend, John Henry's prowess as a steel driver was measured in a race against a steam-powered rock drill, a race that he won only to die in victory with a hammer in hand as his heart gave out from stress. Various locations, including Big Bend Tun
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John Henry
John Henry was a legendary steel driving man, whose life is the basis for one of the world's best-known folk tales. His fame rests on a single epic moment when he raced the steam drill during the building of a West Virginia railroad tunnel. That moment has captured the imagination of balladeers and storytellers for the last century, and in their songs and tales they have woven for John Henry a whole life: an infant's prophecy, a woman he loves, a heroic test, and a martyr's victory.
Scholars cannot know the real contours of John Henry's life. He was probably born enslaved and was perhaps a convict after emancipation. He worked between 1870 and 1872 as a hammer man or steel driver during construction of the Big Bend (or Great Bend) Tunnel, on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad near the Greenbrier River in Summers County. These men used sledge hammers to drive long steel bits into treacherous red shale to bore the holes for the explosives that would open the tunnel.
In the ballad John Henry exhorts his "shaker," the working partner who clutched, rotated, and shook th
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John Henry: The Steel-Driving Legend
In the rich tapestry of American folklore, the legendary tale of John Henry, the steel-driving man, looms large as an enduring tribute to the indomitable spirit of the American worker. John Henry's story is an emblem of superhuman strength, unwavering determination, and the resolute tenacity that defined the laborers who toiled in the crucible of America's industrial revolution. As we embark on a journey to delve deeper into the saga of John Henry, we uncover not merely a fabled hero, but a living testament to the human capacity to transcend adversity. His life narrative resonates far beyond its folkloric roots, transcending the boundaries of time and space to encapsulate the struggles, triumphs, and enduring legacy of labor workers throughout the annals of history.
Through the annals of American folklore, the tale of John Henry, the legendary steel-driving man, stands tall as a testament to human strength, determination, and the challenges faced by labor workers during the growth of America's railroads. John Henry, born a slave in the Southe
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