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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

An Instagram ad for ANOTHER of my books, also on sale with code RBS20 at Rutledge!

Cover of book, Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen,” 5th edition.

SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Having spent $5.1 mill gilding (and ruining the majesty of) the Art of War horse statues, he is now posting fake images of a gilded Iwo Jima memorial.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

My book in an Instagram ad! Use code RBS20 at Rutledge and get 20 percent off, it seems.

Cover of book, Archival Storytelling, written by Sheila Curran Bernard and Kenn Rabin.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

This is real. Trump promoting an air filter wall between the US and Canada (both shown with clear blue skies). Sure, Jan.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

And to promote someone else: Even though we lived through the early months of 2025, it's extraordinary, troubling, and awful to read the specifics as gathered by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. Actor Robert Petkoff reads the audio book.

Cover of Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" -- black text on a textured orange background, and a red dot with the words, "New York Times Bestseller."

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

"Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies" (2024; paperback Nov '26). A deep dive into his early life; a rebuttal of the LB myths; & a case study of injustice, brutality, and exploitation in the post-Reconstruction South. Plus a look at an iconic, important musician!

Orange book cover with b/w photo of Huddie Ledbetter, aka Lead Belly, playing guitar in a club in front of an American flag (circa 1940s). Title is "Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies" (Cambridge University Press). Reviews read:

"A revelatory volume that rescues its subject from misconceptions that still circulate." - The Spectator

"Bernard is the only biographer of Huddie Ledbetter to have gone back to the primary sources and looked at them with some awareness of how Jim Crow affected the justice system in the early, early 20th century, and of the deep racism of much of what was written about him in his lifetime. It's one of the best books on music I've read in years... " - A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs

"Bernard's valiant and impressively researched book is an attempt to reclaim Ledbetter from an implicitly racist narrative. Bring Judgment Day is an overdue redress." - The Telegraph

"Bring Judgment Day is more than a biography; it is a necessary act of historical justice... a must-read for anyone interested in the history of American music, racial justice, and the power of narrative to shape our understanding of the past." - Rock & Roll Highway

"A new and vitally important biographical study Lead Belly has,
in many ways, remained hidden in the shadows behind myths,
half-truths, and, in some cases, willful misrepresentations of him, his times, and his cultural and social significance as a Black musician in an America still rent by 'Jim Crow's lies.' Bernard has exhumed this narrative and reexamined it, exposing (or, more accurately, insisting on acknowledging) the contradictions that have long compromised it." - Living Blues

Cover of the hardback edition - b/w photo of Lead Belly, in a suit, performing at a NYC club in the 1940s, American flag behind him and a microphone in front, and the book's main title in orange letters.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

There's a lot more to the story behind the mythology surrounding Lead Belly. If you're curious, you can get 20% off the list price (so ~ $22) with the code BJD26 from @universitypress.cambridge.org. Thanks!

Flyer promoting the book "Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies." Text reads: Known worldwide as Lead Belly, Huddie Ledbetter (1889–1949) is an American icon
whose influence on modern music was tremendous – as was, according to legend, the temper that landed him in two of the South’s most brutal prisons, while his immense talent twice won him pardons. But as this deeply researched book shows, these stories were shaped by the white folklorists who ‘discovered’ Lead Belly and, along with reporters, recording executives, and radio and film producers,
introduced him to audiences beyond the South. Through a revelatory examination of arrest, trial, and prison records; sharecropping reports; oral histories; newspaper articles; and more, author Sheila Curran Bernard replaces myth with fact, offering a stunning indictment of systemic racism in the Jim Crow era of the United States and the power of narrative to erase and distort the past.

Introduction; 1. Encounter at Angola; 2. Two men from Texas; 3. On the road; 4. 1915: The State of Texas v. Huddie Ledbetter; 5. Frayed nerves; 6. 1918: The State of Texas v. Walter Boyd; 7. Northern debut; 8. Contracts; 9. 1930: The State of Louisiana v. Huddie Ledbetter; 10. The end of the road; Epilogue.

For more information, and to order, visit:
www.cambridge.org/9781009098120
and enter the code BJD26 at the checkout

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Within months, he escaped & fled two counties north, where he lived as Walter Boyd. But trouble found him again in December 1917, a story for another day. His parents sued, unsuccessfully, to get their land back. His father, heartbroken, died soon after. Those 30 acres were auctioned off in 1920. #

Excerpt, Marshall Messenger: Shriff's Sale. The State of Texas, County of Harrison. By virtue of an order of sale issued out of the Honorable district court of Harrison county, on the 17th day of February, 1920, by the clerk thereof in the case of William Lane and Nannie W. Lane versus Wesley Ledbetter... and to me, as sheriff... I will proceed to sell for cash, within the hours prescribed by law for sheriff's sales, on the first Tuesday in April, 1920... (goes on to describe the parcel of land).

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

On July 26, with the district trial pending, Huddie Ledbetter was charged in county court with "carrying a pistol," a vague charge rarely applied to whites. In September, he was found guilty & sentenced to 30 days + fees of $73.50, to be worked off on a road crew/chain gang. It might take months.

b/w image, LOC: "Chain gang of convicts engaged in road work. Pitt County, North Carolina. Autumn 1910. The inmates were quartered in the wagons shown in the picture. Wagons were equipped with bunks and move from place to place as labor is utilized. The central figure in the picture is J.Z. McLawhon, who was at that time county superintendent of chain gangs. The dogs are bloodhounds used for running down any attempted escapes."

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

The document conveying the Ledbetters' 30 acres was dated June 21, 1915. Witnesses included R.L. Sybert, the foreman of that session's grand jury, which indicted their son on "assault to murder, out on bond." That case didn't go to trial, and seems to have disappeared. But the trouble wasn't over.

A page of the document conveying 30 acres of land from Wesley and Sallie Ledbetter to the father and son law firm of Lane and Lane, dated June 21, 1915.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

The Ledbetters' farm, which they'd worked seveb years to buy outright in 1904, was about a mile from Caddo Lake. A few years later, oil was discovered under the lake, and by 1911, the world's first offshore oil well was built there.

Postcard with b/w image of over-water oil wells. The card's caption is "Oil Wells in Caddo Lake, Near Shreveport.... Photo by Grabill."

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

He was arrested after some sort of fight at a house party and charged with attempted murder. A white law firm offered to defend him—in exchange for 30 acres of his parents’ farm.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

In 1915, 26-year-old performer Huddie Ledbetter #LeadBelly left Dallas to visit his parents on their 68.5-acre farm near Leigh, TX, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Juneteenth. It was a fateful and costly decision for both him and his family. 🧵

Huddie Ledbetter in a b/w studio portrait from about 1915, studio, wearing formal wear and a bowler hat and holding a cane aloft, as if shooting a rifle. He later titled this picture, "Gun Tap Dancing." Behind him is a theatrical backdrop common in photos of that era.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Check out the propaganda value of these interview settings.

Trump being interviewed by his daughter-in-law Laura, in a large room with a large image of Trump with his fist raised following the shooting in Butler, Pa.

Sec. of Treasury Bessent being interviewed by Maria Bartiromo in a hanger with Air Force One behind them.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Just a random page from the US Civil War draft registration records, 1863-1865 -- from Missouri, August 31, 1863. Of 20 men listed, 16 of those subject to military duty on behalf of the Union are immigrants: Ireland, Canada, England, Germany, and France. [Missouri>2nd>Class1, A-G, Vol. 1 of 7]

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

In 1990, Esquire famously said Michelle Pfeiffer needed nothing while Harper's revealed that photo re-touchers were paid ~ $1500 to "clean up" her complexion, soften her eye and smile lines, trim chin, etc. Thirty-six years later, look at Tiffany's revamp of Natalie Portman. Have we learned nothing?

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

This is real. Where is Congress? Not yet back in DC. No hurry, no worries.

@realDonaldTrump
The Fake News Media has lost total credibility, not that they had any to begin with. Because of their massive Trump Derangement Syndrome (Sometimes referred to as TDS!), they love saying that Iran is “winning” when, in fact, everyone knows that they are LOSING, and LOSING BIG! Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft apparatus is nonexistent, Radar is dead, their Missile and Drone Factories have been largely obliterated along with the Missiles and Drones themselves and, most importantly, their longtime “Leaders” are no longer with us, praise be to Allah! The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may “bunk” into one of their sea mines which, by the way, all 28 of their mine dropper boats are also lying at the bottom of the sea. We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves. Very interestingly, however, empty Oil carrying ships from many Nations are all heading to the United States of America to LOAD UP with Oil. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
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ReTruths
5.03k
Likes
Apr 11, 2026, 8:58 AM

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

8 am Easter Sunday. Imagine Eisenhower or any other president posting anything like this. 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

These are the current #NEH guidelines for media projects (3/19/26). What does it even mean that a project may not support DEI or DEIA -- how does a media project "engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways" and leave out whole segments of humanity???

2. Funding Restrictions
You may not use funds made under this notice for the following purposes:
Restricted activities:
• promotion of a particular political, religious, or ideological point of view
• promotion of gender ideology
• promotion of discriminatory equity ideology
• support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives or activities
• environmental justice initiatives or activities
• advocacy of a particular program of social or political action
• support of specific public policies or legislation
• lobbying

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

He also shared a misleading video about the birth of the Republican Party as the basis for modern Black conservatism, ignoring the party's significant shift in recent decades - see David Blight's NYT editorial from 2019, "Lincoln Would Not Recognize His Own Party." www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/o...

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Jan 20 is not only Lead Belly's birthday (1889), it's also his anniversary (1935)! Married in Wilton, Ct. to Martha Promise of Shreveport, La., who'd known him since she was a child.

Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly), in a suit and bowtie, with his wife Martha Promise in a patterned dress. Both wear white gloves.

With the Ledbetters (center) in the photo John and Alan Lomax; Margaret Conklin; Mary Elizabeth Barnicle; deacons Leonard Brown, Maurice Podd, and Sol Nichols; and the Reverend Samuel Overton, of the High Street African Methodist Episcopal Church in Norwalk.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

meanwhile, someone has written plaques under the photos outside the white house

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Aargh -- sorry, the discount code at Cambridge UP is BJD25 (not 2025)!

Is a flyer with a discount code and text about the book: On the left, "Known worldwide as Lead Belly, Huddie Ledbetter (1889–1949) is an American icon whose influence on modern music was tremendous – as was, according to legend, the temper that landed him in two of the South’s most brutal prisons, while his immense talent twice won him pardons. But as this deeply researched book shows, these stories were shaped by the white folklorists who ‘discovered’ Lead Belly and, along with reporters, recording executives, and radio and film producers, introduced him to audiences beyond the South. Through a revelatory examination of arrest, trial, and prison records; sharecropping reports; oral histories; newspaper articles; and more, author Sheila Curran Bernard replaces myth with fact, offering a stunning indictment of systemic racism in the Jim Crow era of the United States and the power of narrative to erase and distort the past.

Introduction; 1. Encounter at Angola; 2. Two men from Texas; 3. On the road; 4. 1915: The State of Texas v. Huddie Ledbetter; 5. Frayed nerves; 6. 1918: The State of Texas v. Walter Boyd; 7. Northern debut; 8. Contracts; 9. 1930: The State of Louisiana v. Huddie Ledbetter; 10. The end of the road; Epilogue."

On the right, "‘Sheila Curran Bernard rescues the legendary ‘Lead Belly’ from a swirl of fabrication and racist presumption, and simultaneously illuminates the systemized oppression that cruelly stalked Black artists and ensured, for a century after the ostensible end of slavery, that bitter chords of racial injustice would remain as central to the American chorus as any melodies of freedom.’ Douglas A. Blackmon, author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize"

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Thanks! My book, described as "a historical reclamation that pulls no punches in unpacking the racism surrounding one of America’s greatest folk voices” - #LeadBelly (1889-1949), a deep dive into post-Reconstruction America. www.cambridge.org/core/books/b... - Just $22.36 with code BJD2025!!!

book cover -- black and white 1940s photo of Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly) playing guitar, dressed in a suit with a microphone in front and American flag behind. Book title in orange lettering, Bring Judgment Day. Subtitle, white lettering: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

A post from Mar a Lago last night:

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

NPR's Tiny Desk Concert with The Doobie Brothers (!) and my book, "Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies" is on top of the stack in front of Michael McDonald! (Black cover, orange lettering) - #music #rock #LeadBelly @universitypress.cambridge.org @npr.org

The Doobie Brothers playing a "Tiny Desk Concert" at NPR, with a stack of books in front of them on a shelf.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

“A special nod went to Sheila Curran Bernard for Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly’s Truths from Jim Crow’s Lies, a historical reclamation that pulls no punches in unpacking the racism surrounding one of America’s greatest folk voices.” Music Connection re: 2025 ASCAP Taylor/Thomson Awards.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

In his senescense he’s returned to his comfort days of construction, encouraged by those around him so they can pursue their destruction of everything else.

Images of trump desecrating the Kennedy Center under the guise of “improvement”

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Current USDA website. Falsehoods abound.

Official usda website with statement: “Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Bring Judgment Day is back on the top of the pile @npr.org Tiny Desk Concerts! @universitypress.cambridge.org

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

As visual metaphors go, this one's on track. 2025 at left. 2014 at right.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

2/4: "What happened in Germany? Fully 600,000 reckless young men, armed against the workmen and Jews, have been turned loose upon the population. Probably even Captain Goering did not anticipate that they would go to such extremes."

Others, including women and children, were dragged out of motor-cars and beaten. I heard the despairing stories of women whose husbands had been dragged from bed, inhumanly beaten and have since disappeared. Day after day bodies have been discovered, mutilated beyond identification. The compatriots to Captain Goering were met with a shrug and the remark: 'Where timber is planted the shavings must drop off.' What happened in Germany? Fully 600,000 reckless young men, armed against the workmen and Jews, have been turned loose upon the population. Probably even Captain Goering did not anticipate that they would go to such extremes. It is terrible to think that we shall never know how many people have been killed."

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

These are the toilets. No privacy. The smells will be awful. The hygiene will be a nightmare. From a Fox News report, www.foxnews.com/politics/ins...

Inside the new prison camp in Florida, 3 troopers are dude by side in full view of anyone, beside cages with bunks

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

March 22, 1933, p. 7 of the Mackay Daily Mercury, Queensland, Australia "The extent of the 'terror' is measurable by the Munich police president Himmler's announcement that the first concentration camp of 5000 prisoners is being organized near Dachau." Headline: "Gaols [jails] overflowing."

Headline: Nazi Excesses/Worse than during war/number of dead unknown. (Australian Cable Service).

The German Chancellor (Herr Hitler) is demanding from the Reichstag absolute dictatorial powers. It is staged that these, if granted, will surpass those enjoyed by M. Stalin or Signor Mussolini.

London, March 20: - "The year 1933 is the darkest in the last five centuries for German culture," said Dr. Lion Feuchtwanger, the famous author of "Jew Sues," who is returning from America, intending to travel to Berlin.

He said: "I met in Paris the first German refugees, who told me dreadful stories, compared with which the war-time atrocities paled. The narrators are reliable members of the Centre party, Democrats and Pacifists. They said they witnessed attempts to through people out of moving underground trains because they looked like Jews. Others, including

women and children, were dragged out of motor-cars and beaten. I heard the despairing stories of women whose husbands had been dragged from bed, inhumanly beaten and have since disappeared. Day after day bodies have been discovered, mutilated beyond identification. The compatriots to Captain Goering were met with a shrug and the remark: 'Where timber is planted the shavings must drop off.' What happened in Germany? Fully 600,000 reckless young men, armed against the workmen and Jews, have been turned loose upon the population. Probably even Captain Goering did not anticipate that they would go to such extremes. It is terrible to think that we shall never know how many people have been killed."

Gaols Overflowing/Organization of Concentration Camps. "The correspondence in Berlin of the 'Guardian' says: The extent of the 'terror' is measurable by the Munich police president Himmler's announcement that the first concentration camp of 5000 prisoners is being organized near Dachau. He added that it would be impossible to accommodate the Communists, Marxists, and Reich bannerites in the State prisons, and it would be impossible to release them, because they were sure to again start an agitation. The Dachau camp will be only one of many.

The police statement indicates that Socialists and Republicans will be treated in the same way as the Communists.

The drive against the Socialists is expected to culminate after the adjournment of the Reichstag next week.

The police unsuccessfully searched Professor Einstein's house for arms.

CLEAN-UP ONLY BEGINNING
Berlin, March 20 – Germany’s apprehension has been increased by Herr Hitler’s alarming threats on scanty evidence, and has filled peace lovers with misgivings.

The Nazi Commissioner (Herr Wagner), a Badenite, said that though the Marxists had been expelled from office throughout Germany, the essential clean-up was only beginning, and that it would be effected with the utmost ruthlessness.

The commissioner of Wurtemburg announces that threatened persons may yield themselves to preventive arrest.

Headline: "Blank Cheque": Demanded by Hitler.

(Discusses the "Enabling Bill") "Henceforth Herr Hitler's signature will suffice for the laws of the Reich instead of the President's. Parliament is entirely excluded from legislative work unless the Government invites its cooperation..... If the Enabling Bill is passed, the Hitler Government will be endowed with absolute dictatorial powers.... It will even be able to alter the constitution at will, because the bill strips the President of all his functions except that of Chief of the Army, which it is stated, could be abolished by a decree, thus placing the army under the Cabinet's control.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Jeopardy 6/27/2025: Toxic Culture for $2000 -- "Blues musician Huddie Ledbetter is better known by this stage name.” None of the contestants knew. #LeadBelly

A still shot of the Jeopardy categories board, partially played, with the categories remaining: World History; Now It's a Museum; Get a Room; Toxic Culture; and Words from Asian Languages.

On the Jeopardy tv screen, a black and white photo of Black musician Huddie Ledbetter, about 40s, wearing a suit and tie and posing as he plays a 12-string guitar.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

At the top of the #Angola record is an alias, "Walter Boyd," used in #DeKalb (Bowie County, TX) after he ran from a Harrison County chain gang. See his alias in this farmer's ledger, on a page begun Feb 5, 1917. Below is the name of a man #LeadBelly was later charged with killing... Details in book.

Page in an old farmer's account book, from around 1915-1920, DeKalb, Texas. Handwriting in pencil, p. 33, keeping track of "Walter Boyd" with the page dated at the top 2/5/1917.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

June 1933, the Lomaxes first met #LeadBelly in the Louisiana #prison at #Angola. He was railroaded by corruption and racism, and shouldn’t have been there at all. #history #JimCrow. He was released August 1934 due to good time (see record), not the Lomaxes. Read more @universitypress.cambridge.org.

Men in prison stripes stand behind tall barbed wire fence, in front of a low building. Most wear hats in the summer sun.

Louisiana State Penitentiary prison record for Huddie Ledbetter, aka Lead Belly.

Book cover, Lead Belly in his 50s, wearing a suit and standing in front of an American flag and behind a microphone as he plays a 12-string guitar. Title of book is: "Bring Judgment Day: Reclaiming Lead Belly's Truths from Jim Crow's Lies."

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

In June 1915, 26-year-old musician Huddie Ledbetter (#LeadBelly) traveled from Dallas to his family’s farm in Leigh, Texas, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of #Juneteenth. It began a devastating period: his parents were cheated out of half their farm, and Ledbetter ended up on a chain gang.

Black and white photo from ~1910-1914 of a young Lead Belly in a sort of tuxedo, posed with a bowler hat and cane for a studio portrait with a painted classical backdrop.

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Lyrics to “Fortunate Son”

Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Hoo, they're red, white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no senator's son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no furtunate one, no
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, Lord?
But when the taxman come to the door
Lord, the house lookin' like a rummage sale, yeah
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no millionaire's son, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no
Yeah-yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes
Hoo, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask 'em, "How much should we give?"
Hoo, they only answer, "More, more, more, more"
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no military son, son, Lord
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, one
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate son, no, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me...
Source: Musixmatch

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SCBernard @scbernard.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

Seeger and the Weavers' recording of Ledbetter's signature song -- "Goodnight, Irene" -- topped the Billboard charts in June 1950, just six months after Ledbetter's death. (Also in 1950, became the signature song of England's Bristol Rovers.) #LeadBelly #History

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