Front cover image for Leadbelly

Leadbelly

Tyehimba Jess (Author)
Portrays the life of Huddie Ledbetter by telling the story of this Louisiana native and son of a cotton picker in a series of persona poems. The collection of poetry is divided by titles of Leadbelly's recorded songs: "What kind of soul has man?" "What you gonna do when the world's on fire?" and "The blood done signed your name."
Print Book, English, 2005
First edition View all formats and editions
Verse Press ; Wave Books, Amherst, MA, Seattle, WA, 2005
Poetry
117 pages : portrait ; 23 cm.
9780974635330, 0974635332
58546476
leadbelly's lessons
what kind of soul has man?
sallie ledbetter: a mother's hymn
john wesley ledbetter
colt protection special
fannin street signifies
mistress stella speaks
1912: blind lemon jefferson explaining to leadbelly
what you gonna do when the world's on fire?
caddo born
blind lemon taught me
misfire
harris county chain gang
alias: walter boyd
lethe on leadbelly
the blood done signed your name
for trouble's sake
bud russel, louisiana prison transfer man, 1920
father
leadbelly: runagate
leadbelly: from sugarland
sing out
Governor Pat Neff
freedom
home
loving era
era washington on leadbelly's stella
black girl, black girl...
mary on martha...
martha promise: grown summer
will you take this load...
martha promise: what i knew
yes, i was standing at the bottom
mooringsport moan
leadbelly in angola prison: down again
leadbelly sings to his #1 crew
july, 1933: leadbelly receives lomax at angola prison
out
home again
martha promise receives leadbelly, 1935
martha promise: keeping peace
man plowing with mules
John Lomax's Recording Machine, 1933
Ethnographer John Lomax Speaks of His Vocation
John Lomax: I Work With Negroes
John Lomax: On Seeking Song
John Lomax Visits Leadbelly in Angola Prison: July, 1933
leadbelly's role
leadbelly: mythology
five year sentence
leadbelly's labor on the lomax trail, 1934
prisoner #489235
the song speaks
you don't know my mind...
Lead Belly: Bad Nigger Makes Good Minstrel
leadbelly v. lomax: song hunting, 1934
John Lomax writes home, 1934
leadbelly writes home, 1934
leadbelly v. lomax at the modern language association conference, 1934
lomax v. leadbelly in new york: letters to home, 1934
lomax v. leadbelly: on the road, 1935
lomax v. leadbelly: dreams
good morning babe, how do you do?
leadbelly & martha: return to new york, 1936
jimmy goodwin, age 9
leadbelly's big city hustle
brownie and leadbelly: stipulations and apprenticeship
martha: life's work
To: Haywood Patterson #386j49
leadbelly: one thing
John Lomax writes home, 1937
martha: weight
josh white writes home, 1941
cab calloway on leadbelly
stella: diminuendo
martha: vigil
leadbelly: christened
Notes
Leadbelly's Timeline
References
Acknowledgments