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John Henry Video - posted from Newalla, OK
Short video and description of the tunnel.
John Henry - posted from FOLEY, AL
Watch the Disney Short Film of John Henry, it is amazing and goes great with the lesson.
John Henry may have been a real man! - posted from Mount Horeb, WI
I stumbled across this fascinating lecture when we were researching John Henry. Historian Scott Reynolds Nelson was able (in the early 2000's)to unearth old records that point to John Henry having been a real, live person. He shares this lecture (probably too long for most kids but worth watching) to outline his research, methodology, resources, as well as the trajectory of the tall tale and the accompanying song. I learned not only about John Henry, but also folk music, historical research, the Jim Crow south, and railroad construction. Well worth your time! PS Nelson also wrote a YA book about this titled "Ain't Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry"...currently requested from our library.
https://virginiahistory.org/learn/historical-media/steel-drivin-man-john-henry-untold-story-american-legend-scott-reynolds-0
Ballad of John Henry - posted from Linton, ND
Johnny Cash sings a kid friendly song about John Henry accompanied by a short video. This worked for us for the song version in this section.
Unnecessary Sentences - Activity Page - posted from Linton, ND
Early printings of this literature unit were missing the activity page for "Unnecessary Sentences". This page can be downloaded here.