Introduction

Biography

John was the son of John Wes­ley Work, a church choir di­rect­or, and Sa­mu­el­la Boyd; hus­band of Ag­nes Haynes (mar­ried 1899); bro­ther of Fred­er­ick Je­rome Work; and fa­ther of John Wes­ley Work III.

He gra­du­at­ed from Fisk Uni­ver­si­ty, Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see (AB 1895, MA 1898). He taught La­tin and Greek at Fisk, be­com­ing chair­man of the La­tin & His­to­ry De­part­ments in 1906.

From 1923 un­til his death, he was pre­si­dent of Ro­ger Will­iams Uni­ver­si­ty in Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see (merged with Howe In­sti­tute, Mem­phis, Ten­nes­see, in 1929).

Work was a pio­neer in col­lect­ing, per­form­ing, and pre­serv­ing Af­ri­can-Am­eri­can folk mu­sic.

Works

• New Ju­bilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Ju­bi­lee Sing­ers (Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see: 1901)
• Folk Songs of the Am­eri­can Ne­gro No. 1, with his bro­ther Fred­er­ick (Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see: Work Bro­thers & Hart, 1907)
• Folk Song of the Am­eri­can Ne­gro, an ana­ly­ti­cal stu­dy, 1915