Black People In Appalachia: Part II: Some Stories Of Black People In Kentucky (with comments about Black People in Kentucky & in other parts of Appalachia)

Black in Appalachia, May 3, 2020

Black in Appalachia details the history of the establishment of coal camps & towns in the Eastern Kentucky coal fields & the in migration of African American laborers to the Mountain. With interviews from current & former residents of the region & scholars Philip J, Obermiller, Tom Wagner & Karida Brown, we follow the stories of these Black families through day-to-day life, out migration & the founding of the Eastern Kentucky Social Club. Founded in 1969, the EKSC is perhaps one of the longest standing African American organizations dedicated to solely social purposes. See: https://www.blackinappalachia.org/eksc

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series about Black people in the Appalachia region o the United States.

This post showcases a YouTube video about Black people in Appalachia and includes selected comments from that video's discussion thread.
 
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/setting-record-straight-about-black.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents information about the term "Appalachia" and presents excerpts from several online articles about Black people in Appalachia.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, genealogical, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the cultural legacies of Black people in Appalachia and thanks to all those who are associated with the Eastern Kentucky Social Club. Thanks also to all those who are associated with this showcase video and all those who are quoted in this post.

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
(Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.) 

2020

1. FET Engineer
"My family & ancestry arrived to Madison County, Kentucky in 1790. We are tri-racial people from Port Tobacco, Charles County, Mayland. Today my family on average is 60% African and 40% European with Native American. My father's side is from Jackson, Ross and Gallia County in Southern Ohio which is also in the Appalachia region."

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2. riverbilly64
"I find your post interesting. My Black ancestors are also from Maryland and I’m also from Southeastern Ohio."

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3. harold Denton, 2021
"Lots of melungeon tri racial folks have been living in cumberland,ky and on over into blackwater,va community  and over into  sneedville,tn in Hancocke county,County,.  They came out of the eastern parts of virginia and North carolina by the mid to late 1770's."

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4. Rebecca Mæd
"I need help! My dad’s family are from Floyd and Pike counties and I can trace my white and Native ancestors but haven’t found anything on my African DNA. I know my ancestors hid a whole lot of things but I am so stumped. Anyone else in the same predicament?"

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5. Cashh Washington
"U got african in u?"

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6. Rebecca Mæd
"Cashh Washington yes...Bantu, Congo. I am also descended from the 1619 First Slaves in America. I know my earliest line but I still don’t have records for my closest African ancestors. I suspect there was some cheating or claiming of a father who wasn’t the father because my great grandma Lena looked a whole lot like Rosa Parks. Very uncanny to meet Rosa and see your great grandma especially since my great grandma came from some super white looking people. The Mullins though are known to be “Melungeon” and didn’t care if you were African or Native. Sadly though I have no records showing. I do have African American (DNA confirmed) 4th cousins who don’t share known ancestry but their ancestors are from my great grandma’s area. We’ll figure it out soon enough."

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2021

7. Jessica T.
"Born and raised in Lexington, KY and still here. I made it a point to interview my aunt, who is 95 years old, about my family's history here in Kentucky. I wished I'd talked to so many more of my elders while they were here. Some much black history/my history that I will never find in a book. Thank you for posting this documentary. It's a gem."

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8. Bey11ktb
"Great job of documenting this part of the bluegrass states history! I didn’t think there were any blacks in Kentucky."

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9. Errol
"Bey11ktb

Kentucky was a slave state."

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10. suprsnips, 2022
"@Errol , Kentucky was a slave state, but it wasn't part of the Confederacy."

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11. lorie mills, 2022
"@suprsnips  are you sure about that? I thought part of it was confederate. Didn't brothers and families in ky fight against one another because it was split? If not I was taught wrong."
-snip-
Here's some information on this subject from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_in_the_American_Civil_War
"This article is about events within the borders of the state between 1861 and 1865. For the former government in exile, see Confederate government of Kentucky.

Kentucky was a border state of key importance in the American Civil War. It officially declared its neutrality at the beginning of the war, but after a failed attempt by Confederate General Leonidas Polk to take the state of Kentucky for the Confederacy, the legislature petitioned the Union Army for assistance. After early 1862 Kentucky came largely under Union control. In the historiography of the Civil War, Kentucky is treated primarily as a border state, with special attention to the social divisions during the secession crisis, invasions and raids, internal violence, sporadic guerrilla warfare, federal-state relations, the ending of slavery, and the return of Confederate veterans.[1]

[...] 

Kentucky was the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd, and his southern counterpart, Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Lincoln had declared, early in the war, "I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game."[2]

35,000 Kentuckians served as Confederate soldiers; an estimated 125,000 Kentuckians served as Union soldiers.[3] Approximately 24,000 Black Kentuckians, free and enslaved, served as Union soldiers."...

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12.  MBFMTalkLive
"PADUCAH, KY born & raised.  SALUTE to the Black Appalachians This was an excellent "peace" of work.  Thank You. p.s.  YES, there are black people in KY.  Lol"

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13. Teresa Taylor 
"Wow I grew in West Virginia Bluefield I would love to see something about that most people think there are no black hillbillies but yes there are and thrive no incest nor ignorance when I moved to Ohio at 16 I was put up a grade and I  was so much further ahead of them I only had to take one class😁huh""

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14. William Matthews
"FROM MAYFIELD KENTUCKY. SHOUT OUT TO THE BLACK PPL IN APPALACHIANS"

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15. Linda Mae Mullins
"❤️"

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16. DeHart Family
"Shoutin back, from East Tennessee."

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17. pj roe
"Very good documentary never thought about black miners and very impressed with attitude of the Steel companies to create a balanced environment for all people with the same wages just what many people wanted equal pay for work but I am sure there were some inequalities"

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18. Isaac Hill
"Shout out to the Hill family. Descendents of Black, Gates, Pennsylvanian Coal Miners..."

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19. Isaac Hill
"Gates Hill's are Cleveland Hill's"

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20. Linda Mae Mullins
"❤️"

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21. Brother Jamil
"Fascinating!  Is there anyone here who remembers anything about Middlesboro?  My family were the Carsons, the Balls, and the Ramseurs…"

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22. Brother Jamil
"We migrated to Cincinnati in the 1930s, except for the Ramseurs (Aunt Gladys and Cousin Kyle) who stayed in Bell County."

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23. Black in Appalachia
"Good Morning Brother Jamil. Those names sound familiar. Please take a peek at these school records from Middlesboro's Lincoln School. Some of them have photographs: https://blackinappalachia.omeka.net/collections/show/50"

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24. Wilson's Channel and More. Aka Jason Ryan Wilson
"I live in Bell. They had an all black high school back in the 50s in Middlesboro. Every summer the descendants of Lincoln high always comes back to Middlesboro for a reunion.I go every year, and always have a ball. Drinkin, smokin, cookouts, and a lot of dancing! My favorite part? It's listening too the elders talk about their struggles and how they persevered. If the youth only knew their struggles!"

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25. Kaleah Collins
"Are you part BLACK yourself?"

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26. Wilson's Channel and More. Aka Jason Ryan Wilson
"@Kaleah Collins  no. Part Cherokee and Irish. But my father was a cop back in the 70s and his partner was black and my godfather. When I was a baby. My father passed at 34 from a heart attack. They're isn't gonna be a high school reunion due to covid."

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27. Terri T.
"Wow! I never knew their were black coal miners and let alone in the Appalachian Mountains. Thank you for this awesome documentary. I would really like to research one for black railroad workers that were not Porters. My great grandfather was a worker and built the house I now have."

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28. Lies, damn lies, and stats Weird
"+ Terri T. My maternal grandfather was a black coal miner. I never met him because he died in s coal mining accident when my mother was only 6 years old."

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29. Thomas Stevens
"I am Kentucky born growed up in Kentucky. My daddy worked in the coal mine. When I got old enough I went to work in the coal mine. Worked with some black men in the mine. We watched after each other like brothers. It sad to hear that when the miners left work they were separated. When will finally unite as one. We have always been divided to conquer. Truth to power"

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30. Bey11ktb
"Is this why Kentucky has a hbcu in Kentucky state??"
-snip-
"HBCU"= Historical Black Colleges & Universities
Here's information about the two HBCUs in Kentucky:
from https://www.wdrb.com/news/new-highway-signs-to-recognize-kentuckys-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/article_19698f6a-31cd-11ec-bd8f-a32ccc46e150.html
..."Louisville and Frankfort are home to the only two historically black colleges or universities in the Commonwealth: Simmons and Kentucky State University.

There will never be another historically black college or university, because to qualify, the institution had to have been in existence before 1964."...

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31. B J Williams
'hbcu 's were created at first as Normal Schools to teach ex-slaves to read and write, to prepare them better for share-cropping. I graduated from Kentucky State in 1967...its now 1/2 white. Born in Harlan, grandfather worked in Lynch mines, he passed of black lung around 1964. In California for decades now, retired---grew up with Jim Crow Laws--separate schools, back of the bus, lived in 'colored' section of town--they tore it down. We had our churches and schools, also a few businesses. You were still very safe growing up...one of my great nephews couldn't understand how I grew up with no hot water in the house, my son when he was little couldn't understand no tv. Owell..everything is on youtube, reflections. Stay safe, I took the vaccine, believe in science.. ;)

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32. Airashii The Empress
"Beautiful love my black people you are the country's hero's that made it possible for my island people to be here God bless you all. The way you all feel about Eastern Kentucky is how I feel about my neighborhood that was dominantly all black in the 80's and very dangerous but I will always be proud to be from East Pal Alto ca and enjoy going back home like"

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32. Victor Thomas
"Nice ADOS History"
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Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Descendants_of_Slavery for information about the ADOS movement.  Here's a quote from that page:
"American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) is a term referring to descendants of enslaved Africans in the area that would become the United States (from its colonial period onward), and to the political movement of the same name. Both the concept and the movement grew out of the hashtag #ADOS created by Yvette Carnell and Antonio Moore.[1]

The ADOS movement focuses mainly on demanding reparations for the system of slavery in the United States.[2] They want colleges, employers and the federal government to prioritize ADOS and argue that affirmative action policies originally designed to help ADOS have been used largely to benefit other groups.[2]

Supporters of the ADOS movement say they should have their own racial category on census forms and college applications, and should not be lumped in with other Black people—namely modern Black African immigrants to the United States and Black immigrants from the Caribbean.[2]"...

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33. Carlton Upton
"My great-great-grandmother was from the Kentucky area and I never knew that before and she was Native American and white and then she married a ex-slave and that is how my family tree began a few continue to few centuries ago"

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34. Nappy Scribe
"Let’s see, Bill Withers was from a coal mining city. I know Bill’s city had a funny name."

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35. myradioon
"I know he was from West Virginia. "Grandma's Hands" is a great song."
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Here's some information about Bill Withers from William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician.[2] He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977) and "Just the Two of Us" (1981). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill.[2] Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.[3][4] Two of his songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[5]

[...]

Withers, the youngest of six children, was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, on July 4, 1938.[6][7] He was the son of Mattie (née Galloway), a maid, and William Withers, a miner."...

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36. Juan Pueblo
"Her mother had to FETCH Rain water with an ENVELOPE so that her BLACK KIDS could have some water to DRINK...

The EVILS of SEGREGATION....."

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37. Pharoah 1
"Is this the baskketball coach Bernie Bickerstaff?"

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38. doug jones, 2022
"Yep"
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Here's some information about Bernie Bickerstaff from :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Bickerstaff
"Bernard Tyrone Bickerstaff (born February 11, 1944) is an American basketball coach and front office executive, currently serving as the Senior Basketball Advisor for the Cleveland Cavaliers.[1][2] As a coach, he previously worked as the head coach for the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics, Denver Nuggets, Washington Bullets/Wizards, Charlotte Bobcats, and Los Angeles Lakers. He has also been an assistant for the Portland Trail Blazers,[3] Chicago Bulls,[4] Los Angeles Lakers, and Cavaliers. He has served in numerous other NBA front office positions, and has been a consultant for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Early years

Bickerstaff was born in Benham, Kentucky, where his father and grandfather worked in the coal mines.[citation needed] He often had to endure open racism.[citation needed] He attended East Benham High School, where he was the starting point guard of the basketball team.[citation needed]

After graduating in 1961, Bickerstaff moved to Cleveland where he had relatives, with the idea of joining the Army, but he instead accepted a basketball scholarship to play for Rio Grande College. The racial tension he experienced during his time playing there made him leave school early and head back to Cleveland to work in a steel mill.[citation needed] However, the difficult working conditions prompted him[citation needed] to accept a second opportunity to play college basketball at the University of San Diego from 1964 to 1966. As a senior, he was named team captain and MVP, when the Toreros finished 17–11 and went on to play at the Small College Regional Playoffs. He is a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity."...

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39. Samantha Oden
"My family (Oden) is from McRoberts originally from Alabama. These stories sound familiar because my dad and his siblings often told us about growing up in this area."

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40. Christie Bussey
"Aww this is such a BEAUTIFUL thing!!  At the time ... '50 years' of Community/Family ties! SEKHA reunion, NICE! Continuous Blessings of longevity for the Descendants of the Eastern Kentucky Coal Miners!!  I certainly enjoyed watching this docu-storey, and even though I am not from Kentucky this story warmed my heart. Keep the Legacy ALIVE!!  :)"

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41. Roderick Wilson
"Great story my grandfather Robert madison worked in the xoal mines in Appalachia birch west Virginia a bridge town across from eastern Kentucky. He brought my great grandmother freedom from sharecropping. 1919 to 1921 my uncle Napoleon Madison sr was born in birch west Virginia"

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41. Rock Hammer Demolition
"What a wonderful club.  These clubs are important to the keeps bonds strong amongst a people of a shared heritage. It reminds them of where they come from. So important and it makes the individual a part of some thing much larger than them selves. Wonderful club indeed.  I pray it continues to the next generation."

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42. Mike Materne
"I'm from Roanoke Virginia, and while visiting The Booker T. Washington birthplace national monument, the ranger informed me that the adult male slaves were sent to the Kanawha Valley near present day Charleston WV to mine coal. I'm sure once freed, they recruited family to work in the mines."

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43. S J
"I’m from a Coal Mining Town in WV. The middle school I attended was actually built as a segregated school for black students, the coal camp they lived in was called String Town. When the mines shutdown the black population moved away. My family also moved away to Chicago."

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44. Abdus Luqman
"Wow, this so interesting. I never heard of this part of African-American history."

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45. "Greedom Worldwide
"*Foundational Black American History"

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46. larry jones
"A truly epic tribute to a people, and their culture/heritage. It would be an absolute  tragedy if their story is allowed to be forgotten, or loss. It really moved me, and to my knowledge, I have no connection to anyone from that region...may you continue to strive. Be Blessed and thanks for such a beautiful story."

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47. Jerome White
"I really enjoyed this program.  The history of Eastern Kentucky from the African American perspective was AWESOME.  I lived in Pikeville,  Kentucky for approximately five years and I am a good friend of Pastor Peake of Fleming,  KY. While living in Pikeville,  I was a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church.  I love Eastern,  Kentucky and the loving spirit of people there. Thanks for such a great documentary."

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48. Deanna 
"I’m from Perry county/Hazard in eastern KY.  My dad worked in the mines.  Oh I loved watching this documentary.  I had no idea that there was ever that many black people in eastern Kentuck at any time.  I never lived I. A coal camp because my dad got disabled in 1957 when I was five years old.  What a wonderful group of people"

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49. Alan Taylor
"Most people don't realize this but Madison County, Kentucky is within the Appalachian region and is called a transitional county so, I'm here representing all the black families of Madison County, Kentucky. My family is from Foxtown & Berea area starting as far back as the late 1700s. Census Tract 102, in Madison County, Kentucky, is designated as a distressed area in fiscal year 2021 because it has a median family income of $46,250 (62.5% of U.S. avg.), a poverty rate of 34.0% (241.6% of U.S. avg.), and mentioned earlier is located in a transitional county. It has a population of 3,991 (Census ACS, 2014-2018)."

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50. Mali Rabbit
"This is a great documentary! My folks are from Mississippi . Women in the coal mines! Dang, I just learned something! I just subscribed to the channel and the podcast. Live long and prosper, y’all ! At 48:30, is that Alex Haley ? P S, I want to cry happy tears!"
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Here's some information about Alex Haley from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Haley
"Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992)[1] was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States, the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of black American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history.[3]

 

Haley's first book was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, a collaboration through numerous lengthy interviews with Malcolm X.[4][5][6]

[…]

Early life and education

Alex Haley was born in Ithaca, New York, on August 11, 1921, and was the eldest of three brothers (the other two being George and Julius) and a half-sister (from his father's second marriage). Haley lived with his family in Henning, Tennessee, before returning to Ithaca with his family when he was five years old. Haley's father was Simon Haley, a professor of agriculture at Alabama A&M University, and his mother was Bertha George Haley (née Palmer), who had grown up in Henning. The family had Mandinka, other African, Cherokee, Scottish, and Scottish-Irish roots.[7][8][9][10] The younger Haley always spoke proudly of his father and the obstacles of racism he had overcome."...

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51. ThatOtherDebra
"My Dad was a UMWA coalminer. He was a good man. These men are correct, regardless of color, you're all family in the mines."

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52. KingofGrace
"Why can't it be that way above ground?"

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53. Pamela Flores
"I love the clip of this where the man says " their was no Black,  no white under ground,  only family " that's the way it should be. Why is it so hard for all people to be as one?"

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54. Chelsea P
"You didn't hear the part where they talked about how the town was socially controlled by those in power to stop unions, or stop striking? Their are people in every town making sure racism persist for the points of control. Only God can stop this."

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55. Indigo Flow
" @Chelsea P  Indeed. Racism is a byproduct of capitalism."

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56. Tyrelle Greenwood
"Wow great video well put together documentary never realized this about Kentucky very interesting coming from a south western pa native."

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57. Marie Katherine
"Thanks for this video.  I love Appalachia and the history, but the black experience of the region is something of which I know little to nothing!  Naming a town Lynch, however, not so good."

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58. Dcain2
"It was named after a man with the last name of Lynch."

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59. Marie Katherine
"@Dcain2  I get it. It still has not the best connotation."

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60. Jessica Webb
"This is awesome am bi racial my mother is black my daddy is white and my roots go back to Harlan bell County  Arjan Frakes and on both sides my grandfathers on both sides the white and black and my father was a miner man his father was a superintendent love my roots and I ve seen it from both sides both races proud where and who I come from"

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61. Linda Mae Mullins
"❤️"

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2022

62. Anicia Lugo
"This is True BLACK HISTORY that I didn't know about 😎😃👑❤️"

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63. suprsnips
"I lived in Lynch, Ky until I was 12 years old. I was a white kid, on a street where the black kids walked by my house on the way to school. They were all well dressed, and clean, and all carried their books home at night. I have to say, they put us white kids to shame. Lynch residents were kind of a melting pot from all over, we had black folks from Alabama, hillbillies from the mountains, and people from over 30 countries in Europe. With a few exceptions, we seemed to get along with each other pretty good."

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64. BassMonsterTiff
"That penny with a hole in it, the coal miner credit token… my great grandma used to say stuff like “that man aint worth a penny with a hole in it!” And i never knew what she meant lol"

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65. Donell Green
"Wow my grate grandfather told me about the skinny guy that pick yu up and carry yu to Lynch Kentucky from Alabama my Grate grandfather was a part of the story that these people are telling him only and I’m fortunate to sit back and hear it"

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66. Melissa Richter
"Be nice to do a follow up interview with these same people to see how they feel today. My guess is this was taped in 2009-2010."

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67. Black in Appalachia
":) These were conducted 2018 – 2019"

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68. Deon Sellers 
"My family on my mother's side were in Appalachia(KY & TN) for generations pre-civil war.Some in KY were completely non black & up until the mid-80s we visited them every summer.Some of our Black relatives lived at the bottom of a holler all in a row.My great-relative lived in the middle of a hollar,he had a phone so he was the most popular person there.lol The story always went 'migrants were racist,we're all kin'.I've heard of bad experiences but maybe we never saw it because we were related.Appalachians are some of the sweetest people I've ever met.Everybody used to talk about the Black migrant "towns" who came back in the day.I'm so glad this video popped up on my feed."

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69. WILL F.
"Great documentary. I learned a lot from the video about the genesis of the migration of folks to eastern Kentucky and the motivation behind it.

Also the migration map that was briefly shown was right on point. It correctly showed the path of the mass migration  of my family, who were slaves and then sharecroppers/cotton pickers in South Carolina,  up the now I-95 corridor  to DC, Philadelphia and New York which happened in the 1920s through the 1940s.

Thanks so much for your excellent work and I will pass it on."

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70. Dove leboeuf
"I'm from Eastern Ky. My grandfather bought coal trucks after he had worked in the mines, but preferred to drive coal trucks. So my daddy drove one. So my dads family was involved in the coal industry for a long time. My grandfather died from black lung. My grandfather said they were black men that worked in the mines when he did, he said he didn't ever have any problems working with them because they were just trying to make a living for they're families like he was. We were taught not to use the "N" word at a young age. We were told that wasn't polite to call black people names. That people couldn't help what color they was. Because my mom is bout 3/4 Cherokee Indian. So there was alot of people that was mixed with Indian blood so I guess Thats why they didn't think nothing working with blacks. Yeah the men watched out for each other because like the man said they were all underground together and it wasn't safe at all!!!"

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71. Evelyn Parham
"This is an excellent documentary. I learned so much that I didn't know."

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72. P Junos
"nice documentary! i talk with my nana all the time about her growing up in burkesville/bowling green ky and my grandfathers fam being from virginia and how they moved to pennsylvania. puts alot of her stories in perspective."

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73. Kenyata Sims
"This video was very well done and very informative‼️‼️‼️

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74. Curtis White
"Thank you, this video has has help me understand questions I have always had of " How did my family migrated from the cotton fields of Alabama and Mississippi to the coal mines of Kentucky and eventually residents of NY and Pa."*

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"John Brown's Body" Civil War Marching Song (sound file, information, & lyric examples)

Kevin Comtois , Dec 13, 2015 

“John Brown’s Body,” written in 1861, was used specifically as a marching song by the Massachusetts 12th Regiment. Their first public performance of the song was July 18 on State Street in Boston, Massachusetts. They sang it so many times in public the 12th Regiment became known as the “Hallelujah Regiment.” Ironically, as the song became popular and spread to other military units, an accident occurred drowning Sgt. John Brown of the 12th regiment in the Shenandoah River. This depressed the regiment preventing them from ever singing the song again.

The song’s melody came from a religious hymn that originated in the early 19th century called “Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us." As the war dragged on, “John Brown’s Body” spread throughout the nation and became one of the most popular marching songs of the era.

 Julia Ward Howe heard “John Brown’s Body” one night in Washington, D.C. and decided that the Union needed a more uplifting song than one about a man rotting away in the ground. That evening, unable to sleep, Julia Howe wrote new words to the melody and came up with "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Since then, this song has been used as a patriotic song of recruitment and loyalty to equality and justice. Its creation, however, was a direct protest against the gruesome “John Brown’s Body.”
-snip-
Folk singer Pete Seeger sings this song in this YouTube sound file. This sound file includes a photographic collage. Photographs of Black soldiers are included in that collage.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series on songs that are sung to the tune that is best known now as "Glory Glory Hallelujah".

This post presents a YouTube sound file of the Civil War marching song "John Brown's Body".  Information and comments about that song are also included in this post along with versions of its lyrics.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/08/say-brothers-will-you-meet-us-christian.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Part I presents a YouTube sound file of the Christian song "Say Brothers, Will You Meet Us?". Information and comments about this song are also included in this post along with a few versions of its lyrics. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/08/john-browns-baby-sound-file-article.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents a YouTube video sound file of the children's parody song "John Brown's Baby". The lyrics for "John Brown's Baby" are included in this post along with an article excerpt and comments about that song. 

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unverified composer/s of this song. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the producers and publisher of the YouTube sound file that is embedded in this post. 

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "JOHN BROWN'S BODY"
Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_Body
" "John Brown's Body" (originally known as "John Brown's Song") is a United States marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. According to an 1889 account, the original John Brown lyrics were a collective effort by a group of Union soldiers who were referring both to the famous John Brown and also, humorously, to a Sergeant John Brown of their own battalion. Various other authors have published additional verses or claimed credit for originating the John Brown lyrics and tune.

The "flavor of coarseness, possibly of irreverence"[1]: 374  led many of the era to feel uncomfortable with the earliest "John Brown" lyrics. This in turn led to the creation of many variant versions of the text that aspired to a higher literary quality. The most famous of these is Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic", which was written when a friend suggested, "Why do you not write some good words for that stirring tune?" Kimball suggests that President Lincoln made this suggestion to Howe, though other sources[which?] do not agree on this point.[1]: 376 

Numerous informal versions and adaptations of the lyrics and music have been created from the mid-1800s to the present, making "John Brown's Body" an example of a living folk music tradition.

History of the tune

"Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us", the tune that eventually became associated with "John Brown's Body" and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", was formed in the American camp meeting circuit of the late 1700s and early 1800s...

[…]

Use [of the song “John Brown’s Body”] elsewhere

On May 1, 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina, recently freed African-Americans and some white missionaries held a parade of 10,000 people, led by 3,000 Black children singing "John Brown's Body." The march honored 257 dead Union soldiers whose remains the organizers had reburied from a mass grave in a Confederate prison camp. This is considered the first observation of Decoration Day, now known as Memorial Day.[22]

The American consul in Vladivostok, Russia, Richard T. Greener, reported in 1906 that Russian soldiers were singing the song. The context was the 1905 Russian Revolution.[23]”…

History of the text of "John Brown's Body"

First public performance

At a flag-raising ceremony at Fort Warren, near Boston, on Sunday May 12, 1861, the "John Brown" song was publicly played "perhaps for the first time".[12] The American Civil War had begun the previous month.

Newspapers reported troops singing the song as they marched in the streets of Boston on July 18, 1861, and there was a "rash" of broadside printings of the song with substantially the same words as the undated "John Brown Song!" broadside, stated by Kimball to be the first published edition, and the broadside with music by C. S. Marsh copyrighted on July 16, 1861, also published by C.S. Hall (see images displayed on this page). Other publishers also came out with versions of the "John Brown Song" and claimed copyright.[24]

"Tiger" Battalion writes the lyrics; Kimball's account

In 1890, George Kimball wrote his account of how the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Massachusetts militia, known as the "Tiger" Battalion, collectively worked out the lyrics to "John Brown's Body". Kimball wrote:

We had a jovial Scotchman in the battalion, named John Brown ... and as he happened to bear the identical name of the old hero of Harper's Ferry, he became at once the butt of his comrades. If he made his appearance a few minutes late among the working squad, or was a little tardy in falling into the company line, he was sure to be greeted with such expressions as "Come, old fellow, you ought to be at it if you are going to help us free the slaves"; or, "This can't be John Brown—why, John Brown is dead." And then some wag would add, in a solemn, drawling tone, as if it were his purpose to give particular emphasis to the fact that John Brown was really, actually dead: "Yes, yes, poor old John Brown is dead; his body lies mouldering in the grave."[25]

[…]

According to Kimball, these sayings became bywords among the soldiers and, in a communal effort—similar in many ways to the spontaneous composition of camp meeting songs described above—were gradually put to the tune of "Say, Brothers":

Finally ditties composed of the most nonsensical, doggerel rhymes, setting for the fact that John Brown was dead and that his body was undergoing the process of dissolution, began to be sung to the music of the hymn above given. These ditties underwent various ramifications, until eventually the lines were reached…

[…]

The "John Brown" tune has proven popular for folk-created texts, with many irreverent versions created over the years. "The Burning of the School" is a well-known parody sung by schoolchildren, and another version that begins "John Brown's baby has a cold upon his chest" is often sung by children at summer camps.

An African-American version was recorded as "We'll hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree".[42]”…

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Excerpt #2
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=71356 "John Brown's Body"

Numbers added for referencing purposes only.

1. 

Subject: RE: John Brown's Body
From: GUEST,Fred
Date: 10 May 01 - 11:59 PM

In the introduction to The Civil War Songbook (Dover Publications), Richard Crawford reports that the Battle Hymn (published 1862) was sung to the tune of John Brown's Body, which was sung to a Sunday School hymn tune. The publication reprinted for JB's Body was titled "Glory, Hallelujah" and has the primary name as "Ellsworth's body lies...", with "John Brown's" written beneath it in subscript. Crawford makes no comment to enlighten this situation.

There is then another set of verses listed as sung by the Fourth Battalion of Rifles, 13th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. It has the chorus starting "Glory! Glory! Glory for the North!"....

**
2.

Subject: RE: John Brown's Body
From: raredance
Date: 11 May 01 - 12:10 AM

When in doubt , throw another story into the pot. The source of this is "The Singing Sixties" by W A and PW Heaps (1960 Univ Oklahoma Press). They say that the tune was composed some time before 1855 by a South Carolinian named William Steffe and had bcome popular at camp meetings with a chorus line of "Say, brothers, will you meet us on Canaan's happy shore?". When a battalion of the 12th Massachusetts Regiment was stationed at Fort Warren in Boston early in the war, some of the members used the tune to taunt a soldier named John Brown. The conversion to the Abolitionist John Brown was not a big step. The song was published in Boston in 1861 by Oliver Ditson & Co. with the title page: "the popular refrain of Glory, Hallelujah as sung by the Federal Volunteers throughout the union. It became the marching song of the 12th Regiment and quickly spread to other units when the 12th Regiment was sent to the battle front. It had a catchy rhythm and soldiers shouted the refrain on marches and many units added their own verses. When abolition became an official reason for the war, the song was used at many civilian political rallies and fund-raisers as well. It was variously called "Tthe John Brown Song", "John Brown's Body", or "Glory Hallelujah". A reproduction of the 1861 sheet music can be found in "The Civil War Songbook" by Richard Crawford (1977 Dover Publications). As alluded to by Uncle Jacques, the sheet music has 3 "glory's" in the second phrase of the refrain (but only two in the first and third). It also has the name "Ellsworth" as an alternative to "John Brown" , i.e both are printed. I do not know who Ellsworth might have been. Because of the popularity of the tune a number of potential and real poets came up with lyric versions that made no mention of John Brown. The 13th Massachusetts Regiment went off to battle with this set:

Cheer for the banner as we rally 'neath the stars,
As we join the Northern legion and are off for the wars,
Ready for the onset, for bullet, blood and scars!
Cheer for the dear old flag!

Glory!, Glory! Glory for the North!
Glory to the soldiers she is sending forth!
Glory!, Glory! Glory for the North!
They'll conquer as they go.

Howe wrote her religious marching lyrics in November of 1861 and they were first published annonymously in the February 1862 Atlantic Monthly. Howe was piad $5. Sheet music published in 1862 in Boston by Oliver Ditson & Co. (this is also reproduced in the Crawford book) has on the title page: "Battle Hymn of the Republic, Adapted to the favorite melody of "Glory, Hallelujah," written by Mrs. Dr. S. G. Howe for the Atlantic Monthly". The tunes in the two sheet music pieces are the same (including the 3 "glory's" in the second line of the refrain).
-snip-
Jim Krause, another commenter on this discussion thread wrote this in 11 May 01 - 01:56 PM:
..."Ellsworth was Elmer Ellsworth, a young friend of Abraham Linclon's. He was shot by an enraged pro-slavery hotel owner in Baltimore weeks before Ft. Sumpter. Ellsworth became a sort of martyr for the Abolitionist cause. He was an officer, a Lieutenant I think, in a Federal volunteer militia unit."...

**
3.

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHN BROWN'S ORIGINAL MARCHING SONG
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 11:53 PM

JOHN BROWN'S ORIGINAL MARCHING SONG

Tune- Brothers, Will You Meet Me.

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave; 3x
His soul's marching on!

Chorus:
Glory, halle-hallelujah! Glory, halle-hallelujah!
Glory, halle-hallelujah! his soul's marching on!

John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back! 3x
His soul's marching on!

His pet lambs will meet him on the way; 3x
They go marching on!

They will hang Jeff Davis to a tree! 3x
As they march along!

Now three rousing cheers for the Union; 3x
As we are marching on!

J. H. Johnson, song publisher, Philadelphia, n. d. (1860-61?)
Source: American Memory Collection, Library of Congress

**
4.
Subject: RE: Origins:John Brown's Body/ Battle Hymn of Republic
From GUEST, Lighter 
Date: 12 May 16 - 09:30 AM

The earliest appearance of the "Harper's ferry" words seems to have been in J. S. Dye's "History of the Plots and Crimes of the Great Conspiracy to Overthrow Liberty in the United States of America" (1866).

"When the soldiers struck up the John Brown song [at Charleston in 1865], it filled the eyes of the blacks with tears, and their hearts with joy to hear the boys sing:

John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save,
But though he lost his life, in struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on,

Chorus—
       Glory, Glory, Hallelujah !
       Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!
       Glory, Glory, Hallelujah !
       His soul is marching on.

John Brown was a hero undaunted, true and brave,
And Kansas knew his valor when he fought her rights to save;
And now, though the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.

Glory, &c.

He captured Harper's Ferry with his nineteen men so true,
And he frightened old Virginny till she trembled through and through;
They hung him for a traitor, themselves a traitor crew,
But his soul is marching on.

Glory, &c.

John Brown was John the Baptist, of Christ we are to see,
Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,
And soon throughout the sunny South the slaves shall all be free.
For his soul is marching on.

Glory, &c

The conflict that he heralded, he looks from Heaven to view,
On the army of the Union, with his flag red, white, and blue.
And Heaven shall ring with anthems, o'er the deed they mean to do,
For his soul is marching on.

Glory, .fee.

Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death-stroke of oppression, in a better time and way,
For the dawn of old John Brown, has brightened into day.
And his soul is marching on.

Glory, &c

**
4.

Subject: RE: Origins:John Brown's Body/ Battle Hymn of Republic
From: Lighter
Date: 27 Mar 18 - 02:04 PM

From "War Anecdotes and Incidents of Army Life: Reminiscences from Both Sides of the Conflict between the North and the South," ed. by Albert Lawson (Cincinnati: Albert Lawson, 1888), pp. 109-110:

"JOHN BROWN'S BODY!"

A member of the Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment claims the honor of originating one of the most famous refrains of the war, as follows:

"The tune of 'John Brown' was adapted from a camp-meeting tune, 'Say, brothers, will you meet us?' This, in turn, was modeled from a song written for a fire company — 'Say, bummers, will you meet us?' The words originated with members of the 'Tiger Battalion,' Massachusetts Volunteer Militia; and as these members subsequently enlisted in the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (Webster Regiment), we naturally claim words and music of the 'John Brown song.' It first appeared in April, 1861, in a quartet of the 'Tigers' — Jenkins, Edgerly, Purnette and John Brown — and was simply a sort of joke on the name of the last mentioned. He was a Scotchman, and failed to see any point in the witticism, which, of course, only made it more lasting. The Twelfth Massachusetts sang it in Boston harbor, at Fort Warren, were the first to sing it in New York City, July, 1861, where it made a sensation, and continued chanting it until it had become so common property as to have lost all novelty. We claim the adaptation of the tune and these words:

John Brown's body lies moldering in the grave,
His soul goes marching on.
Glory, Hallelujah.

"Our regimental band (Matland's, of Brocton, Mass.) was the first to arrange and play the tune. Two of the quartet are now living in Boston, Mass. John Brown was drowned in Virginia, June, 1862, and Jenkins' whereabouts are unknown. All were sergeants in the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteers."

The assertion that the *tune* was composed in the mid 1850s to accompany a song about "bummers" (loafers, beggars, bums) was made in 1887 by the essayist Brander Matthews, but he provided no evidence for the claim and noted only that it was "his understanding."

The hymn titled "Brothers, Will You Meet Us" was copyrighted on Nov. 27, 1858, by G. S. Scofield of New York, with the familiar "Glory Hallelujah" tune. The chorus is:

Glory, glory, hallelujah, (3)
Forever, evermore!"

****
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