African Diaspora at Internet Archive: John Henry

After writing about Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney's amazing Brer Rabbit books yesterday, I wanted to follow up with another book they collaborated on: John Henry, which is just a click away at the Internet Archive.

I'll have more to say in future posts about John Henry, since he is a fundamental figure in African American folklore and specifically in the ballad tradition. There is an introduction with some historical context, but the focus of this retelling is the legendary John Henry of the ballad tradition who begins life as a supernatural hero; there's even a unicorn that comes with the other wild animals to witness the birth of this super-strong child. 

Pinkney's illustrations are brilliant, and Lester's writing is, as always, a complete pleasure to read, full of orality. 

Lester also includes the legend of John Henry being able to outrun a horse before getting to the core legend of John Henry driving steel, racing against the machine. 

In the preface, Lester writes about an early conversation he and Pinkney had about the project, and how that got him to thinking about Martin Luther King. That's a profound thought to have in mind as the story concludes: "Dying isn't important. Everybody does that. What matters is how well you do your living."

I'll have more to say about the John Henry ballad tradition later on (there are some fabulous African American song books at the Internet Archive)... meanwhile, if you want to spend some time with Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney today, this beautiful book is a fine way to do that, and it's just a click away, thanks to the power of Controlled Digital Lending at the Archive.

John Henry

by Julius Lester