Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, The Untold Story of an American Legend

by Scott Reynolds Nelson

Overview

The ballad "John Henry" is the most recorded folk song in American history and John Henry—the mighty railroad man who could blast through rock faster than a steam drill—is a towering figure in our culture.
In Steel Drivin' Man, Scott Reynolds Nelson recounts the true story of the man behind the iconic American hero, telling the poignant tale of a young Virginia convict who died working on one of the most dangerous enterprises of the time, the first rail route through the Appalachian Mountains. Using census data, penitentiary reports, and railroad company reports, Nelson reveals how John Henry, victimized by Virginia's notorious Black Codes, was shipped to the infamous Richmond Penitentiary to become prisoner number 497, and was forced to labor on the mile-long Lewis Tunnel for the C&O railroad. Equally important, Nelson masterfully captures the life of the ballad of John Henry, tracing the song's evolution from the first printed score by blues legend W. C. Handy, to Carl Sandburg's use of the ballad to become the first "folk singer," to the upbeat version by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Attractively illustrated with numerous images, Steel Drivin' Man offers a marvelous portrait of a beloved folk song—and a true American legend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195341195
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/04/2008
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	534,705
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Scott Reynolds Nelson is Associate Professor of History at the College of William and Mary. The author of Iron Confederacies: Southern Railways, Klan Violence, and Reconstruction, he has served as a consultant on the forthcoming PBS documentary on John Henry.

Table of Contents

Ch. 1: The Search for John HenryCh. 2: To the White HouseCh. 3: Wiseman's GroceryCh.4: Ward-WellCh. 5: Man Versus MountainCh. 6: The Southern Railway OctopusCh. 7: Songs People Have Sung: 1900-1930Ch. 8: Communist StrongmanCodaNotesAcknowledgmentsIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Readers looking for the roots of African American popular culture in the Jim Crow South, for the relationships between work like and popular culture, for the ways in which such popular culture is re-created and transformed over time, can do no better than Steel Drivin' Man.—James R. Barrett, Peace and Change

"A fine example of engaged writing, one that deserves to be read and used to understand the world of the hammer men."—Rosemary Feurer, Reviews in American History

"Written at the crossroads where American myth and reality intersect, Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend is a tribute and requiem to the real steel drivin' men who built this country."—Bruce Springsteen

"Nelson manages to piece together a portrait of Henry — a black convict laborer who died drilling railroad tunnels — offering an illuminating course in Reconstruction history along the way. Part biography and part cultural history, this slender volume, nicely illustrated with maps and photographs, is at heart a detective story by a sleuth with a PhD and a healthy dose of skepticism."—Washington Post Book World

"A beautifully written, unique essay in social and cultural history that tells a multilayered story about labor, race, and railroads in the era of Reconstruction.... Elegant, accessible, and engaging [it] reveals the archaeological process of historical research and history writing, compelling readers to understand how all of us come to understand the past. Based upon astonishing research, Nelson tells an eloquent story about injustice, racism, and most important of all, why we study history and how those in the present become engaged with the past."—Merle Curti Prize Committee [Henry Yu, Professor of History, UCLA,; Mary Murphy, Montana State University; Mae M. Ngai, Columbia University; Hal Rothman, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Jeffrey Sklansky, Oregon State]

"It is thrilling to follow the exegesis of the 'John Henry' lyrics through to the discovery of John Henry's identity. Many disciplines are necessarily examined in the course of this detective tale: history of course, but also geology, forestry, engineering, anthropology, anatomy, sociology, law, music, literature, poetry, art and popular culture. Yet Mr. Nelson stirs the brew with the effortless touch of a master chef, deftly adding ingredients at just the right temperature (a dash here, a sprinkle there) to serve up a most enticing gumbo."—National Awards for Arts Writing Committee [Alan Cheuse, Professor of English, George Mason University; Rita Dove, Former Poet Laureate of the United States, Joyce Carol Oates, Professor of English, Princeton University]

"Steel Drivin' Man begins as a fine historical detective story. Through dogged work and serendipitous strokes Nelson, a labor historian, pieced together the story...a wonderful bit of sleuthing and a fascinating tour of life on the lower fringes of the post-bellum South."—Elliot West, Professor of History, University of Arkansas [review in History Book Club]

"It is a grim story...a black man who fought for the Union is convicted of a petty theft...Nelson's reconstruction of John Henry's identity from prison records, railroad archives, and census data is fascinating, a remarkable feat of historical sleuthing."—Henry Louis Gates, Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University [in speech for the Anisfield-Wolf award]

From the Publisher

What Mr. Nelson proves is the undying power of the John Henry myth, which reduces almost to a pinpoint the historical figure he resurrects from the archives. Whether or not John William Henry is the man seems almost irrelevant. He is a fascinating guide to the world of the Southern railroads and the grim landscape of Reconstruction. But the real story, and the real John Henry, come to life after his death.
— The New York Times

William Grimes

According to the ballad that made him famous, John Henry did battle with a steam-powered drill, beat the machine and died. Folklorists have long thought John Henry to be mythical, but while researching railroad work songs, historian Nelson, of the College of William and Mary, discovered that Henry was a real person-a short black 19-year-old from New Jersey who was convicted of theft in a Virginia court in 1866. Under discriminatory Black Codes, Henry was sentenced to 10 years in the Virginia Penitentiary and put to work building the C&O Railroad. There, at the Lewis Tunnel, Henry and other prisoners worked alongside steam-powered drills, and at least 300 of them died. This slender book is many-layered. It's Nelson's story of piecing together the biography of the real John Henry, and rarely is the tale of hours logged in archives so interesting. It's the story of fatal racism in the postbellum South. And it's the story of work songs, songs that not only turned Henry into a folk hero but, in reminding workers to slow down or die, were a tool of resistance and protest. This is a remarkable work of scholarship and a riveting story. 25 b&w illus. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The legend and folk ballad of John Henry and his titanic competition against a steam-powered drill in blasting a railroad tunnel is well known. Nelson (history, Coll. of William and Mary; Iron Confederacies: Southern Railways, Klan Violence, and Reconstruction), who has consulted on a forthcoming PBS documentary about John Henry, A Man Ain't Nothin' but a Man, places the legend in historical and cultural context. He begins with a first-person account of his search for a real John Henry and the likely site of the railroad tunnel in western Virginia. He indeed finds records of a John Henry, who worked on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad as a convict laborer following the Civil War. Nelson never conclusively proves this John Henry to be the man of the legend, but he uses the fruits of his research to illustrate the role of blacks in the South during Reconstruction and how the railroads became wealthy at the expense of the railroad workers and state governments. He also tells how the John Henry story became part of American folklore as song, art, and political action. This well-written historical study is appropriate for history and folklore collections in both academic and public libraries. Lawrence R. Maxted, Gannon Univ., Erie, PA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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