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Sojourner Truth I Read Men And Nations Essay

Decent Essays

The ability of women to pick up on emotional and verbal cues in order to understand a situation serves as both a testament to the emotional capacity of women as well as a deeply ingrained sense of the power dynamics between classes, races, and genders. Nowhere is this more exemplified than in Sojourner Truth’s powerful statement, “I read men and nations”. Through cruel systematic oppression in its earliest and most prominent form, Truth was denied an education in a nation designed to provide opportunity for all. The cruel irony was not lost on the illiterate abolitionist- although she was unable to extract meaning from “small stuff [such] as letters”, she could glean truth from “men and nations”, sharing an emotional depth and inherent intelligence with generations of women. In this statement, “Men” represents the patriarchy, a bold brush-stroke for the creators of laws, builders of nations, and unparalleled destroyers of civil liberties. Those intent on reducing women to silent bystanders in the ebb and flow of history would not be successful, as Sojourner Truth could comprehend their motivations and desires without written words. Though generations of women …show more content…

Again, denied the education necessary to be able to read ‘such small stuff as letters’, she was raised with class and race imbalance, her status as an ex-slave barely elevating her to personhood in the eyes of the nation. Sojourner Truth was able to deliver eloquent calls to action that reached all ears, touching generations of previously enslaved Americans with the truth and power only someone born with such experiences. She understood the intrinsic motivations of the American people and was able to use that to project her own voice, something thousands of women can connect with and

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