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The Official Website of the State of West Virginia

TheHistoryProject - The Legend of John Henry - Icon of America's Labor Culture

4/10/2022

In the company of Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and the Mighty Casey, John Henry is a legend whom people see as a proper metaphor for the American spirit. Created from the ideals of African American laborers on the Big Bend Tunnel in in the 1870s in Talcott, West Virginia, John Henry is the embodiment of the hero hardworking people needed then and now, and this is more than his story. It is our story.

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/GBNqzkZGrqo​​​​