Sojourner Truth - Ex-slave and Fiery Abolitionist Essay

1286 Words6 Pages
Sojourner Truth - Ex-slave and Fiery Abolitionist

According to many sources “Ain’t I a Woman?” is Sojourner Truth's most recognized impromptu speech. The speech was given at a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851. Frances Gage, a feminist activist and author, recorded the event. The speech was published more than twelve years later in 1863.

Frances Gage reported that Truth encountered hissing and hostility as she began to speak. Yet there is much debate and conflicting reports on how she was received.
According to Carleton Mabee, “Gage's account is not consistent with other reports written immediately after the speech” (Delivered).

Contrary to Gage’s reports, it is reported that Truth did not encounter hostility,…show more content…
She escaped the bondage of slavery in the 1820’s and gained legal freedom in the year 1827. “A deeply religious woman, Isabella took the name Sojourner Truth after God spoke to her” (Sojourner). She was convinced that God had called her to preach throughout the country, spreading the truth.

Sojourner Truth was a figure of imposing physique. “She was more than six feet tall and built like a linebacker with huge muscles from working in the fields” (Newsweek). She was a riveting preacher and spellbinding singer who dazzled listeners with her wit and originality. She ended her famous speech with, “Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say." (Newsweek)

Truth was an illiterate woman of remarkable intelligence. Sojourner became a national symbol for not only strong black women, but to white women as well. She helped all women who were unhappy with the limitations imposed upon them. She was one of the most outspoken advocates, active in both the campaign to extend equal rights to all women and abolition (America). She is also known for other moving statements such as “An abolition affair!" and "Woman's rights and niggers!" (Biographical) She also “put protestors in their place”(Newsweek).

I believe that most Americans today feel women have the same rights as men. They believe that women now have equal rights, but do they really? In many cases women do have equal rights. They
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    Sojourner Truth is an ex-slave and fiery abolitionist who dazzles listeners with her wit and originality. She is straight talking and unsentimental, Truth became a national symbol for strong black woman. Like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, she is regarded as a radical of immense and enduring influence; however, she is more remembered more for her myths than her personality. In the book, Sojourner Truth A Life, A Symbol, the author Nell Irvin Painter, goes beyond the myths, words, and photographs

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