Sojourner Truth's Ain T I A Woman

Sixty years after the United States was created many people started to rethink slavery and the lack of women’s rights. Sojourner Truth was a victim of these concurring issues. IN “Ain’t I A Woman?”, Sojourner Truth is claiming that women in her day and age are being treated as if they are less able than men to be who they want, and this robs Truth and all women of the opportunities they were promised which angers and oppresses her. Truth is using repetition, pathos, and ethos to prove her claim.

Sojourner Truth, formerly known as Isabella Baumfree, was a famous women’s rights activist, most commonly known for her speech in 1851. Taking place in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner stood up in front of the Women’s Convention and delivered an impressive rebuttal to white men’s claim of denying the rights of both women and slaves, all done extemporaneously. The speech not only points out the sexism and racism present during those times, but also the strong hypocrisy between men’s view of how to treat a lady, versus how black women were treated – and of that, the title “Ain’t I a woman?” came to be. Being built around two central issues, the speech focuses on rights for women and rights for slaves. And as black woman, Sojourner has had more than enough

(Grimke, 191) Three words, shouted over the din outside, are an especially effective way to turn listeners’ heads because they focus on a group most previous speakers - at that convention and in the entire abolitionist movement - had left behind. Grimke’s demand for action did not simply include women but was exclusively addressed to them, which was an unexpected and somewhat shocking choice to an audience who expected male-oriented speeches. This gains the interest of various distracted listeners through shock factor and engages women specifically through the promise of advice for fighting slavery

Sojourner truth is seen as a voice to many people. While many people stayed quiet, Sojourner was strong and stood up for equality. In her speech she states, “I could work as much and eat as much as a man- when I could get it- and bear the lash as well.” This is showing how she believes that she is a strong as a man and that she would be able to be treated as one and endure the same. In her speech she says that white women are seen as delicate flowers, while African American woman aren’t.

In Sojourner Truth’s speech that she delivered at the Women’s Convention of 1851, she addresses the inequalities that women and blacks met at that time in America. I will focus on the way Sojourner uses own experiences to get an emotional acknowledgment from her audience, correlating with them as both mothers and women. She also uses repetition and rhetorical questions to rebut opposing cases for gender equality. Sojourner makes biblical references during the speech to connect with her Christian audience and bring her audiences to connect on a more personal level. I will analyze the way Garnet and Sojourner uses rhetorical strategies to achieve a fruitful and powerful delivery of their message and features they share with Garnets speech as

Therein, she expressed her ideas about women 's suffrage. She gave a talk to encourage American men and women to give political rights to women. In her speech, she states that both men and women are created equal and hence due to this equality women should have political rights too. Throughout her speech she emphasizes the discrimination against women, using the right to vote, the roles in marriage, and unequal wages as her evidence.

This speech was about women's rights. She believed that African American woman get treated differently than American woman. She believes that this should change and that everyone should be treated equally. In this speech she uses different methods to keep the audience engaged.

For example Anthony says, “but this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and daughters, of every household” This is very sad since women and girls should not be ruled or told what to do because they are thought of to be less than man. The constitution is in place to have a unified country not to have an oligarchy of men lead households. The pathos appeal is used to show what suffering women are going through due to men ruling them, and not knowing how to fight back. Susan B. Anthony in her speech also says, “Are women persons?.....and no state has the right to make a law, or to enforce an old law, that shall abridge their privileges and immunities.”, which also connects with the emotions of the audience. She is trying to make people feel bad that women are treated less even though they are just as righteous as men to have the same privileges.

In today’s world, it seems to be that women have the same rights as men, but it wasn't always this way. The speech “Women’s Rights to Suffrage” by Susan B Anthony is the most compelling of all. Susan B Anthony persuades the audience that all women should have the same rights as men. It’s shown through the speech that the federal constitution says “we the people”, the government has no right to take away rights from just one gender, and that women are considered people as well. The fact that the constitution says “we the people” is a primary point in this speech.

Sojourner Truth a famous abolitionist and women’s right activists feared rights of women would be left out. Many African Americans felt that the women’s suffrage movement was concerned with the rights of only white women (Wood,59) and were sometimes discriminated against within the movement.. This is fictionally displayed in Iron Jawed Angels when a black suffragist expresses discontent with their parade being segregated by race. I feel that this is hypocritical as they are fighting for equal rights yet treating people of color as separate. Despite their concerns countless African American women still joined in on the cause and contributed to its

America gained its independence in 1776 with the expectation that every American should have liberty and equality. However, American women did not have the right to vote until 1920, which was almost more than 140 years after the United States was established. Women could do little to protect themselves and promote their careers due to being treated unequally and inferior to men. During the 19th and the early 20th century, women were working hard and fighting for gender equality, so that more and more women could live a better life with basic civil rights in their hometowns. In reality, women’s equality was challenged by traditional conventions in the fields of biological difference in sexes, religion and gender roles, and different perspectives towards these conventions of different people made women’s civil rights controversial.

Thousands of women have screamed at the top of their lungs, clawed at the patriarchy, and tirelessly fought for their rights as citizens of the United States of America. From the beginning of mankind, women have been labeled as inferior to men not only physically, but mentally and intellectually as well. Only in 1920 did women gain the right to voice their opinions in government elections while wealthy white men received the expected right since the creation of the United States. A pioneer in women’s suffrage, Susan B. Anthony publicly spoke out against this hypocrisy in a time when women were only seen as child bearers and household keepers. Using the United State’s very own Constitution and Declaration as ammunition, Anthony wrote countless

Based on Angela Davis’ “Class and Race in the Early Women’s Rights Campaign” reading, Seneca Falls Convention was the first women’s rights convention in the United States. Not only women, but also men were fighting for women’s equality. The convention focused on the political equality for women, the women’s rights in marriage, and the education and career equality for women. Most of the time, women were not allow to join and express their ideas in conventions, for example the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention. Only male abolitionists can attended while the female were excluded in the convention.

The women’s rights movement being an extensive movement helped women to occupy better jobs and higher positions “Increased access to leadership positions is an important achievement because – in terms of gender – the field is more level now: some women will be allies, some are not, but no one is excluded only for being a woman”. Today, women can choose to occupy the jobs that were once titled only for men and they have an equal employment opportunity “Because of workplace rights, women enjoy freedom to work in almost any position they choose. They join the armed forces, work as cab drivers, own businesses and become executives in large corporations” Women can now become ministers, juries, senates, and even the president “1975 — In Taylor v. Louisiana, the court denies states the right to exclude women from juries….1981 — Sandra Day O’Connor is appointed as the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice… 1997 — Madeleine Albright is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State. She is the first woman in this position.”

Imagine, during the World Anti-Slavery convention in 1840, two women were stirring up heated controversy because they were not allowed to be delegates, and could not go on the stand to speak simply because they were women. Well, these two women , Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton started conversation on women 's rights throughout this convention to each other. It took roughly eight years for their ideas and plans to fall into action. On July 19, 1848, 300 women gathered at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York. The convention was a total of two days, the first was intended solemly for women, and the second was for the public, including men.