Sojourner Truths Aint I A Woman?

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Background
Evidence
Discussion
Conclusion
Sources

Introduction

The selected work for this paper is Sojourner Truths 1851 famous speech, Aint I A Woman?. Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797 at the height of slavery. She would later become one of the powerful antislavery voices in the 19th century coupled with advocating for womens rights. She experienced the atrocities associated with slavery including being sold to and all manner of inhumane treatment. According to the National Park Service, Truth hoped to be free in 1827, but her master could not honor his earlier promise to free her or observe the 1827 New York Anti-Slavery Law (1). In retaliation, she escaped and later joined the antislavery movement in the 1840s, before joining the womens rights movement in the 1850s. She delivered the speech, Aint I A Woman? at the Womens Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851 as discussed in this paper.

Background

As mentioned earlier, Truth delivered her speech in 1851 at a time when the womens rights movement had gained momentum in its quest to advocate for the place of women in society. Historically, women had been silenced for long with their place being at home to bear children and take care of their households. Gender inequality blossomed at every societal level with women being denied the opportunity to own property and access equal education opportunities as men coupled with the long-standing lack of suffrage rights. Additionally, slavery was another major problem facing the black community at the time.

Therefore, the abolitionist movement was working towards emancipation, especially in the South. As such, I think these two issues concerning the womens rights movement and slavery influenced Truths speech. The fact that the speech was delivered during a womens rights convention supports the foregoing argument that Truth mainly wanted to address issues that affected women and the black community at the time.

Evidence

There are two main points in Truths speech gender inequality and slavery. First, the issue of gender inequality stands out clearly in the speech. Truth laments that while men claim that women should be helped in doing various activities, such as getting into carriages and jumping over ditches, no one seems to help her. This assertion leads her to ask the question, Aint I a woman? For instance, she says, Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And aint I a woman? (2). In other words, Truth paints a picture of the disconnect between what society claimed to be doing in terms of helping women and what exactly was happening. While the womens rights movement has made some progress towards achieving its goals, women were not getting the help that they needed.

The issue of slavery arises when Truth says that she has born thirteen children and the majority of them have been sold to slavery. She points out that she cried out with a mothers grief but no one listened to her because slavery was still being widely practiced in the 1850s.

Discussion

Truths speech was delivered in a womens rights movement and thus her first audience was the attendees of the meeting and the majority of them were women. However, a closer look at the speech shows that Truth targeted anyone interested in fighting for womens rights and anti-slavery. Truths main objective in her speech was to raise awareness concerning the issues that women faced at the time. As a woman, she was not getting any help from society. This assertion explains why she gives a list of activities that she has done by herself, and even though she is expected to be helped, in reality, she is left on her own.

Therefore, by highlighting the said issues, Truth hoped that her audience would be awakened to the reality that women were suffering; hence, the need for society to change its ways on matters concerning gender inequality. She also highlights the issue of slavery by noting that most of her children have been sold to thralldom and despite her cries and anguish, no one is willing to listen.

Conclusion

Truths words concerning gender inequality and slavery are relevant in the modern world. Even though women nowadays enjoy almost all human and civil rights as enshrined in the constitution, gender inequality still exists in various countries including the US. For instance, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the gender pay gap averages around 17 percent globally (3). Women have continued to suffer in various ways and forms and while equality might have been achieved on paper, in practice, the story is different. For instance, the Me Too movement seeking to raise awareness about sexual violence against women could be likened to the womens rights movement that Truth supported during her time. Similarly, while slavery ended in the 19th century, it evolved into racism against Blacks, which is a major problem in the US today.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement could be liked with the anti-slavery movement of the 19th century. Therefore, it suffices to argue that the issues that Truth sought to address in her speech have evolved into different problems, but the victims remain the same: women and blacks.

Sources

National Park Service. 2017. Sojourner Truth: Aint I A Woman?. Web.
Sojourner Truth. 1851. Aint I A Woman. Web.
ILO. N.d. Gender Inequality and Women in the US Labor Force. Web.

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