TOW #11 - "Ain't I A Woman?"

Many years before the Civil War, tensions began to grow stronger and stronger between the North and the South on prominent issues like the need for rights and equality.   Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist.  Truth was born into slavery and escaped to freedom in 1826 with her baby daughter. In 1851, Sojourner Truth gave a speech titled, “Ain’t I A Woman?” which rallied African American abolitionists and women in general.  In her speech, Sojourner Truth asks many questions, one of which that titles her speech. Truth begins to ask, “Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him” (Truth Par. 4). By asking this question, she shows the prominent role of women throughout time.  She appeals to different audiences like women, men, and even people affiliated with a religion which helps bring home her point that women are just as important and equal as men.  Another question she repeats throughout the text is, “Ain’t I A Woman?”.  This question is followed many times with tasks that she as a woman does daily or even can do.  It shows her passion and acts as persuasion to her audience which brings attention to the inequality and even shows what tasks women are really capable of doing, just like men are as well.  She also uses this question as a way to shut down people who believe in the typical stereotype of gender roles in a society.  She is able to use repetition and ask even more questions throughout her speech in order to rally her audience in supporting equal rights.  In my opinion, I believe Sojourner Truth’s speech is an extremely passionate and invigorating speech that I really enjoyed diving into.  I fully believe with all of what she says and I wish I was there to hear the speech, hear her voice, and in that voice hear the passion she had for the topic of inequality in such a rough time.