Hmmm. Don't know if the sea shanty "Alabama John Cherokee" fits in here. The verses in multi-cultural fashion describe how "An Indian man from Miramashee" was made a slave in Alabam, and how "He run away every chance he can." It's an unusual shanty and usually thought of as the usual sailor nonesense, or gallows humor, but likely this was the only way the issue could be raised. Alabama John Cherokee in later verses is signed by his masters to a whaling ship where his further attempts to escape are brutally surpressed, he's chained and starved to death, but at night his ghost comes back to haunt the crew.

Some version of this shanty has been discussed and posted in the threads if you're interested.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble