Author examines legacy of John Henry

March 1, 2006

Author Scott Nelson will explore the legendary John Henry Tuesday, March 7, in the next lecture in a series looking at historic inventors.

The series is sponsored by the Michael J. Colligan History Project of Miami University Hamilton and by The Hamilton Community Foundation.

In 1998, Nelson discovered that railroad legend John Henry was not a mythical strongman, but a convict assigned to tunneling on the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad in 1871.

During Tuesday’s lecture, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Harry T. Wilks Conference Center, Nelson will explore how John Henry actually died and how the song became one of America’s first blues and first country songs. Nelson will also explain how the phrase “rock and roll” first originated in the tunnels of western Virginia.

Nelson received his PhD in history from the University of North Carolina in 1995. He focuses on nineteenth-century US History. His first book, Iron Confederacies: Southern Railways, Klan Violence and Reconstruction was published by UNC Press in April 1999. Since then he has published in many journals and anthologies on the subject of gender and political violence.

The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.