This rich and intricate collection of poems chronicles the various experiences of enslaved people in the United States. Named for traditional quilt block patterns like Log Cabin, Cotton Boll, and Schoolhouse, each poem--ten lines of ten syllables each--mimics the square shape of a quilt block. Readers experience slavery in America through fourteen different perspectives, including a woman humming "Gilead" as she quilts, a mother losing her daughter to the auction, a child discovering the freedom of learning, and a young man fleeing on the Underground Railroad.

Drawing on biblical imagery, slave songs both expressed the sorrow of life in bondage and offered a rallying cry for the spirit. Coretta Scott King Award-winning illustrator Michele Wood conveys the rich meaning behind these historic songs.