GANDY DANCERS

Features the musical traditions and verbal recollections of eight retired African-American railroad track laborers, whose occupational folk songs were once heard along the railroad lines that crisscross the South. In addition to their interviews--which recount working conditions in the segregated South before civil rights, organized labor, and occupational safety standards--the video focuses on the workers' singing of railroad calls, which survive today as artistic expressions of religious faith, social protest, and sexually explicit poetry.

Directed by Barry Dornfeld and Maggie Holtzberg-Call
1994, 30 minutes
Purchase: $265 / Classroom Rental: $65

Subjects & Collections

Festivals & Awards

* Award Winner, VITAS Film Festival of Folklore and Popular Culture

Reviews

   Good "...good for junior high to adult audiences interested in African-American studies, folk music, and labor history."--Video Rating Guide for Libraries

"Fascinating for its slice of American life...a wonderful resource for general audiences and college studies."--Booklist (American Library Assocaition)