Kathleen Kagan
Britt – English 101
Writing Project 2
30 September 2018
Sojourner
Truth – Ain’t I a Woman
“Ain’t I a Woman” was a speech given by a former slave
known as Sojourner Truth at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio, in
1851. In it, Sojourner Truth describes
the common problems of women’s rights, especially those of black women following
state-led emancipation (Ohio in 1802, and New York in 1827), but preceding
federal emancipation (in 1865). She
details an encounter with an unknown man, assumed to be one of the ministers
speaking at the convention, who describes the lengths he will go to for a white
woman, which is a luxury never afforded to Truth herself. She further discusses that intellect has
nothing to do with women’s or black people’s rights, and that women deserve to
have equal rights to men, despite being told otherwise.
Sojourner
Truth was born a slave, known then as Isabella Bomfree, in Hurley, New York in
1797. She escaped slavery with her
infant daughter a year before slavery was outlawed in New York State (in 1827)
and was granted her freedom when the abolitionist family who took her in bought
her for twenty dollars. She then began
working for a minister, delivering charismatic speeches, which led her to meet
abolitionists, women’s right activists, and prohibition (also known as
“temperance”) activists. Though she never learned to read or write, she was
able to dictate her life story to a writer, named Olive Gilbert, and was able
to live off of the sales of her biography, which also drew her national acclaim.
In 1851, when the speech was given, slavery was still a reality for many black
people, especially in the south. Though
New York State, where Truth resided, had outlawed slavery in 1827, slavery
wouldn’t be outlawed nationally until 1865, over a decade after Truth delivered
her impassioned speech to the women’s convention in Ohio.
“Ain’t
I a Woman,” was the battle cry of her era, highlighting “the racial and gender
inequality by reminding listeners of her combined strength and female status.”
(Michals) The short speech detailed the struggles of a black woman, a newly
freed slave, in America, who was not granted the same rights or representation
as white women. She outlined the
struggles and hardships that black women had to overcome to be seen and heard
in an area that only recently had freed them from enslavement. Stating, “I have borne thirteen children, and
seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief,
none but Jesus heard me!” Truth reiterates a common struggle of enslaved women
throughout America, that of bearing children who were all enslaved and sold. Once freed, Truth became the first black
woman to win a lawsuit in the United States, having successfully sued for the
return of one of her children (Peter) that was illegally sold into slavery in
Alabama, and later against a newspaper that defamed her. (Library of Congress)
In
Truth’s world, women were not able to vote equally, or have equal
representation under the law. She lived
in a world where men talked down to women and denied them due process because
of their “delicate” nature. This was
doubly true for black women, who were often ignored or denigrated based on the
color of their skin. The real purpose of
her speech was to highlight the inequality between men and women. Though she was speaking as a black woman, and
though her speech begins with a description of how black women were treated
differently than white women, ultimately the audience was full of women, being
a women’s convention, and her words were directed at the women in the
crowd.
Though her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech was short, it had a
large impact on listeners. The speech
was delivered at a women’s convention where a large part of the audience was
women, and likely, white women, to admonish the white male attitude that women
are feeble and in need of direct assistance, while black women were largely
ignored. Truth spoke after a series of
ministers, who all touted that women were already treated well, and that they
didn’t need equality. While her speech
primarily focused on the disparities between women and men, it also highlighted
the difference between white and black women in the same era. It is said that the original recording of her
speech (done by Frances Gage in 1863) was done in a southern dialect, though
Truth was neither from the south nor did she have a southern accent. (Sojourner
Truth Memorial Committee)
“That
man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted
over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into
carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a
woman?” (Truth) In this opening line of the speech, Truth reiterates that an
anonymous man made claims about helping women, but that she hasn’t known such
generosity in her life because she is a black woman. She tells a story of how she had been told
that women are deserving of a certain respect, when she herself had not been
granted that same respect, because she was black and a former slave. This was very common in her era. While slavery was legally outlawed, it was
still the default state of thinking for the average white male, who increasingly
looked past black people, rather than treat them as equal citizens under the
law.
“Then
that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men,
'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your
Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him,” Truth
reiterates later in her speech. This statement was directly aimed at the men in
the audience who were vocally opposed to equal rights for women, believing that
women were not able to logically handle important tasks like voting, or owning
property because of their gender. This was a common opinion of the era, and
women like Truth and her contemporaries railed hard against this opinion.
The
Women’s Rights Conventions were large events, that were held until the Civil
War. They were so popular that people
were often turned away due to size restraints of the space where they were held
(Eisenberg) However, it would take another 61 years for women to gain the right
to vote, and almost 100 years for black women to be afforded the same
opportunities as their white counterparts.
If only Sojourner Truth had lived to see the fruits of her labor.
References
Butler,
Mary G. “Sojourner Truth: A Life and Legacy of Faith” The Sojourner Truth Institute of Battle Creek, (date unknown) http://www.sojournertruth.org/library/archive/LegacyOfFaith.htm
Eisenberg,
Bonnie and Ruthsdotter, Mary. “History of the Women’s Rights Movement” The National Women’s History Project.
1998, http://www.nwhp.org/resources/womens-rights-movement/history-of-the-womens-rights-movement/
Library
of Congress Help Desk “African American Odyssey: Sojourner Truth.” Library of Congress, 09 December 1998, http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/truth.html
Michals,
Debra. “Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883).” National
Women’s History Museum, 2015, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sojourner-truth
Truth,
Sojourner. “Ain’t I a Woman?” Women’s
Convention, Akron, Ohio. 1851
“Sojourner’s Words and Music” Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee,
(date unknown)
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Grade: 75/100
Professor Comments: None
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