When the Oakland, California, school board called African American English "Ebonics" and claimed that it "is not a black dialect or any dialect of English," the

They had no pens. They had no paper. It didn't matter - they could neither read nor write. But slaves had plenty to say and share - their stories, their sufferi

Uses diaries, interviews, quotations, poetry, and songs to show what life was like for people in bondage.