Reading Metrics
Grade Level
Middle Grades (MG 4-8)
Book Level
6.3
Points
0.5
Fiction/Nonfiction
Nonfiction
Word Count
1685
Points per Word
0.000297
Page Count
36
Points per Page
0.013889
Series
Millbrook Picture Books
Description
Enslaved African Americans longed for freedom, and that longing took many forms, including music. Drawing on biblical imagery, slave songs both expressed the sorrow of life in bondage and offered a rallying cry for the spirit.