No one interviewed the Africans who labored in the sugar fields to ask them about their hard labor. They were meant to work and die. But there is one way we can hear them. The Africans invented music, dances, and songs that carry on the pulse, the beat, of their lives. In Puerto Rico, bomba is a form of music and dance that the sugar workers invented. It is a kind of conversation in rhythm involving a woman, the man dancing with her, and the drummers who watch her and find the right rhythm for her movements. A master coming by would see dancing—no words of anger or rebellion. But as she moved and swayed, as the drummers "spoke" back in their beats, the workers were saying that they were not just labor, not just bodies born to work and die. Instead, they were alive and speaking to one another in movements and sounds that were all their own.
In Cuba, sugar workers told their stories in the words and sounds of rumba. As one song said, "The boss does not want me to play the drum.” Overseers feared the slaves were using drums to send messages and spread thoughts of rebellion.
Similarly, in Brazil there is a dance called Maculelê, which some trace to the sugar fields. Maculelê is danced with sticks or sugar cane stalks, and it looks very much like training for combat. On many of the sugar islands, Africans created similar dances in which people spin, jump, and seem to menace each other, then, just on the beat, click sticks and twirl away. The dances were a way of imitating warfare without actually defying the master.
Which text evidence best supports the authors' claim and purpose that enslaved people were more than mercilessly treated workers?
"Bomba is a form of music and dance that the sugar workers invented."
"They were not just labor, not just bodies born to work and die."
"Similarly, in Brazil there is a dance called Maculelê."
"People spin, jump, and seem to menace each other."
1 answer
The text evidence that best supports the author's claim and purpose that enslaved people were more than mercilessly treated workers is:
"They were not just labor, not just bodies born to work and die."
This statement emphasizes the humanity and individuality of the enslaved people, highlighting that they expressed themselves through music, dance, and culture despite their harsh conditions.
