African American spirituals served as more than songs of religious praise during the years of slavery. "Go Down, Moses" is featured on a worksheet that asks readers to respond to a series of short-answer prompts about the spiritual.

Concepts

slavery, freedom, reading comprehension

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Preview the many YouTube videos of various artists singing the spiritual, and select one appropriate to your learning situation
• Connect to your unit on the Civil War, slavery, the abolitionist movement, or the history of American music

Classroom Considerations

• Some class members may need additional background information to see the parallels between the Jewish slaves in Egypt and the African American slaves in the US

Pros

• The activity draws attention to the parallels between the experience of the Jews in Egypt and the slaves in the US
• Comes with an answer key

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.2.1 RL.3.1 RL.4.1