Read the passage from Sugar Changed the World. 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. (To hear examples of music from the sugar lands, go to www.sugarchangedtheworld.com.)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 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."

## Step 1<br />The problem requires us to identify the text evidence that best supports the authors' claim and purpose that enslaved people were more than mercilessly treated workers. The authors' claim is that enslaved people were not just labor, not just bodies born to work and die.<br /><br />## Step 2<br />We need to analyze each of the given options and determine which one best supports the authors' claim.<br /><br />## Step 3<br />Option A: "Bomba is a form of music and dance that the sugar workers invented." This statement does not provide any evidence about the authors' claim that enslaved people were more than mercilessly treated workers.<br /><br />## Step 4<br />Option B: "They were not just labor, not just bodies born to work and die." This statement directly supports the authors' claim that enslaved people were more than mercilessly treated workers.<br /><br />## Step 5<br />Option C: "Similarly, in Brazil there is a dance called Maculelê." This statement does not provide any evidence about the authors' claim that enslaved people were more than mercilessly treated workers.<br /><br />## Step 6<br />Option D: "People spin, jump, and seem to menace each other." This statement does not provide any evidence about the authors' claim that enslaved people were more than mercilessly treated workers.