John Henry
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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.
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.”
Jan 13, 2021 · 16K. 333K views 3 years ago. Watch Extra Mythology ad-free on Nebula! https://go.nebula.tv/extramythology John Henry is a myth that embodies a lot of America. From the story of hard work and...
May 9, 2018 · A towering, legendary American working-class folk heroes, John Henry represents not only the nineteenth-century struggle of the human spirit against the coming industrial era but also African-American resistance to white labor domination.
Sep 28, 2013 · This ballad tells the story of John Henry, an American folk hero. According to legend, he was the strongest and fastest railroad workers in his day during the post-Civil War era.
Apr 13, 2024 · The origin of the John Henry legend can be traced back to the late 19th century, during the height of railroad construction in the United States. According to folklore, John Henry was a steel driver—a manual laborer tasked with hammering steel drills into rock to create holes for explosives.
A retelling of a West Virginia legend about a slave who became a steel-driver and challenged a steam-drill in a contest. Learn about John Henry's life, death and legacy in this folktale by S.E. Schlosser.
