that's the current situation their in now. they just wanna be free and have equal opportunities.

thats how it was over 100 years ago, and how it still is today

they were reading lines that were describing what was happening to them, when the poetry was describing what was actually happening way

before them.

The poetry was a parallel between what happened years ago and what is happening to them now.

isn't that incredible, how allegorical that is??they think they're reading about slavery when they're still enslaved in a sense

pretty much they thought were reading about slavery, while they are enslaved in thieir own situation now

The poetry is about their situation now and how it was a long time ago.

do you think they realize the irony in those lines?

the lines were describing their lives

the poem is what they are going through