Today, his likeness has appeared in film, work songs and other music, television, literature, US postage stamps, and even video games. In World War II propaganda – during a time when the United States was struggling to deal with its own social tolerance and diversity -John Henry’s image was used to express those same ideals. His story represents the worst aspects of exploitation and the degradation of human beings brought on by the age of machinery, yet he also embodies the greatest qualities of the human beings who fight and succeed through great adversity. Role in American Civil Rights Movementīecause of his race and the trials he nobly endured, his image was right at home with the American Civil Rights Movement. Because of the profession he worked in until his dying breath, he has been used as a rallying point for labor movements, and in particular the countless other faceless railroad workers who died from accidents and illness over the centuries. Whether John Henry’s story is based in fact or fiction isn’t very important when we look at the symbol which he has become. Other claims made over the years place the tunnel and Henry’s contest in other states such as Kentucky, or places as far off as Jamaica. Many of these theories place John Henry as a former slave, or the son of a slave, or alternatively as a work-release laborer attached to a local prison. Theories offered by various researchers over the years have suggested Big Bend Tunnel, West Virginia in 1870-72, Lewis Tunnel, Virginia in 1873, and Coosa Mountain Tunnel, Alabama in 1877. It is unclear exactly where or when John Henry won that tunnel race, if it did occur. John Henry pushed his body to its limits and won the race, but died just past the finish line as his heart gave out, hammer still gripped in his hand. As the story goes, during the construction of one railroad tunnel, a race was arranged between John and one of the steam-powered drills being used. John worked with his hands and his hammer however, and he was known for his speed and strength.
JOHN HENRY RAILROAD STORY MANUAL
John Henry’s story is traditionally dated to sometime in the later half of the 19th century, at a time when manual steel-drivers were being replaced by faster, more efficient steam-powered drilling machines- the precursors to modern jackhammers and pneumatic drills. The role of a steel-driving man is to hammer a steel drill into solid rock so that explosives can be inserted into the holes for the clearing out and construction of railroad tunnels. He was an African American railroad worker who became a folk hero among the poor thanks to his earthy nature, physical prowess, and dramatic struggle against the machinery slowly replacing laborers like him. Of uncertain historicity but undeniable cultural importance is the story of John Henry, the steel-driving man.
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