John Henry (folklore)

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.

John Henry

1840s or 1850s

Railroad worker

American folk hero

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]

In 1995, John Henry was portrayed in the movie by Roger Aaron Brown. A former slave, John Henry appears to a runaway farmer's son named Daniel to both protect him from ruffians (alongside fellow folk hero figures Daniel's father told his son about, Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan) and impart life lesson wisdom to him.

Tall Tale

In 2018, a film centered around characters from classic titled John Henry and the Statesmen was announced to be in development. Intended to be the start of a new film franchise, it includes Dwayne Johnson cast to portray John Henry. Jake Kasdan will serve as director, based on the original story by Tom Wheeler and Hiram Garcia. Johnson, Garcia, Kasdan, and Beau Flynn will serve as producers. The project will be a joint-venture production between Seven Bucks Productions, Netflix Original Films, and Flynn Picture Company; and distributed by Netflix as a streaming exclusive movie.^[15] In November 2021, producer Hiram Garcia stated that development on the project continues, while confirming that the most recent draft of the script had been completed while it requires additional work.^[16]

American folklore

In 2020, played a modern-day adaptation of the character in John Henry. The plot centers around a former gang member who takes in two young teens who are on the run from the leader of his past. The film was released by Saban Films.^[17]

Terry Crews

– Strategy for coping with prolonged exposure to stress

John Henryism

– Soviet miner and national hero

Alexey Stakhanov

– Giant lumberjack in American folklore

Paul Bunyan

– Folk legend of Port Tampa, Florida

Ole Pete

– Cultural icon of the US during World War II

Rosie the Riveter

Johnson, Guy B. (1929). John Henry: Tracking Down a Negro Legend. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press

Chappell, Louis W. (1933). John Henry; A Folk-Lore Study. Reprinted 1968. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press

(1965). John Henry, An American Legend. New York: Pantheon Books.

Keats, Ezra Jack

Williams, Brett (1983). John Henry: A Bio-Bibliography by Brett Williams. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press

Nelson, Scott. "Who Was John Henry? Railroad Construction, Southern Folklore, and the Birth of Rock and Roll", Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas Summer 2005 2(2): 53–80; :10.1215/15476715-2-2-53

doi

Garst, John F. (2022). John Henry and His People: The Historical Origin and Lore of America's Great Folk Ballad. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.

at the Wayback Machine (archived 13 October 2016)

John Henry at The Seeger Sessions

Lyrics to various versions of "John Henry"

Survey of books about the legend of John Henry

Website on racial protest and resistance in the John henry ballad.

John Henry bibliography compiled by the Archive of Folk Culture staff at the Library of Congress

(HAER) No. WV-93, "Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, Great Bend Tunnel, Talcott, Summers County, WV"