John Henry Ballads Likely Originated as Songs for Railroad Workers in the 1870s
Steel drivers and other rail workers would sing work songs as they laid tracks. The tunes later became more generalized as songs for chain gangs, prisons and other workers. Later versions saw it transformed into folk, blues and protest songs performed by singers like Leadbelly and Harry Belafonte.
The Railroad Boom in America Aided Escape Efforts of the Enslaved
Samuel Ballton escaped his camp in April 1862 with a group of other enslaved Africans along lines cut to lay track to the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad. They trailed it north, dodging the road master who hired them by claiming they were there to work. The group later made it past Union lines and met the Sixth Wisconsin infantry. Other Black laborers escaped in similar ways.
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