Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I Woman
In the speech “Ain’t I a Woman”, the Sojourner Truth delivered during the Women’s Convention of 1851, she speaks on the injustices that women and colored people endured during that horrible time in America. I will make an effort to explore the ways she utilizes rhetorical methods as a means to accomplish a victorious and compelling delivery of her message. In this analysis, I will talk about the way Sojourner draws on her own individual experiences evoke an emotional reaction from her audience, relating with the women and mothers equally. She also utilizes repetitive and rhetorical questioning in hopes to counter challenging opinions for gender equality. In the conclusion of her speech, Sojourner makes
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She goes on with this recurring and lyrical repetition, developing energy in her tone and addresses the crowd with her own short individual experience right before she asks that same rhetorical question. She paints a picture of how she is equal to men by acknowledging her strength and diligent work ethic as she “ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me (Sojourner Truth, Ain’t I A Woman).” Again, she follows this declaration with, “and ain’t I a woman?” She steadily carries on in this same manner, making a declaration to her deserved equality she feels amongst men and then asks the eloquent, but compelling question “and ain’t I a woman?” Even though we were not there hear Sojourner speak these words, as I read the words of “Ain’t I Woman”, I can experience her power, fury, and bitterness develop as she restates this powerful expression. Sojourner Truth brings the harmonious flow gradually to a stop with a graphic image of the sorrow and suffering she has endured as a slave and a woman. She states that she has “borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery” as she “cried out with [her] mother’s grief (Sojourner Truth, Ain’t I A Woman),” and after this memory she declares the last “and ain’t I a woman?” She deliberately concluded this component of her speech with such a remarkably clear picture of brutality and the painful consequences of inequality, pushing her audience, mainly moms, to connect with her pain on a more
The title of this book comes from the inspiring words spoken by Sojourner Truth at the 1851, nine years prior to the Civil War at a Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. In Deborah Grays White, Ar’n’t I a woman her aim was to enrich the knowledge of antebellum black women and culture to show an unwritten side of history of the American black woman. Being an African- American and being a woman, these are the two principle struggles thrown at the black woman during and after slavery in the United States. Efforts were made by White scholars in 1985 to have a focus on the female slave experience. Deborah Gray White explains her view by categorizing the hardships and interactions between the female slave and the environment in which the
“Ain’t I a Woman?” (1851) is a speech written by women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth arguing that women are not being given the equal rights they deserve. Truth strives to open the audience’s eyes to the injustice women are experiencing in order to motivate people to act and help bring change about. She speaks to an audience of both men and women, using words like “children” and “honey” to establish a comforting, wise, and motherly tone. In her speech, Truth uses biblical allusions to appeal to ethos and adds a personal anecdote to appeal to pathos, effectively extending her reach to a diverse group of people and pushing them to identify with her struggles and experiences.
Sojourner Truth’s ‘Ain’t I a woman” speech had many things in common with Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. Truth gave her speech to help people better understand why women need rights that are equal to men. She listened to what everyone had to say about women’s rights then when it was her time to speak she used everyone’s arguments and flipped them so that she could make the audience think. Truth used ethos, pathos, and logos when she gave her speech so that she could reach out to each audience member. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King wrote to the clergy men to help persuade the clergy men that African Americans deserved to be free. King also read what the clergy men had to say first then in he used their arguments and
Through Truth’s numerous rhetorical questions used in this speech, she has made a strong impact on her audience. Each question either precedes or follows a strong truth. By questioning herself, and being able to answer each question, Truth shows her understanding of society, and the mistreatment of women. She never wanted the audience to answer her questions, because the honest answers should be obvious.All of her hardships as a slave, and she is a women. When discussing intellect, she even asks, “What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes rights?” Her rhetorical questions were a unique way of
Carrie Lane Chapman Catt not only stood her ground in front of the men representing this country, but the people of the country. Catt may not have the highest status among the men she addressed, but she did have a mature position in the fight for women’s rights. The women of this country, along with Catt, were in an uproar and wanted to have a say in the person that would soon be the one responsible for their national security. In her address to Congress, Catt employs the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos to create a convincing case for the civil rights for the women across America.
Through Truth’s numerous rhetorical questions used in this speech, she has made a strong impact on her audience. Each question either precedes or follows a strong truth. By questioning herself, and being able to answer each question, Truth shows her understanding of society, and the mistreatment of women. She never wanted the audience to answer her questions, because the honest answers should be obvious.All of her hardships as a slave, and she is a women. When discussing intellect, she even asks, “What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes rights?” Her rhetorical questions were a unique way of bringing up obvious points, and forced her listeners to fill in the answers themselves. It would have grabbed their
At the 1851 Women's Right Convention in Akron, Ohio Sojourner Truth, delivers a wonderful speech about women’s rights. Her speech is arguing the claim made by ministers that states, “: women were weak, men were intellectually superior to women, Jesus was a man, and our first mother sinned.” Sojourner Truth’s speech is to draw attention to the topic of women’s right. Implying that in this world women need to be helped when it comes to them being outside. For her, it is not even like the stereotype in which they have to be helped, because of her skin color. In her speech, Sojourner supports her claim about how women are treated differently except [especially for her because of her skin color] her by saying, Ain't I a woman.” This implies that she should be treated the same if other women are treated some sort. Which also circulates to the other idea in her speech, how women can do the exact same amount as men. If men can walk over mud the woman can do, they do not need help. If white women were helped then she should be helped as well. Connecting to her phrase “Ain't I a woman.” This idea attributes to both sides of her speech, which were equal rights, and how she should be treated the same as another woman. Allowing her voice to seem more intellectual, Sojourner adds all of the attributes of a woman (having kids, her arms). Which adds more support to her claim of why she is not treated the same as white women or even as a human. Who just happens to be women. Sojourner
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.
Sojourner Truth once declared, at the Women’s Rights Convention in 1851, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again” (“Sojourner Truth” Encyclopedia). This statement brought a wave of protest from the men in the crowd and left most women with renewed hope for receiving equal rights. Sojourner Truth was a woman’s rights activist and African American abolitionist, on top of being a freed slave. Sojourner Truth had the “worst of both worlds” being that she was African American, and also a woman. She spoke at a countless amount of conventions, largely inspired by Lucrietta Mott. Rather than using weapons, Truth
Sojourner Truth, the writer of An Account of an Experience with Discrimination and speaker of Ain’t I a Women and Speech at New York City Convention, faced many difficulties and oppressive times in her life. She went through several different owners and homes. When Truth got older, she had at least five kids, most of which were sold into slavery, with a slave named Thomas. Truth was granted freedom after the 1828 mandatory emancipation of slaves in New York and finally was emancipated. She began preaching on the streets about her religious life. Truth changed her name from Isabella Van Wagener to Sojourner Truth because she wanted to “sojourn” the land and tell God’s “truth.” She moved to Northampton, Massachusetts to become apart of the abolitionist movement. During this time, the Civil War was occurring. The North was opposed to slavery and the South was for slavery. Truth addressed women’s rights repeatedly. She pointed out that the meetings about women’s suffrage were racially segregated. Truth gave many public speeches throughout Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas. Truth used an approach when giving speeches called rhetorical strategy. She was extremely opinionated and pointed out a good argument about slaves creating the country and receiving no credit for it. She also made a good point when talking about women’s rights: “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world
The first time I heard “Ar'nt I a Woman?” was freshman year of high school, during our annual African-American Heritage assembly. The crowd, always restless and inattentive, chattered and snapchatted away as the speech and presenter were announced. A lanky girl shuffled on stage, folding in on herself as she walked, arrived center stage, and began to speak. As she went on, her spine straightened, her murmurs turned to phrases enunciated so clearly her tongue seemed to be working three times as hard as a normal person’s. By the end of the speech, she had the undivided attention of the audience, all holding their breath because of how passionately and honestly she presented this glimpse into life as a black woman. Both Chapter 4 of A Shining Thread of Hope by Darlene Clark Hine and Kathleen Thompson, and Sojourner Truth’s “Ar'nt I a Woman?” speech serve the same general goal: showcasing the mistreatment of African American Women by society . While Truth’s speech is from her perspective, full of rage and frustration, A Shining thread gives her experiences important context. .
In Sojourner Truth’s speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” Truth advocates for women rights, in response to being belittled by men and their actions. Truth expresses her grievances against the unfair treatment by challenging cultural beliefs, natural inferiority of women, and biblical classifications in her speech. Being a former slave who embraces abolitionism, Truth’s main argument revolves around the inequitable rights women have as opposed to men’s rights. As men argue in favor of “men’s superior rights and the manhood of Christ,” Truth makes a statement that she is no different from men.
Since the beginning, the United States` government, racial slavery had conquered various American identities. “Racism sprung early colonial times due the slavery riot incidence misinterpretations, leading full men, women, and children racial slavery of all different ethnic backgrounds” (Hooker 1). African-Americans held a life long work and Caribbean island shipment originating and affective progression to American colonies. “An importation of 4,000,000 Negroes were held in bondage by Southern planters” (Webstine).Advanced time went, and Northern states nurtured a rapid industrial revolution; Factory introduction, machines, and hired workers replaced any agricultural need of existing slaves. Southern states, however, maintained
Sojourner Truth’s words in her speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” served as an anthem for women everywhere during her time. Truth struggled with not only racial injustice but also gender inequality that made her less than a person, and second to men in society. In her speech, she warned men of “the upside down” world against the power of women where “together, [women] ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!” Today, America proudly stands thinking that Truth’s uneasiness of gender inequality was put to rest. Oppression for women, however, continues to exist American literature has successfully captured and exposed shifts in attitude towards women and their roles throughout American history.
you could see how hard she been working because being a women didn’t make her incapable of working hard. These statements from Sojourner really show you how women were treated different and given lower expectations even though they could do the same things that a man could. This showed how the way people thought was changing because she was standing in front of audience speaking on what she believed in with ought having a sudden backlash from the audience which shows a lot about the audience she was speaking to because the idea of giving women more rights and representation back then wasn’t a popular belief so it was a great thing that audience was open to hear out what she said. This is how “Ain’t I a Women” shows that people were changing the popular idea of democracy in her time