Suggested Resources, Gandy Dancers
Suggested Resources:
Bibliography:
Courlander Harold. Negro Songs from Alabama. New York: Wenner-Gren Foundation, 1960.
Ferguson, Leland. Epilogue to Uncommon Ground: Archaeology and Early African America, 1650-1800. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp 121-123.
Ferris, William. “Railroad Chants: Form and Function.” Mississippi Folklore Register, Vol. 4, 1970.
Holtzberg, Maggie. “The Gandy Dancer Speaks: Voices from Southern Black Railroad Gangs” in American Musical Traditions: Volume 2: African American Music. Edited by Jeff Todd Titon and Bob Carlin, pp.24-29. New York: Schirmer Reference, 2002. Originally published in Alabama Folklife: Collected Essays, Edited by Stephen H. Martin, Birmingham: Alabama Folklife Association, 1989.
Holtzberg, Maggie. “Gandy Dancing,” in Spirit of Steel: Music of the Mines, Railroads and Mills of the Birmingham District. Birmingham: Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, pp. 3-6, 1999.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Jonah’s Gourd Vine. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, pp. 170-173, 1971.
Manning, Ambrose. “Railroad Work Songs,” Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin, 32: 41-47, June 1966.
Ramsey, Frederic Jr. Been Here and Gone, Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000. Originally published: New Brunswick, NH, Rutgers University Press, 1960.
Discography:
“Negro Work Songs and Calls,” (LP) Library of Congress, AFSL8.
“Track Linin’,” T.C.I. Section Crew, (78 rpm) Paramount 12478.
Taj Mahal "Linin' Track" on the Giant Step /De Ole Folks at Home (CD) 1989.
Film and Television:
“Gandy Dancer,” CBS Charles Kurault. On the Road, 10/5/1972.
Land Where the Blues Began Paula Talock, Editor, 1982.
To Sleep with Anger, feature film directed by Charles Burnett, 1990.
Gandy Dancers, documentary film co-directed by Barry Dornfeld and Maggie Holtzberg, 1994.
