Gonna Sing!

Music, particularly in America, has often been a vehicle for protest. For some Americans, the protest began in Africa hundreds of years ago, as free persons were captured, torn from homes and families, shackled and put on ships headed for the West Indies and then the United States. They had few things to call their own, and little in common with each other beyond their situation. But they did have song. The songs they sang would ultimately help to topple a system of slavery and abuse that reigned too long in a country that called itself "free". This book describes a few of the most important people in this great struggle, and how song contributed to their lives and their cause.