Sojourner Truth was a former
slave who became a preacher, abolitionist, and supporter of women's rights. She
made her famous speech “Ain't I a Woman?” (retold here by Frances D. Gage) at a
convention on women's rights in 1851 in Akron, Ohio. According to Gage, Truth
made this speech in response to Protestant ministers’ claims that men deserved
greater privileges than women because of their “superior intellect” and because
God had chosen Jesus Christ to take the form of a man. Truth may not have
spoken in the heavy dialect presented by Gage; other accounts of the speech are
closer to standard English. Although recent scholarship has questioned the
accuracy of Gage's account, which she wrote 30 years after the convention, it
remains a classic of American literature.
"Ain't
I a Woman?"
Attributed to Sojourner
Truth
By
Frances D. Gage
“Wall, chilern, whar dar is so much racket
dar must be somethin’ out o’ kilter. I tink dat ‘twixt de niggers of de Souf
and de womin at de Nork, all talkin’‘bout rights, de white men will be in a fix
pretty soon. But what's all dis here talkin’‘bout?
“Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be
helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place
everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me
any best place!” And raising herself to her full height, and her voice to a
pitch like rolling thunders, she asked "And a'n't I a woman? Look at me!
Look at me! Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder,
showing her tremendous muscular power). I have ploughed, and planted, and
gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And a'n't I a woman? I could
work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear de lash a
well! And a'n't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen'em mos’ all
sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but
Jesus heard me! And a'n't I a woman?
“Den dey talks ‘bout dis ting in de head;
what dis dey call it?” (“Intellect,” whispered some one near.) “Dat's it,
honey. What's dat got to do wid womin's rights or nigger's rights? If my cup
won't hold but a pint, and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be mean not to let
me have my little half-measure full?” And she pointed her significant finger,
and sent a keen glance at the minister who had made the argument. The cheering
was long and loud.
“Den dat little man in black dar, he say
women can't have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wan't a woman! Whar did
your Christ come from?” Rolling thunder couldn't have stilled that crowd, as
did those deep, wonderful tones, as she stood there with outstretched arms and
eyes of fire. Raising her voice still louder, she repeated, “Whar did your
Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him.” Oh, what
a rebuke that was to that little man.
Turning again to another objector, she took
up the defense of Mother Eve. I can not follow her through it all. It was
pointed, and witty, and solemn; eliciting at almost every sentence deafening
applause; and she ended by asserting: “If de fust woman God ever made was
strong enough to turn de world upside down all alone, dese women togedder (and
she glanced her eye over the platform) ought to be able to turn it back, and
get it right side up again! And now dey is asking to do it, de men better
let'em.” Long-continued cheering greeted this. “Bleeged to ye for hearin’ on
me, and now old Sojourner han't got nothin’ more to say.”
Amid roars of applause, she returned to her
corner, leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes, and hearts beating
with gratitude. She had taken us up in her strong arms and carried us safely
over the slough of difficulty turning the whole tide in our favor. I have never
in my life seen anything like the magical influence that subdued the mobbish
spirit of the day, and turned the sneers and jeers of an excited crowd into
notes of respect and admiration. Hundreds rushed up to shake hands with her,
and congratulate the glorious old mother, and bid her God-speed on her mission
of “testifyin’ agin concerning the wickedness of this ‘ere people.”[1]
[1]"Ain't I a Woman?."Microsoft® Encarta®
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