John Henry

John Henry was a steel driver who worked on and died at the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's Big Bend Tunnel during the 1870s. His story has slipped into American folklore similar to the likes of Johnny Appleseed and Casey Jones (or the legends surrounding Betsy Ross and the flag). 
The legend of the man has been portrayed on-camera by Danny Glover in a 1986 episode of Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales & Legends and by Roger Aaron Brown in the 1995 Disney film Tall Tale (opposite Oliver Platt as Paul Bunyan). Animated versions include a 1946 George Pal stop-motion short, 1973's The Legend of John Henry (sung and narrated by Roberta Flack), and a 1999 Disney version (narrated by Alfre Woodard).
==References==
* Pete Seeger sang a song about John Henry on Sesame Street in Episode 0048.
* Leon Bibb sang "Hammer Man, Shaker Man" about John Henry's hammer in Sesame Street Episode 0134.
* The 1995 coloring book Sesame Street Storybook Fun features Kingston Livingston III wielding two sledgehammers in "The Legend of John Henry."
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Category:Historical References
Category:Folklore