Folklore of the United States

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American folklore encompasses the folklores that have evolved in the present-day
United States since Europeans arrived in the 16th century. While it contains much
in the way of Native American tradition, it is not wholly identical to the tribal
beliefs of any community of native people.

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular

beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of a
culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those
expressive genres are shared.

Contents
1 Native American folklore
2 Founding myths
2.1 Christopher Columbus
2.2 Jamestown
2.3 Pilgrims
3 Revolutionary War figures
3.1 George Washington
3.2 Patrick Henry
3.3 Betsy Ross
4 Tall Tales
4.1 Based on historical figures
4.2 Fictional characters
5 Legendary and folkloric creatures
6 Literature
7 Folk music
7.1 African-American music
7.1.1 African American Spirituals
7.1.2 African American Work Songs
7.1.3 African American Recreational Songs
7.2 Folk songs
7.3 Sea shanties
7.4 Shaker music
8 Folk dancing
9 Locations and landmarks
10 Cultural icons
11 History
12 See also
13 References
14 Further reading
15 External links
Native American folklore
Native American cultures are rich in myths and legends that explain natural
phenomena and the relationship between humans and the spirit world. According to
Barre Toelken, feathers, beadwork, dance steps and music, the events in a story,
the shape of a dwelling, or items of traditional food can be viewed as icons of
cultural meaning.[1]

Native American cultures are numerous and diverse. Though some neighboring cultures
hold similar beliefs, others can be quite different from one another. The most
common myths are the creation myths, which tell a story to explain how the earth
was formed, and where humans and other beings came from. Others may include
explanations about the Sun, Moon, constellations, specific animals, seasons, and
weather. This is one of the ways that many tribes have kept, and continue to keep,
their cultures alive; these stories are told as a way of preserving and
transmitting the nation, tribe, or band's particular beliefs, history, customs,
spirituality, and traditional way of life. According to Barre Toelken, "Stories not
only entertain but also embody Native behavioral and ethical values."[1]

There are many different kinds of stories. Some are called "hero stories"; these
are stories of people who lived at one time, and who were immortalized and
remembered through these tales. There are "trickster stories", about the different
trickster figures of the tribes, spirits who may be either helpful or dangerous,
depending on the situation. There are also tales that are simply warnings; they
warn against doing something that may harm in some way. Many of these tales have
morals or some form of belief that is being taught. This is how the things were
remembered.[citation needed]

Founding myths
The founding of the United States is often surrounded by legends and tall tales.
Many stories have developed since the founding long ago to become a part of
America's folklore and cultural awareness, and non-Native American folklore
especially includes any narrative which has contributed to the shaping of American
culture and belief systems. These narratives have varying levels of historical
accuracy; the veracity of the stories is not a determining factor.[citation needed]

Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus, as a hero and symbol to the then-immigrants, is an important
figure in the body of American myth. His status, not unlike most American icons, is
representative not of his own accomplishments, but the self-perception of the
society which chose him as a hero. Having effected a separation from England and
its cultural icons, America was left without history—or heroes on which to base a
shared sense of their social selves. Washington Irving was instrumental in
popularizing Columbus. His version of Columbus' life, published in 1829, was more a
romance than a biography.[citation needed] The book was very popular, and
contributed to an image of the discoverer as a solitary individual who challenged
the unknown sea, as triumphant Americans contemplated the dangers and promise of
their own wilderness frontier. As a consequence of his vision and audacity, there
was now a land free from kings, a vast continent for new beginnings. In the years
following the Revolution the poetic device "Columbia" was used as a symbol of both
Columbus and America. King's College of New York changed its name in 1792 to
Columbia, and the new capital in Washington was subtitled District of Columbia.[2]
Jamestown
Main article: Pocahontas
In May 1607, the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed sailed through
Chesapeake Bay and thirty miles up the James River settlers built Jamestown,
Virginia, England's first permanent colony. Too late in the season to plant crops,
many were not accustomed to manual labor. Within a few months, some settlers died
of famine and disease. Only thirty-eight made it through their first year in the
New World. Captain John Smith, a pirate turned gentleman turned the settlers into
foragers and successful traders with the Native Americans, who taught the English
how to plant corn and other crops. Smith led expeditions to explore the regions
surrounding Jamestown, and it was during one of these that the chief of the
Powhatan Native Americans captured Smith. According to an account Smith published
in 1624, he was going to be put to death until the chief's daughter, Pocahontas,
saved him. From this the legend of Pocahontas sprang forth, becoming part of
American folklore, children's books, and movies.[3]

Pilgrims

Plymouth Rock Monument designed for the Tercentenary (1920)

Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the
Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620, and an important symbol in
American history. There are no contemporary references to the Pilgrims' landing on
a rock at Plymouth. The first written reference to the Pilgrims landing on a rock
is found 121 years after they landed. The Rock, or one traditionally identified as
it, has long been memorialized on the shore of Plymouth Harbor in Plymouth,
Massachusetts. The holiday of Thanksgiving is said to have begun with the Pilgrims
in 1621.[4] They had come to America to escape religious persecution, but then
nearly starved to death. Some friendly Native Americans, including Squanto, helped
the Pilgrims survive through the first winter. The perseverance of the Pilgrims is
celebrated during the annual Thanksgiving festival.

Revolutionary War figures

See also: Freedom Trail
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799), the country's first
president, is the most preeminent of American historical and folkloric figures, as
he holds the place of "Father of his Country". Apocryphal stories about
Washington's childhood include a claim that he skipped a silver dollar across the
Rappahannock River at Ferry Farm. Another tale claims that as a young child,
Washington chopped down his father's cherry tree. His angry father confronted the
young Washington, who proclaimed "I cannot tell a lie" and admitted to the
transgression, thus illuminating his honesty. Parson Mason Locke Weems mentions the
first citation of this legend in his 1806 book, The Life of George Washington: With
Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honorable to Himself and Exemplary to His Young
Countrymen. This anecdote cannot be independently verified. Samuel Clemens, also
known as Mark Twain, is also known to have spread the story while lecturing,
personalizing it by adding "I have a higher and greater standard of principle.
Washington could not lie. I can lie but I won't."[citation needed]

Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) was an attorney, planter and politician
who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in
the 1770s. Patrick Henry is best known for the speech he made in the House of
Burgesses on March 23, 1775, in Saint John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. With the
House undecided on whether to mobilize for military action against the encroaching
British military force, Henry argued in favor of mobilization. Forty-two years
later, Henry's first biographer, William Wirt, working from oral histories, tried
to reconstruct what Henry said. According to Wirt, Henry ended his speech with
words that have since become immortalized: "I know not what course others may take;
but as for me, Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" The crowd, by Wirt's account,
jumped up and shouted "To Arms! To Arms!". For 160 years Wirt's account was taken
at face value. In the 1970s, historians began to question the authenticity of
Wirt's reconstruction.[citation needed]

Betsy Ross sewing

Betsy Ross
Betsy Ross (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836) is widely credited with making the
first American flag. There is, however, no credible historical evidence that the
story is true. Research conducted by the National Museum of American History notes
that the story of Betsy Ross making the first American flag for General George
Washington entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876
centennial celebrations. In the 2008 book The Star-Spangled Banner: The Making of
an American Icon, Smithsonian experts point out that accounts of the event appealed
to Americans eager for stories about the revolution and its heroes and heroines.
Betsy Ross was promoted as a patriotic role model for young girls and a symbol of
women's contributions to American history.[citation needed]

Other Revolutionary War heroes who became figures of American folklore include:
Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Franklin, Nathan Hale, John Hancock, John Paul Jones and
Francis Marion.[5]

Tall Tales
The tall tale is a fundamental element of American folk literature. The tall tale's
origins are seen in the bragging contests that often occurred when men of the
American frontier gathered. A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements,
relayed as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of
actual events; others are completely fictional tales set in a familiar setting,
such as the American Old West, or the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. They
are usually humorous or good-natured. The line between myth and tall tale is
distinguished primarily by age; many myths exaggerate the exploits of their heroes,
but in tall tales, the exaggeration looms large, to the extent of becoming the
whole of the story.[6]

Based on historical figures

John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845), widely known as Johnny
Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large
parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He became an American legend
while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, and the symbolic
importance he attributed to apples. Johnny Appleseed is remembered in American
popular culture by his traveling song or Swedenborgian hymn ("The Lord is good to
me...").
Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734 [O.S. October 22] – September 26, 1820) was an
American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits made him one
of the first folk heroes of the United States.
Davy Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was a 19th-century American folk
hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular
culture by the epithet, "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in
the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the
Battle of the Alamo.
Mike Fink (c. 1770/1780 – c. 1823) called "king of the keelboaters", was a semi-
legendary brawler and river boatman who exemplified the tough and hard-drinking men
who ran keelboats up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Martha Jane Canary (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane,
was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of
being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok. She is said to have also exhibited
kindness and compassion, especially to the sick and needy. It was from her that
Bret Harte took his famous character of Cherokee Sal in The Luck of Roaring Camp.
Jigger Johnson (1871–1935), was a lumberjack and log driver from northern New
England who is known for his numerous off-the-job exploits, such as catching
bobcats alive with his bare hands, and drunken brawls.[7][8]
John Henry was an African-American railroad worker who is said to have worked as a
"steel-driving man"—a man tasked with hammering a steel drill into rock to make
holes for explosives to blast the rock away in constructing a railroad tunnel.
According to legend, John Henry's prowess as a steel-driver was measured in a race
against a steam-powered hammer, which he won, only to die in victory with his
hammer in his hand and his heart giving out from stress. The "Ballad of John Henry"
is a musical rendition of his story.
Molly Pitcher was a nickname given to a woman said to have fought in the American
Battle of Monmouth, who is generally believed to have been Mary Hays. Since various
Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, many historians regard Molly Pitcher as
folklore rather than history, or suggest that Molly Pitcher may be a composite
image inspired by the actions of a number of real women. The name itself may have
originated as a nickname given to women who carried water to men on the battlefield
during the war.
Other historical figures include Titanic survivor Molly Brown, Wild West showman
Buffalo Bill Cody, and sharpshooter Annie Oakley.

Fictional characters
Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of
the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described
as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in
stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in
folktales circulated among lumberjacks in the Northeastern United States and
eastern Canada, first appearing in print in a story published by Northern Michigan
journalist James MacGillivray in 1906.
The Lone Ranger is a fictional hero of the west who fought raiders and robbers in
the Texas area. The sole survivor of a group of six rangers, he set out to bring
the criminals who killed his brother to justice. The Lone Ranger is said to have
been based on Bass Reeves by Historian Art Burton but that is in dispute.[citation
needed]
Johnny Kaw is a mythical Kansas settler whose exploits created elements of the
Kansas landscape and helped establish wheat and sunflowers as major crops. The
character dates to the 1955 centennial of Kansas and has been explored in numerous
books.
John the Conqueror also known as High John the Conqueror, and many other folk
variants, is a folk hero from African-American folklore. John the Conqueror was an
African prince who was sold as a slave in the Americas. Despite his enslavement,
his spirit was never broken and he survived in folklore as a sort of a trickster
figure, because of the tricks he played to evade his masters. Joel Chandler
Harris's 'Br'er Rabbit' of the Uncle Remus stories is said to be patterned after
High John the Conqueror.
Pecos Bill is an American cowboy, apocryphally immortalized in numerous tall tales
of the Old West during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New
Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona

MOLLY PITCHER. (Ten American Girls from History 1917)

Captain Stormalong was an American folk hero and the subject of numerous nautical-
themed tall tales originating in Massachusetts. Stormalong was said to be a sailor
and a giant, some 30 feet tall; he was the master of a huge clipper ship known in
various sources as either the Courser or the Tuscarora, a ship so tall that it had
hinged masts to avoid catching on the moon.[citation needed]
Legendary and folkloric creatures
Bigfoot, also known as "Sasquatch", is the name given to an ape-like creature that
some believe inhabit mostly forests in the Pacific Northwest region of, and
throughout the entirety of, North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large,
hairy, bipedal humanoid, although descriptions vary depending on location. The
height range is about 6 to 10 feet tall with black, dark brown, or dark reddish
hair. One of the most famous accounts of Bigfoot is the Patterson-Gimlin film where
a supposedly female Bigfoot marches across the screen with giant strides, turns to
face the camera, then marches off up a steep hill and into the forest. There are
more than 100 sightings that are reported yearly. Among these reporters are
veterans, campers, hikers, explorers, hunters, and more. There are several
websites, podcasts and organizations related to Bigfoot.
Champ is the name given to a reputed lake monster living in Lake Champlain, a
natural freshwater lake in North America. The lake crosses the U.S./Canada border;
located partially in the Canadian province of Quebec and partially in the U.S.
states of Vermont and New York. There is no scientific evidence for Champ's
existence, though there have been over 300 reported sightings.[9]
Punxsutawney Phil is a semi-mythical groundhog central to the most well-known
Groundhog Day ceremony, a Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that claims to predict
the arrival of spring. According to tradition, the same groundhog has made
predictions ever since the 1800s.
The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of
Southern New Jersey in the United States. The creature is often described as a
flying biped with hooves, but there are many different variations. The most common
description is that of a kangaroo-like creature with the face of a horse, the head
of a dog, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, red eyes,
cloven hooves and a forked tail. It has been reported to move quickly as to avoid
human contact, and often is described as emitting a "blood-curdling scream". The
legend goes as such: a woman named Mother Leeds gave birth to her 13th child on a
dark, stormy night. Mother Leed is said to be a witch and her 13th child was born
the Devil. It soon grew wings and hooves, killed the midwife, and took off into the
night.
The White Lady is a type of female ghost reportedly seen in rural areas and
associated with some local legend of tragedy. Common to many of them is the theme
of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often associated with
an individual family line or said to be a harbinger of death, similar to a banshee.
Mothman is a mythical creature from Point Pleasant, West Virginia described as a
large humanoid with glowing red eyes on its face and large bird-like wings with fur
covering its body. Mothman has been blamed for the collapse of the Silver Bridge.
The Hodag is a mythical beast that is said to inhabit the forests of Northern
Wisconsin, particularly around the city of Rhinelander. The Hodag has a reptilian
body with the horns of a bull and is said to have a penchant for mischief.
Old Black Eyes[10] is a spectral hound said to frequent an area known as the Baker
Rocks, located near the top of the Black Mountains of North Carolina. Old Black
Eyes is said to be the spirit of Jim Baker who lived at the rocks and was regarded
as a witch with supernatural powers by the local mountain people. According to
legend Jim Baker performed some sort of ritual at an old Indian cemetery, near the
Black Mountains, where he proceeded to sell his soul to the Devil. The Devil
proceeded to turn Baker's pupils "unnaturally black" as a sign of their deal and
hell's claim on his soul. Upon his death, Baker was said to take the spirit of a
'devil dog' identifiable by the large black pupils of its eyes, that people feared
to approach believing it was surrounded in black magic. It was said the only way to
get rid of Old Black Eyes was to draw its picture, pin it to a tree, and then shoot
it with a gun.
In North American folklore, Fearsome critters were tall tale animals jokingly said
to inhabit the wilderness in or around logging camps, especially in the Great Lakes
region. Today, the term may also be applied to similar fabulous beasts.
Other folkloric creatures include the Chupacabra, Jackalope, the Nain Rouge of
Detroit, Michigan, Wendigo of Minnesota and Chessie, a legendary sea monster said
to live in Chesapeake Bay.[11]

The Jersey Devil

Literature
Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, or simply "Santa", is
a figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloric origins. The modern
figure of Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch figure, Sinterklaas, which may, in
turn, have its origins in the hagiographical tales concerning the Christian Saint
Nicholas. "A Visit from St. Nicholas", also known as "The Night Before Christmas"
is a poem first published anonymously in 1823 and generally attributed to Clement
Clarke Moore. The poem, which has been called "arguably the best-known verses ever
written by an American",[12] is largely responsible for the conception of Santa
Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today, including his physical appearance,
the night of his visit, his mode of transportation, the number and names of his
reindeer, as well as the tradition that he brings toys to children. The poem has
influenced ideas about St. Nicholas and Santa Claus from the United States to the
rest of the English-speaking world and beyond. Is There a Santa Claus? was the
title of an editorial appearing in the September 21, 1897, edition of The (New
York) Sun. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is
a Santa Claus", has become a part of popular Christmas folklore in the United
States and Canada.[citation needed]

The Headless Horseman is a fictional character from the short story "The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow" by American author Washington Irving. The story, from Irving's
collection of short stories, entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, has
worked itself into known American folklore/legend through literature and film.[13]

"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first
published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named
Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Dutchmen, imbibes their liquor and falls asleep
in the Catskill Mountains. He awakes 20 years later to a very changed world, having
missed the American Revolution.

Inspired by a conversation on nostalgia with his American expatriate brother-in-

law, Irving wrote the story while temporarily living in Birmingham, England. It was
published in his collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. While the
story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains near where Irving later took up
residence, he admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the
Catskills."[14]

Folk music
Main article: American folk music
Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is today known as
the United States and played its first music. Beginning in the 17th century,
immigrants from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany and France began
arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. African
slaves brought musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants
contributes to a melting pot. Folk music includes both traditional music and the
genre that evolved from it during the 20th-century folk revival. The term
originated in the 19th century but is often applied to music that is older than
that.[citation needed]

The earliest American scholars were with The American Folklore Society (AFS), which
emerged in the late 1800s. Their studies expanded to include Native American music
but still treated folk music as a historical item preserved in isolated societies.
In North America, during the 1930s and 1940s, the Library of Congress worked
through the offices of traditional music collectors Robert Winslow Gordon, Alan
Lomax and others to capture as much North American field material as possible.
Lomax was the first prominent scholar to study distinctly American folk music such
as that of cowboys and southern blacks. His first major published work was in 1911,
Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, and was arguably the most prominent US
folk music scholar of his time, notably during the beginnings of the folk music
revival in the 1930s and early 1940s.[citation needed]

The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began
during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier,
and performers like Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Oscar Brand had
enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought
forward musical styles that had, in earlier times, contributed to the development
of country & western, jazz, and rock and roll music.[citation needed]

African-American music
Slavery was introduced to the Thirteen Colonies beginning in the early 17th century
in Virginia. The ancestors of today's African-American population were brought from
hundreds of tribes across West Africa and brought with them certain traits of West
African music. This included call and response vocals, complex rhythmic music,
syncopated beats, shifting accents, incorporation of hums and moans, which are
sounds with no distinct meaning, and a combination of sound and body movements. The
African musical focus on rhythmic singing and dancing was brought to the New World,
where it became part of a distinct folk culture that helped Africans "retain
continuity with their past through music."[citation needed] Along with retaining
many African elements, there was also a continuation of instruments. Enslaved
Africans would either take with them African instruments or reconstructed them once
in the New World. The first slaves in the United States sang work songs and field
hollers. However, slave music was used for a variety of reasons. Music was included
in religious ceremonies and celebrations, used to coordinate work, and to conceal
hidden messages, like when they were commenting on slave owners. African American
slave songs can be divided into three groups: religious, work, and recreational
songs.[15][16][17]

African American Spirituals

Protestant hymns written mostly by New England preachers became a feature of camp
meetings held among devout Christians across the South. Most slaves were either
animists or Muslims, so they did not know about Christianity. To destroy any
remnants of African culture or make more people disciples, slaves would be
encouraged and taken to church. They became attracted to the grace and freedom that
was preached within the church, which was very different from the lives they were
living. Slaves would learn the same hymns that their masters sang, and when they
came together they developed and sang adapted versions of these hymns, they were
called Negro spirituals. It was from these roots, of spiritual songs, work songs,
and field hollers, that blues, jazz, and gospel developed. Negro spirituals were
primarily expressions of religious faith. These songs provided them a voice for
their longing for freedom and to experience it. Around the 1840s, slaves knew that
in the northern states slavery was illegal, and some northerners wanted the
complete abolishment of slavery. So when they sang about heaven, it was also about
possibly escaping north. In the early 19th century the Underground railroad was
developed, containing a network of secret routes and safe houses, and it greatly
impacted slaves’ religious music. When there was any mention of trains, stations,
etc. in spirituals they were directly referencing the Underground Railroad, such as
the song “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” These songs were designed so that slave owners
thought that slaves were only singing about heaven.[18][19]

African American Work Songs

Work Songs at least had two functions: one to benefit the slaves and another to
benefit overseers. When a group of slaves had to work together on a hard task, like
carrying a heavy load, singing would provide a rhythm that allowed them to
coordinate their movements. When picking crops, music was not necessary, but when
there was silence it would be uncomfortable for the overseers. Even though there
was a presence of melancholy in songs, Southern slave owners would interpret that
their slaves were happy and content, possibly because of their singing.[19]
African American Recreational Songs
Even if slave owners attempted to forbid things like drums or remnants of African
culture, they did not seem to mind them learning European instruments and music. In
some cases, black string players would be invited to play to entertain white
audiences. Between the week of Christmas and New Years’, owners would give their
slaves a holiday. This provided a chance for slave families who had different
masters to come together, otherwise, they would not go anywhere. Some slaves would
craft items, but masters detested industrious slaves. So most slaves would spend
their recreational time doing other things, like dancing and singing. Masters
approved of such activities, but they may not have listened carefully to the songs
that were performed.[19]

Folk songs
The original Thirteen Colonies of the United States were all former British
possessions, and Anglo culture became a major foundation for American folk and
popular music. Many American folk songs are identical to British songs in
arrangements, but with new lyrics, often as parodies of the original material.
Anglo-American traditional music also includes a variety of broadside ballads,
humorous stories and tall tales, and disaster songs regarding mining, shipwrecks
and murder.[20] Folk songs may be classified by subject matter, such as: drinking
songs, sporting songs, train songs, work songs, war songs, and ballads.

The Star-Spangled Banner's tune was adapted from an old English drinking song by
John Stafford Smith called "To Anacreon in Heaven."
"The Ballad of Casey Jones" is a traditional song about railroad engineer Casey
Jones and his death at the controls of the train he was driving. It tells of how
Jones and his fireman Sim Webb raced their locomotive to make up for lost time, but
discovered another train ahead of them on the line, and how Jones remained on board
to try to stop the train as Webb jumped to safety.
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (sometimes "When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Again") is a popular song of the American Civil War that expressed people's longing
for the return of their friends and relatives who were fighting in the war. The
Irish anti-war song "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"
share the same melodic material. Based on internal textual references, "Johnny I
Hardly Knew Ye" apparently dates from the early 1820s, while When Johnny Comes
Marching Home was first published in 1863. "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" is a popular
traditional Irish anti-war and anti-recruiting song. It is generally dated to the
early 19th century, when soldiers from Athy, County Kildare served the British East
India Company.
"Oh My Darling, Clementine" (1884) is an American western folk ballad believed to
have been based on another song called Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden (1863). The
words are those of a bereaved lover singing about his darling, the daughter of a
miner in the 1849 California Gold Rush. He loses her in a drowning accident. The
song plays during the opening credits for the highly acclaimed John Ford movie "My
Darling Clementine". It also runs as a background score all through the movie.
The Yellow Rose of Texas is a traditional folk song. The original love song has
become associated with the legend that Emily D. West, a biracial indentured
servant, "helped win the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle in the Texas
Revolution".
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and
Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although
neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is
traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of a baseball game. Fans are
generally encouraged to sing along.
Other American folksongs include: "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain",
"Skewball", "Big Bad John", "Stagger Lee", "Camptown Races" and "The Battle Hymn of
the Republic".

Sea shanties
Main article: Sea shanty
Work songs sung by sailors between the 18th and 20th centuries are known as sea
shanties. The shanty was a distinct type of work song, developed especially in
American-style merchant vessels that had come to prominence in decades prior to the
American Civil War. These songs were typically performed while adjusting the
rigging, raising anchor, and other tasks where men would need to pull in rhythm.
These songs usually have a very punctuated rhythm precisely for this reason, along
with a call-and-answer format. Well before the 19th century, sea songs were common
on rowing vessels. Such songs were also very rhythmic in order to keep the rowers
together.[21]

They were notably influenced by songs of African Americans, such as those sung
whilst manually loading vessels with cotton in ports of the southern United States.
The work contexts in which African-Americans sang songs comparable to shanties
included: boat-rowing on rivers of the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean; the work of
stokers or "firemen", who cast wood into the furnaces of steamboats plying great
American rivers;and stevedoring on the U.S. eastern seaboard, the Gulf Coast, and
the Caribbean—including "cotton-screwing": the loading of ships with cotton in
ports of the American South. During the first half of the 19th century, some of the
songs African Americans sang also began to appear in use for shipboard tasks, i.e.
as shanties.

Shanty repertoire borrowed from the contemporary popular music enjoyed by sailors,
including minstrel music, popular marches, and land-based folk songs, which were
adapted to suit musical forms matching the various labor tasks required to operate
a sailing ship. Such tasks, which usually required a coordinated group effort in
either a pulling or pushing action, included weighing anchor and setting sail.

"Poor Paddy Works on the Railway" is a popular Irish and American folk song.
Historically, it was often sung as a sea chanty. The song portrays an Irish worker
working on a railroad. There are numerous titles of the song including, "Pat Works
on the Railway" and "Paddy on the Railway". "Paddy Works on the Erie" is another
version of the song. "Paddy on the Railway" is attested as a chanty in the earliest
known published work to use the word "chanty", G. E. Clark's Seven Years of a
Sailor's Life (1867). Clark recounted experiences fishing on the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland, in a vessel out of Provincetown, Mass. c. 1865–66. At one point, the
crew is getting up the anchor in a storm, by means of a pump-style windlass. One of
the chanties the men sing while performing this task is mentioned by title, "Paddy
on the Railway."
Shaker music
Shaker music
SimpleGifts.png
Music
Issachar Bates, Ode to Contentment
Joseph Brackett, Simple Gifts
Wyeth and Hammond, The Humble Heart
Works inspired by Simple Gifts
Air and Simple Gifts
Joel Cohen, Simple Gifts
Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, Old American Songs
Roger Lee Hall, Simple Gifts - Shaker Dance Song
Sydney Carter, Lord of the Dance
John Zdechlik, Chorale and Shaker Dance
Weezer, The Greatest Man That Ever Lived
Works inspired by Shakers
William Coulter, Shaker trilogy
Roger Lee Hall, Four New England Shaker Spirituals
Eric W. Sawyer, The Humble Heart
Kevin Siegfried, Angel of Light
vte
The Shakers is a religious sect founded in 18th-century England upon the teachings
of Ann Lee. Shakers today are most known for their cultural contributions,
especially style of music and furniture. The Shakers composed thousands of songs,
and also created many dances; both were an important part of the Shaker worship
services. In Shaker society, a spiritual "gift" could also be a musical revelation,
and they considered it important to record musical inspirations as they occurred.
"Simple Gifts" was composed by Elder Joseph Brackett and originated in the Alfred
Shaker community in Maine in 1848. Aaron Copland's iconic 1944 ballet score
Appalachian Spring, uses the now famous Shaker tune "Simple Gifts" as the basis of
its finale.[22]

Folk dancing
Folk dances of British origin include the square dance, descended from the
quadrille, combined with the American innovation of a caller instructing the
dancers. The religious communal society known as the Shakers emigrated from England
during the 18th century and developed their own folk dance style.[23]

Locations and landmarks

the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island: In 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh recruited over 100
men, women and children to journey from England to Roanoke Island on North
Carolina's coast and establish the first English settlement in America under the
direction of John White as governor. Virginia Dare (born August 18, 1587) was the
first child born in the Americas to English parents, Ananias and Eleanor White Dare
in the short-lived Roanoke Colony. The fact of her birth is known because the
governor of the settlement, Virginia Dare's grandfather, John White, returned to
England in 1587 to seek fresh supplies. When White eventually returned three years
later, Virginia and the other colonists were gone. During the past four hundred
years, Virginia Dare has become a prominent figure in American myth and folklore,
symbolizing different things to different groups of people. She is the subject of a
poem (Peregrine White and Virginia Dare) by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet, and
the North Carolina Legend of the White Doe. While often cited as an Indian legend,
the white doe seems to have its roots in English folklore. White deer are common in
English legends and often used as symbols of Christian virtue. A similar story of a
young girl transformed into a white deer can be found in Yorkshire, where it formed
the basis for Wordsworth's poem The White Doe of Rylstone.[24] In the four
centuries since their disappearance, the Roanoke colonists have been the subject of
a mystery that still challenges historians and archaeologists as one of America's
oldest.[25]
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in Midtown Manhattan, New York
City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd
to West 47th Streets. Times Square – iconified as "The Crossroads of the World" is
the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District. Formerly Longacre
Square, Times Square was renamed in April 1904 after The New York Times moved its
headquarters to the newly erected Times Building site of the annual ball drop on
New Year's Eve. The northern triangle of Times Square is technically Duffy Square,
dedicated in 1937 to Chaplain Francis P. Duffy of New York City's "Fighting 69th"
Infantry Regiment; a memorial to Duffy is located there, along with a statue of
George M. Cohan. The Duffy Statue and the square were listed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 2001.

The Empire State Building

Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located in New York City at the
intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the
nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world's tallest building
for 40 years, from its completion in 1931. The Empire State Building is generally
thought of as an American cultural icon. The project involved 3,400 workers, mostly
immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk ironworkers, many from the
Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. Perhaps the most famous popular culture
representation of the building is in the 1933 film King Kong, in which the title
character, a giant ape, climbs to the top to escape his captors but falls to his
death after being attacked by airplanes. The 1957 romantic drama film An Affair to
Remember involves a couple who plan to meet atop the Empire State Building, a
rendezvous that is averted by an automobile accident. The 1993 film Sleepless in
Seattle, a romantic comedy partially inspired by An Affair to Remember, climaxes
with a scene at the Empire State observatory.
Other locations and landmarks that have become part of American folklore include:
Independence Hall, Monument Valley, Ellis Island, Hoover Dam, Pearl Harbor, the
Vietnam War Memorial, and the Grand Canyon.[citation needed]

Cultural icons
The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The bell was commissioned from the London firm of
Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering (part of Leviticus 25:10)
"Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." In the
1830s, the bell was adopted as a symbol by abolitionist societies, who dubbed it
the "Liberty Bell". It acquired its distinctive large crack sometime in the early
19th century—a widespread story claims it cracked while ringing after the death of
Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835.[citation needed]
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on
Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on
October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of
France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of
freedom, who bears a torch and a tablet upon which is inscribed the date of the
American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. The statue is an icon of
freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from
abroad.
Uncle Sam (initials U.S.) is a common national personification of the American
government and came into use during the War of 1812. According to legend, Samuel
Wilson, a meatpacker in New York, supplied rations for the soldiers and stamped the
letters U.S. on the boxes, which stood for United States but was jokingly said to
be the initials of Uncle Sam. An Uncle Sam is mentioned as early as 1775, in the
original "Yankee Doodle" lyrics of the Revolutionary War[citation needed].
"Columbia", who first appeared in 1738 and sometimes was associated with liberty,
is the personification of the American nation, while Uncle Sam is a personification
of the government; they are some times shown working together or disputing with one
another over political issues, especially in the political cartoons of Puck. With
the American Revolutionary War came "Brother Jonathan" as a personification of the
American Everyman; but it wasn't until after the War of 1812 Uncle Sam appeared.
Shark Mouth nose art on military aircraft: Although originally from Austria this
stylistic design was applied to the American Volunteer Group in Asia known more
commonly as "The Flying Tigers". This design was painted on the units' P-40
fighters around the large air intake near the front of the plane. This image has
since been placed on various aircraft such as American UH-1 and AH-1 helicopters
during the Vietnam War as well as the modern-day A-10 Thunderbolt II, A-29
Supertucano and AT-6 Wolverine, and other vehicles both military and civilian
alike.
Other Cultural Icons include, Rosie the Riveter, the United States Constitution,
the Colt Single Action Army, Smokey Bear, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Columbia,
and Apple Pie.

History
Historical events that form a part of American folklore include: the Boston
Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's Ride, the Battle of the Alamo, the
Salem witch trials, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the California Gold Rush, the
Battle of the Little Bighorn, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the Attack on Pearl
Harbor.[26]