Sojourner Truth (born Isabella Baumfree) is a fascinating figure during this time of mid-19th Century reform movements. Being a black woman who was born into slavery, she had an interest in several of the reform movements. I didn't know her personally, but she seems like she would have been a cool chick.
For this week's blog, read her famous speech from 1851 called "Ain't I A Woman?" and watch poet Alice Walker read it as well. It is a short, but powerful and humorous speech about the role of women in 1850's society.
In the comment section, discuss your take on the speech. What was Sojourner trying to say?
Sojourner Truth was fighting for women's rights. She is talking about all the things she goes through. one part I like about her speech is it about Christ. A person yelled out Christ was a boy so why should womens have rights. The first women God every made had the power to turn the world upside down, this women should be able to turn it back around! Women work as hard as men so why cant we have rights.
ReplyDeleteWell, Truth is right we should have rights and now we do. I think Mrs. truth helped us a bunch with this speech.
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Sojourner Truth gave a speech about women's rights. I think that she was more specifically aiming towards rights for African American women. She gave a speech. In her speech she said how she could to everything that other people could do, or she did not get the same treatment as other women. One part mentioned how people thought that men should help women get into a carriage, but no one ever helped her. And that was just simply because, she was black! Just because she was black people thought she was less of a person, but that is not true at all! She was a woman, and I think that she deserved to have every single Wright that any other woman had!(122)
ReplyDeleteSojourner Truth was an African American abolitionist and a women’s rights advocate. She wanted blacks to be treated equal with the whites, and she wanted women to be treated equal with men. African American women may have been treated worse than men because already white women were treated less than white men. She was trying to say that men think that women need to be well taken care of and protected, but what about the African American women? Aren’t they important too? So, she wanted probably first to be treated like an actual woman and then the women have equal rights as men. And my favorite part was that Jesus came from a women and God, and that men didn’t contribute to that at all. (125)
ReplyDeleteWe read this speech in English class towards the beginning of the year, and I did not think about it the way I read it or heard it this time. It was funny! I thought it would be like every other speech in the world: long, dull, and boring. but it was funny, true, short, and interesting! Does anyone else notice that the short speeches like this one, the Gettysburg Address, etc. are the ones that we remember most? I just thought that was interesting. But anyways, Sojourner Truth got two main points into one tiny speech. African Americans should be treated the same way whites are treated, and women should be equal to men. And she said it all in such a way that if you didn't believe the same as her you were downright ignorant. She was just a slave woman who spoke clearly for what she believed in. No rehearsing, no written down words, just what she believed in. (162)
ReplyDeleteSojourner Truth's speech was about women's rights. The speech was saying that women were supposed to have people help them into carriages and over ditches and things. She said that she had never had any of those things. She said that people said men have better intellect than women, and she said what does that have to do with my rights. She said that they should have an equal chance to do what men can do because they can do all the things they can. They also said that Christ was a man and she said that it was God and Mary and man had nothing to do with it. (110)
ReplyDeleteSojourner Truth's poem, 'Ain't I a Woman,' has three separate points. First, she challenged the idea that women were weaker and needed to be taken care of. Second, she argued that women were as smart as any man. Thirdly, she explained that Christ came from a woman so women should have equal rights. All of these points that she made were very strong and shocking at that time. Back then women were looked down upon and for her to come out and say these things was very different from the culture back then. This is a very good example of the women’s rights movement in America because it shows how badly women were treated.
ReplyDeleteSojourner Truth was obviously trying to get people to support women's and black rights. She was using their own excuses and answers to things and showing them how they weren't true or how they were wrong. She wasn't mean about it either. She was very respectful, but put her point across clearly. I agree with Jenny, that this time around it made more sense and was funnier. It is amazing how you can read something on paper, and then hear someone say it and it be way more interesting. She was a very strong woman and showed what she believed in. She knew that all of the things she said were true, and she hit them hard with the truth. (120)
ReplyDeleteDang… Sassy. I thought it was pretty funny. She wanted blacks to be treated like whites and women to be treated equal like men. She talked about how she worked just as hard as men but did not get treated the same. I think one thing she was saying, besides that they should be treated equal anyways, was that she was working just as hard or even harder but was not getting the respect for it. White men would only be gentlemen to white women, not to black women. She also made a good point when she asked “where did Jesus come from?” She said that man had nothing to do with it, only God and women. (117)
ReplyDeleteSojourner Truth: a one woman show. She did it all! She was an abolitionist, a suffragette and an author!
ReplyDeleteHer famous speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” was meant to be sort of sassy and to the point. She had some “oooh snap!” moments in there that just made it down to earth. She was a real person who had real morals and real ideas. In other words, she was real!
It’s hard to find a real person nowadays. Everyone is kinda fake and only concerned with themselves, so they don’t act like who they really are. It’s funny how things have changed.
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ok, so while i was reading this speech and i was thinking about all of the arguments that the men had at that time honestly all of the arguments are pathetic stuff that 1 contradicts themselves or 2 is a result of their actions. One of the arguments was that women/slaves didn't have a high enough intellect to have rights, ok for real? slaves weren't educated because it was ya know kinnda illegal to educate them and women didn't have formal schools. the other one that stood out to me was that Christ wasn't a girl so girls don't need rights. oh my gosh this sounds so beyond ignorant... if you would dare to say this you probably believe in the Bible in which you should know that it very plainly says multiple times that Christ died for everyone which means you contradicted your self or you were just trying to hard to come up with a good reason to not do something you don't want to do that you started talking about stuff that you don't know enough about to really talk about it well
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Sojurner Truth was an African American woman. she was not treated very well. (kind of obvious, she was a woman, most women were not treated very well at all). Ms. Truth was a woman who gave speeches, she was an abolitionist, and an author. she spoke on women's rights. She mainly spoke on African American's women rights. I believe that she was a strong woman who believed in an equal country. I also believe she wanted white and black women to have the same rights as the men in the united states. when she asked," where did Jesus come from?" her answer had nothing to do with men whatsoever. it had to do with women and God! She was concerned with every women. Not just with herself like everyone else was and is today. (134)
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