Blog Post #5

Sojourner Truth’s piece, “Ain’t I a Woman?” is an iconic speech that helped pave the way for African American women to gain rights. Even though she was illiterate, she was obviously very witty and intelligent when it came to public speaking. She appealed to both males and females in her speech to convince them of her point. She used her personal stories to help listeners connect with her and feel her pain. A line that stood out was, “I have borne thirteen children, and seen them most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me!” This really must have connected with the women in the audience. If all of the other personal moments didn’t connect her with the women in the audience, this line must have. To connect with the men, I feel as though she knew the emotional journeys she shared were not going to help her convince the men of equal African American women rights, so she used logic and reasoning as well. She said, “Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman!”  She was an extremely wise woman who knew how to get everybody to listen and consider what she had to say. Also, the repetitive use of the line, “Ain’t I a Woman?” is genius for this piece. It is a simple question that is loaded with impact of the discussion of equal rights. She lists the many things she does and observes, and then asks the question. It is such a basic question and really hits home with the idea that she is a woman, so why is race stopping her from equality? She says, “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman?” She acknowledges what the privileged white women have what she never gets, yet she had to work like a man and take care of so much more than a white woman. Why is there this dividing line? She gave an amazing speech with a lot to think about. I found a video of Alice Walker giving this speech. We read one of Alice Walker’s pieces in this course, so I thought it is amazing to hear another African American woman writer sharing Sojourner Truth’s speech. Hearing this piece aloud is even better than reading it considering it was a speech shared aloud to an audience.