Sojourner Truth

“And ain’t I a woman?” exclaims the enigmatic persona titled Sojourner Truth. Her words are coated in southern batter and hickish grime. She speaks to a crowd of like-minded individuals, an array of women gathered before her, listening with bated breath, clinging to her relatable dialect. “Ain’t I A Woman?” is a speech that wears a veil of innocence and confidence and purity over its steely passionate cries for female equality. However, its actual conception was not so simple; the speech was first written, and then rewritten to bear the southern drawl that it is famed for, and which made it so relatable to her desired demographic at the time. The speech is an inconspicuous display of effective grammatical systems at work.

Mary Rowlandson and Sojourner Truth were both prominent women who had stories about their captivities. Mary Rowlandson was a White woman who was kidnapped by Native Americans during a raid on her village. While Sojourner Truth was born into slavery and remained property until 1826. Both ladies had differences on among their captivities and encountered oppression in unique ways.The difference between Sojourner Truth and Mary Rowlandson emphasis on individuality, time and historical moment and institutional oppression they both endure.

The pair that I have chosen is Angelina E. Grimké and Sojourner Truth. These two women are strong for standing up for what they believe in. Even though they came from different backgrounds of life, they fought for the same equal rights and freedom.

Both documents, Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" and "A Black Feminist Statement: The Combahee River Collective", deal with the issues faces by women during each time period. However, they do not only focus on the discrimination of women; they focus on the discrimantion of black women. Sojourner Truth and The Combahee River Collective took the issue that were being dealt with by other women and organzations and brought a bigger issue to the picture. Feminist during these times were focused on helping women, white women, so these particular feminist raised a whole other issue to the table. The biggest difference between these two documents is the time they were each written or spoken. Sojourner spoke in the mid-1800s,

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Phillis Wheatley, and Sojourner Truth were without a doubt, 3 very strong, powerful, and a unique group of intellectual women. Each woman ultimately had an undeniable force with being able to provide readers fascinating pieces of literature to inform their stories. They each lived in an era in history where equality was nonexistent. They were able to speak towards their own personal beliefs within their pieces of literature. Each displayed to their readers their different views, and even their different beliefs and personal thoughts towards slavery. Although they all spoke towards the same topic of slavery, they each shared very contrasting opinions towards the topic at hand.

A personal ethos is another factor used in Chisholm speech, to convey women who have been discriminated of their gender. There has been unprecedented prejudice that tends to be ignored from people, since every time we think about prejudice we think about the black community. But that 's not the case, Chisholm confirms with her own personal experience that women, in general, are being prejudices in politics. Chisholm claims that “as a black person, I am no stranger to race prejudice. But the truth is that in the political world I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black”(Chisholm, 149). Her history as an African American woman, Congresswoman makes her claim, and for the courage, she took in entering the presidential nomination in the Democratic party in 1972, the speech she has to introduce makes it believable and gives credibility to the reader.

In Truth’s speech, at the Women’s Rights Convention, she explains how women's rights for black women differed from white women's rights. While explaining what men usually do for white women like lifting them into carriages and over ditches she states that, “Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles or gives me the best place(2).” She describes how even though she’s a women no man does these things for her. This is also an example of how white women are treated better than black women. Truth also uses the line “ain’t I a woman” repeatedly. Each time she uses this line it reflects her different strengths she has compared to the other women and men. She uses her speech to explain that women, especially black women, are just as capable of doing the same things as men are.

Whiteness and racism comes from the oppression, colonization and systems of dominance over black people and their feelings. In this case, an intersectional feminist analysis matters because women who are able bodied, cis-gendered, privileged and white are only being considered whereas bell hooks argue that men, women and trans people who oppressed should be fought for. And Peggy McIntosh adds onto this but a white woman who addresses and recognizes her privilege to help other white individuals understand what they have and blacks do not.

Sojourner Truth played a vital role in inspiring people to stand up against slavery and injustice. She stood up for herself and every African-American. She had the courage to stand up and leave her slave owner. She stood up for herself and her son in court when he was sold illegally to a slave owner in a different state. She had the moxy to become a public figure and talk about injustice against women and African-American slaves. In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, no one had ever heard of a woman slave taking a stand to control her and her family’s life. Sojourner Truth was before her time.

Leaders, Achievers, Courage are only a few words that describe Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Abraham Lincoln and what they achieved. Frederick Douglass was a very courageous man and leader because he stood up for what was right and he escaped slavery, For Example in the text it says “ The more I read , the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers”. What that sentence means is that he was reading a book about a slave and his master and the more he read the more he wanted to enslave all slaves. Sojourner Truth was a courageous leader. She stood up for what she thought was right and for her that was women rights and ending slavery. In fact, in the text is says “ Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much right as men, cause christ wasn't a women! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a women! Man had nothing to do with him. ANother sentence was “ Then they talk about this thing in the head;what’s this they call it? [Members of audience whispers “ Intellect”] That's it honey. What's that got to f with women rights or negroes rights. She would always stand up for what was right. Abraham Lincoln was a Achiever and a Courageous leader. He was the man that stopped slavery. It's Important to realize, that in the text it said “ My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and

According to Sojourner Truth, women are just as equal to men and they should have just as many rights and privileges as any man. She draws a picture of her equality to men by professing her strength and hard-working efforts. Right away, Truth’s first goal is to establish a sense of identity and relationship with her audience. She describes events where she has faced discrimination as a black woman to trigger an emotional response. Truth juxtaposes the ideal way man says women should be treated with her own personal reality saying, “Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me the best place!” By pointing out the existence of hypocrisy, Truth invites the audience to realize possible injustices in their own lives, which should encourage them to want change and seek to take action against discriminators. Sojourner plays on the emotions of her audience to their attention and their willingness for change by shedding light on her own vulnerable experiences to which they can relate. With the successful use of rhetorical devices, persuasive techniques and Biblical allusions, Truth effectively persuades the audience that there is a difference in the treatment of women, especially in comparison to women of color.

     Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927 in Heiberger, Alabama. Heiberger was a small segregated town. Coretta’s parents were Obadiah and Bernice Scott. She has an older sister named Edythe and a younger brother, Obie. Coretta was named after her grandmother Cora Scott. Her family was hard working and devoted Christians. Coretta had a strong temper, feared no one and stood up for herself.

Sojourner truth and Harriet Tubman made a huge impact during slavery times. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman were two women who were born into slavery. They both suffered from bad treatment from their owner. Also, they both later in their lives ran away from their enslavement. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman both took part in issues dealing with civil rights and were abolitionists. They both went different ways in helping other slaves with obtaining their freedom. Sojourner Truth was an abolitionist lecturer, who perished in a way that showed her real personality and who she really was. Harriet Tubman was the conductor of the Underground Railroad her method of helping slaves escape. She also became a spy during the civil war. Truth and Tubman were abolitionists that had the same goals to help slaved people, but went about the situation in different ways.

These same white women leaders summarily rejected black women 's call for suffrage and equal treatment with white women. “When we yield to public opinion and make ourselves say only what we think the public can stand, is there not a danger that we may find ourselves with our larger view conceding what those with the narrow view in demand?” (96). The enormous potential of anti-lynching complaints for establishing a bridge of equality between black and white women was thereby immoral. These early feminine supporters used the very stereotypes that fueled mob hatred

Women studies is an interesting topic to all people because it makes us wonder and reflect on how women are treated in this society. Today women are still labeled as weak and often discriminated for just being a woman. While reading the introduction of women studies, I couldn’t help but agree with Mill’s idea about life being situated in historical and social environments. His example of a women being beaten by her partner is a perfect example that proves his idea. As a woman one might say that our problems are different and that no one will fully understand, but truth is other women might be going through the same thing which then makes it a public issue.