Read 'em, John, arr. Jean-Paul Caldwell & Sean Ivory

Read ‘em John is an African-American spiritual originally from the Georgia Sea Islands. By the 1830s, many states had begun to enforce codes that prohibited teaching enslaved people how to read, given that literacy was a powerful tool against the institution of slavery. This song celebrates an enslaved person, John, who has learned to read and shares crucial news with his community—including news of the Emancipation Proclamation.