Poem: “The Birth of John Henry” by Melvin B. Tolson

0 Posted by - April 3, 2024 - Black History, History, LATEST POSTS

The Birth of John Henry

By Melvin B. Tolson

The night John Henry is born an ax

         of lightning splits the sky,
  and a hammer of thunder pounds the earth,
     and the eagles and panthers cry!
     John Henry—he says to his Ma and Pa:
         “Get a gallon of barleycorn.
     I want to start right, like a he-man child,
         the night that I am born!”
  Says: “I want some ham hocks, ribs, and jowls,
         a pot of cabbage and greens;
     some hoecakes, jam, and buttermilk,
         a platter of pork and beans!”
     John Henry’s Ma—she wrings her hands,
         and his Pa—he scratches his head.
     John Henry—he curses in giraffe-tall words,
         flops over, and kicks down the bed.
     He’s burning mad, like a bear on fire—
         so he tears to the riverside.
 As he stoops to drink, Old Man River gets scared
         and runs upstream to hide!
     Some say he was born in Georgia—O Lord!
         Some say in Alabam.
  But it’s writ on the rock at the Big Bend Tunnel:
     “Lousyana was my home. So scram!

 

Melvin Beaunorus Tolson was an American poet, educator, columnist, and politician. As a poet, he was influenced both by Modernism and the language and experiences of African Americans, and he was deeply influenced by his study of the Harlem Renaissance.

Born in Moberly, Missouri, Tolson was one of four children of Reverend Alonzo Tolson, a Methodist minister, and Lera (Hurt) Tolson, a seamstress of African-Creek ancestry. Alonzo Tolson was also of mixed race, the son of an enslaved woman and her white master.

Tolson graduated from Lincoln High School in Kansas City in 1919. He enrolled at Fisk University but transferred to Lincoln University, Pennsylvania the next year for financial reasons. Tolson graduated with honors in 1924. He became a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

As a debate coach at the historically black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, Tolson led a team that pioneered interracial college debates against white colleges in the segregated South.

From October 1937 to June 1944, Tolson wrote a column for The Washington Tribune, which he called “Cabbage and Caviar.” In 1941, he published his poem “Dark Symphony” in 1941. Some critics believe it is his greatest work, in which he compared and contrasted African-American and European-American history. Tolson’s final work to appear in his lifetime, the long poem Harlem Gallery, was published in 1965. The poem consists of several sections, each beginning with a letter of the Greek alphabet.

 

source:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55887/the-birth-of-john-henry-56d237e3af038

32 Comments

  • www.linux.co.uk January 21, 2018 - 10:06 pm

    Yoս cann рlay it anytme you want.? Daddy answeгed. ?As a result of ѕpeaking about how nice God is makes him ppeased ɑndd its woгship.
    Play it earlier than yoս gο to sleep tonight and
    whenever you wake up within the morning and
    God will likely bе close to you all day long.

  • Very good post. I am facing some of these issues as well..

  • casino slot machine games free download March 31, 2019 - 3:49 pm

    After you complete this process, you’ll be taken to the casino floor.
    May find plenty of casinos possess an online version regarding games.
    Especially the casino bonuses can be as high as $1000. http://Home.Spenceschool.org/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=lpe88.life%2Findex.php%2Fother-games%2Fplay8oy

  • Please allow me understand {so that|in

  • Please permit me know {so that|in

  • I could not refrain from commenting. Well written!|

  • 우리카지노 April 7, 2019 - 3:49 am

    If you wish for to get much from this article then you have to apply such methods to your
    won blog.

  • ntc33 April 7, 2019 - 3:35 pm

    Trying to get good page rank for your website can be a most frustrating experience for webmasters.
    After all, what is page rank exactly why should you cherish it?

    There are many discussion boards or forums on world-wide-web.
    You need to participate on these sites to announce your services or products among the worldwide audiences.

    Here people will visit your own site and can provide to comments regarding it.

    But.the 9 articles Discovered the other
    day had not been done through doing this. My name was replaced with someone else’s name and links were removed.
    The links were substituted for that specific persons backlinks to your site.
    All 9 of these articles were taken by 9 separate entities.

    Treat your daughter for you to some beauty day and record the results; curlers in hair,
    mirror in hand, lipstick and blush face. This can be a good page
    to assist a lock of hair on. Use backgrounds and accessories to intensify your child’s coloring.

    If she has ginger hair, choose pumpkins and hay or spices and autumn shades.

    Don’t overlook the guys starting out when your green bar starts increase.
    If they possess a website with good quality content,
    then you can should consider linking all of them. Remember we all need
    to start somewhere and today’s pr of 1 is tomorrow’s page rank 5.
    Where possible link with relevant websites because Google likes this, and may never receive quality traffic from
    these websites for years to come.

    Link the directories which human-edited , nor accept spam or adult content.
    Reciprocal links are less effective than oneway links
    so is actually possible to better produce a links page.

    If you sense SEO as well much for you to handle anyone
    have other things to do as well, it makes sense to hire an SEO expert to
    make it work for a person will. An SEO expert will do everything regarding your website’s page
    rankings and when you bring in help good, you won’t have to consider anything.
    It is always a choice to ask as many questions as you possibly can to your SEO guy as can ensure that you are
    never in any doubt concerning what is happening to your website.

    Participate in topic discussion on other sites is yet another great way
    to make your existence strong and do include internet site URL from the reference section. http://Lpe88.life/index.php/other-games/ntc33

  • Apex Legends Octane April 19, 2019 - 4:38 am

    I have to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this site. I’m hoping to view the same high-grade content by you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own website now 😉

  • Happy Mothers day images April 21, 2019 - 8:56 am

    This paragraph presents clear idea designed for
    the new people of blogging, that genuinely how to do
    running a blog.

  • 예스카지노 April 24, 2019 - 5:59 pm

    I was reading through some of your articles on this website and I think this web site is rattling informative!

    Keep posting.

  • huidspecialist May 1, 2019 - 5:25 pm

    I do consider all the concepts you have introduced in your post.

    They are really convincing and will certainly work.
    Still, the posts are too brief for newbies.
    May just you please extend them a bit from next time?

    Thank you for the post.

  • link vao win2888 May 2, 2019 - 9:20 pm

    Regards for helping out, excellent info.

  • trang chủ win2888 May 2, 2019 - 9:47 pm

    This site really has all the information I needed concerning this subject and didn’t know who to ask.

  • gamefly May 2, 2019 - 10:28 pm

    Howdy, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you
    get a lot of spam feedback? If so how do you stop
    it, any plugin or anything you can suggest? I
    get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any help is very much appreciated.

  • link vào win2888 May 2, 2019 - 11:30 pm

    Thank you, I have just been looking for info approximately this subject for a while and yours is the greatest I have discovered till now.
    But, what concerning the bottom line? Are you certain concerning the supply?

  • nha cai win2888 May 3, 2019 - 2:41 am

    I think the admin of this web site is actually working hard in favor of his website, as here every data
    is quality based data.

  • World Cup 2019 Schedule PDF Download May 4, 2019 - 5:04 pm

    hey there and thank you for your information – I’ve
    definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however
    expertise several technical points using this web site, as I experienced to
    reload the web site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly.
    I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am
    complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect your
    placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if advertising and
    marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email
    and can look out for a lot more of your respective exciting content.
    Ensure that you update this again soon.

  • Happy mothers Day 2019 May 5, 2019 - 1:44 pm

    There’s certainly a great deal to know about this topic.
    I like all the points you made.

  • TerrellZer May 11, 2019 - 2:26 pm

    Пантогор – гель для суставов быстро избавит от боли в суставах без вреда для здоровья.
    Полная потеря дееспособности и жизнь без надежды на будущее – вот, что вам грозит, если вы не позаботитесь о своих суставах!
    Жить полноценной жизнью или провести остаток своих дней в инвалидном кресле – решать вам!
    По данным Всемирной организации по борьбе с болезнями суставов, 80% людей в мире имеют проблемы с суставами. Самое страшное, что заболевания суставов приводят к параличу и инвалидности. На сегодняшний день есть одно единственное средство, которое отличается от всех существующих до этого средств. Это средство Пантогор.
    Основной компонент Пантогора – панты канадского марала. Панты канадского марала активируют природные силы организма и запускают процесс его самовосстановления. Все остальные компоненты действуют синергически – дополняют и усиливают действие друг друга. Прием средства Пантогор гарантирует вам избавление от боли в суставах всего за 1 курс.
    Внимание! Акция действует только на территории России и стран СНГ!
    Успейте оформить заказ по выгодной промо-цене!
    Заказать Пантогор Здесь –> http://c.trktp.ru/ud6b

  • g May 13, 2019 - 9:27 am

    I’ve learn several just right stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting.
    I surprise how so much effort you put to create the sort of wonderful informative
    site.

  • mojang minecraft download May 16, 2019 - 10:28 pm

    I used to be recommended this website through my cousin.
    I am no longer certain whether or not this publish is written through him as nobody else understand such precise about my problem.
    You are amazing! Thanks!

  • gamefly free trial May 21, 2019 - 2:26 pm

    Hi there, this weekend is good in favor of me, for the reason that this moment i am reading this great educational
    paragraph here at my home.

  • 카지노사이트 May 25, 2019 - 9:15 am

    Great post, I conceive blog owners should learn a lot from this website its really user genial.
    So much great info on here :D.

  • Totobet May 27, 2019 - 1:05 pm

    Why people still make use of to read news papers when in this technological world all is accessible on web?

  • arnavutköy masöz May 30, 2019 - 7:31 am

    With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any
    problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My blog has
    a lot of unique content I’ve either written myself
    or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping
    it up all over the internet without my agreement. Do you
    know any ways to help stop content from being ripped off?
    I’d definitely appreciate it.

  • livedraw hk June 1, 2019 - 9:56 am

    Makasi, infonya sangat bermanfaat. Saya pembaca setia di blog ini. Kontennya bener-bener joss…

  • qq online June 8, 2019 - 10:47 am

    It is perfect time to make a few plans for the long run and it is time
    to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I want to recommend you some attention-grabbing issues or
    tips. Maybe you can write subsequent articles regarding this article.
    I wish to learn more things about it!

  • Casino Online June 14, 2019 - 3:51 pm

    This is a great tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere.
    Brief but very accurate info… Thanks for sharing this one.
    A must read article!

  • 바카라사이트 June 15, 2019 - 7:20 pm

    Howdy! Would you mind if I share your blog with
    my twitter group? There’s a lot of people that I think
    would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Cheers

  • chaturbate tokens hack generator 2018 pc June 17, 2019 - 10:48 am

    yahoo got me here. Thanks!