Ain't I a Woman? by Sojourner Truth Summary, Women's Writing, English Literature

 AIN'T I A WOMAN? by Sojourner Truth

About Author :

            Sojourner Truth (Rifton, c. 1797 – Battle Creek, 1883) was an enslaved woman owned by a Dutch slave owner. Born into slavery as Isabella Bomfree in 1797, Truth was sold four times before she finally fled her captor in New York state and found refuge with a nearby abolitionist family, who bought her freedom. Once she moved to New York City in 1828, Truth became a powerful preacher and campaigned on the issues of women’s suffrage and black rights. She renamed herself Sojourner Truth in 1843, declaring that God had called on her to preach the truth. She became an outspoken abolitionist, active in the struggle for women’s rights. Her story is the epitome of black female resistance and agency, and today she is considered one of the foremothers of intersectional thinking. 

            She improvised her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron. The exact wording of the speech has been contested. In contemporary transcriptions, the famous question “Ain’t I a woman?” doesn’t appear anywhere, and some historians have argued that native New Yorker Truth is unlikely to have spoken in the Southern-inflected English that tinges the most widely reproduced version of the speech.

Delivered 1851 at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio

            Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?

            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? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

            Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

            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! Man had nothing to do with Him.

            If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they are asking to do it, the men better let them.

            Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.

 

Summary :

In the town of Akron, Ohio in the year 1851, an African American woman delivered a moving speech at the Women’s Convention that would be remembered for its rawness, authenticity, and powerful message. Sojourner Truth spoke to the Women’s Convention about her experiences and tribulations as not only a woman in that day’s society but as a black woman. By sharing personal experiences, utilizing repetitive language, and making biblical references, Sojourner Truth connects emotionally with her audience to effectively invoke a sense of power to overcome race and gender inequality.

Sojourner establishes a sense of identity as a victim of discrimination by describing how she faces prejudices as a black person and as a woman in order to incite an emotional response in her audience. Through these personal anecdotes, Sojourner invites her audience, who are mostly women suffering from their own forms of discrimination, to realize the injustices of which they too are victims. She points out a man in the crowd, claiming that he says “women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and have the best place everywhere.” Immediately following this description of how a white man described the way to treat women, she follows with a personal rebuttal. She bluntly exclaims that no one performs these courtesies for her, and she emphasizes this point by repeating each of the actions: “Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me the best place!” By juxtaposing this ideal way of how a man says women should be treated with chivalry with the reality that she has never experienced any of this civility, Sojourner is pointing out the presence of a fierce hypocrisy. This hypocrisy of the inequality between men, women, blacks, and whites incites an emotion of resentment in the audience. Not only does the presence of hypocrisy in any matter, subject, or person hold a negative connotation, but it also creates a feeling of trepidation that encourages individuals to take action. By depicting the existence of this hypocrisy present in her own life, she invites her audience to realize potential injustices in their own lives, which they should want to change.

Sojourner plays on the emotions of her audience in order to grab their attention and their willingness for change by elucidating her own vulnerable state to which they can relate. Once she has incited an emotional response in her audience, Sojourner empowers them through the repetition of the profound rhetorical question “and ain’t I a woman?” Her proud exclamation of this fact states her belief in her own deserving right to equality. With each repetition of this powerful question, Sojourner builds more and more on the emotions of her audience as they too should feel deserving of freedom from discrimination. She continues with this rhythmic and poetic repetition, building up an energy in her voice and audience with a brief personal experience followed each time with that same rhetorical question. She draws a picture of her equality to men by professing her strength and hard-working efforts as she “ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me.” Again, she follows this claim with, “and ain’t I a woman?” She rhythmically continues on in this pattern, making a claim to her earned equality she feels with males and then following it with the ever increasingly powerful question “and ain’t I a woman?”. Although we cannot actually hear Sojourner speak these words, reading the documentation of this speech, I can feel her energy, anger, and resentment building up as she repeats this commanding phrase. She brings the rhythm slowly to an end with a vivid image of the grief and hardships she has faced as a slave and a woman. She declares that she has “borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery” as she “cried out with [her] mother’s grief,” following this recollection with one last repetition of “and ain’t I a woman?” She purposefully ended this part of her speech with such a brilliantly clear image of violence and the traumatic effects of inequality, forcing her audience, most of which were probably mothers, to relate to her suffering on an even deeper emotional level. Through this repetition, Sojourner transitions the attention of her audience from injustices that women face to the injustices that blacks face as well. Effortlessly tying these two issues of inequality together, Sojourner allows her audience, who as women feel discriminated against, to connect with and understand the discrimination that blacks face as well.

Sojourner seals this initial emotional connection with her audience through a common religion and system of faith. By making biblical references and using biblical language, Sojourner’s mostly Christian audience see her as a fellow Christian and will, in turn, relate and respond more positively to her ideas and stance on equality. Opening her speech, Sojourner addresses her audience as “children,” an endearing and welcoming term that defines an innate human connection between her and all who are listening. By calling the audience “children,” she is delineating the fact that they are all equal in her eyes, just as a mother loves all of her children equally despite all of their differences. Not only can this word be interpreted to refer to motherhood, but it can also refer to the biblical idea of all humans as “God’s children” who are created equal and in the “likeness and image of God.” By opening up with this loaded word of “children,” Sojourner is foreshadowing her speech’s focus on equality.

In this same first sentence she notes, “where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter” as she uniquely introduces her intention of seeking harmony among all as she refers to the “negroes of the South and the women of the North, all talking about rights.” By referencing her audience’s religious beliefs, Sojourner plays even more on their emotions by implying a sense of obligation they should feel to stand up against injustice. Sojourner closes her speech with an extremely clever tool for inspiring her audience to act on this inequality and solve the injustices that they each face by referring to the impact that Eve had on the world. She claims, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!” By referencing the strength of the commonly known Christian figure of the world’s first woman, Eve, Sojourner is cleverly drawing in each member of her audience so that they can emotionally and personally relate to her proposition to fight injustice. She proposes the idea that if these women all work together, there is no reason that they should not achieve what they are looking for equality for all.

Utilizing multiple rhetorical strategies to engage her audience, Sojourner effectively delivers the powerful message on the hypocrisy, unjust nature, and moral inaccuracy of gender and race discrimination. She emotionally appeals to her audience using personal anecdotes, repetition, and biblical references in order to successfully depict the injustices occurring at that time and to successfully provoke a desire for change.

 Conclusion:

In this speech "Ain't I a Women", Truth is talking about how black women are not treated equally and how white women have more rights, even though they are both just women. Saying that men are supposed to treat women right and with respect, but she says that she is not getting any respect at all. The speech is also saying that men think women are weak and men are stronger, but women are just as strong as men. She proposes the idea that if these women all work together, there is no reason that they should not achieve what they are looking for equality for all.

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