“What If I Am A Woman?” “What if I Am a Woman?” was an address delivered to Franklin Hall by Maria W. Stewart in September of 1833. Stewart was 30 years old when she delivered this empowering speech to a group in her native Boston. Maria W. Stewart worked with many different abolitionist groups and gave three speeches prior, but Stewart decided to stop speaking publicly after this speech was delivered . This speech acted as Stewart’s fourth and final public address as well as a challenge of the ideals of the early 1800’s. It was a busy time in America. Early abolitionists were making themselves known, and the country was experiencing a resurgence of religion. Maria W. Stewart aimed to call upon the people to better themselves, as the Bible …show more content…
asks every man and woman on earth to do. After calling her constituents to action a year previously with her address, Why Sit Ye’ Here and Die? Stewart took the stage once again to help incite change and motivate the women in the audience. With this final address, Maria W. Stewart challenges the ideals of her day and age with traditional examples in order to defend her right to speak. Throughout this lecture, Stewart quotes the Bible extensively and uses its passages to help tell her own story. Stewart was not always religious, but became interested when she was “born again”. Stewart manages to create a visual setting for her audience when describing what it’s like to be black in Boston in 1833.. By seamlessly intertwining Bible verses into her description of her hometown and of her struggle within the city, the speaker creates an image that projects the visage of the Bible into Stewart’s current situation. In her speech, Stewart claims that she has had to “contend against the fiery darts of the devil,” undoubtedly describing her trials as an African-American female in a racially segregated city. Maria W Stewart opened up with a Biblical quote to begin her speech. Her vast knowledge of the Bible helped make her more credible to the audience, as well as providing a common ground for many audience members who couldn’t relate to her. For example, a white male may not have agreed with everything said by Stewart, but there was no denial that she was extremely familiar with the bible, and that was worthy of respect at the very least. An extensive knowledge of Christianity was something extremely valued during this time of Christian restoration. The entire North East was hit all at once with a serious desire to be religious. In this speech, Stewart claims that “the mighty work of (religious) reformation has begun” and that in its spirit, the people must create a future in which men of color and women in general are celebrated and not oppressed. Stewart calls to the people in her audience and reminds them that “Christians must awake from their slumbers” should they want any form of change in the world. Stewart had passion for her causes, and her husband was a major influence on her religious background. James W. Stewart, a businessman and veteran of the War of 1812 married Maria W. Stewart in August of 1826. They lived in Boston and James’ successful business allowed the Stewarts to belong to the miniscule minority of the city’s African-American middle class. Stewart involved herself in a portion of the organizations established by Boston’s abolitionists, including the Massachusetts General Colored Association, which worked to immediately end slavery . Unfortunately, James passed away three years into the marriage, forcing Maria to fend for herself. Her loss was met with unnecessary heartbreak and hardship when her husband’s will was deliberately misinterpreted by white executors. Six months after James’ death, and after being robbed of nearly every possession in his will, Stewart turned to religion and activism. Women weren’t allowed to speak out of turn in some households. Some women were forbidden from leaving their homes without a man present. As a widow, these rules did not apply to Stewart; however, she received no special treatment when she was out in the world. Stewart was regularly harassed in her home town. While under the influence of David Walker, Maria Stewart “went through a religious conversion in which she became convinced that God was calling her to become a ‘warrior’ ‘for God and for freedom’ and ‘for the cause of oppressed Africa’” .
One can infer that it was at this point in her life, where Stewart developed and accepted her belief in the Black Jeremiad and the earliest form of Black Nationalism. In What if I am a Woman, the speaker never explicitly states her opinion of the Black Jeremiad, (although she has done so in prior works ) but still manages to incorporate its ideals into this speech centering on religion and womanhood. Stewart’s mention of the need for a return to the church can be related to both the religious reformation that was occurring, or even as a subtle allusion to the “chosen ” mindset of many freed and former slaves in the United …show more content…
States. Maria W.
Stewart provides insight similar to one of her mentors during this speech. David Walker was an African American shopkeeper, who lived in Boston at the same time as Maria Stewart. The man participated in abolitionist groups and was outspoken and known for being extreme. Maria Stewart became close with David Walker just before he was killed for his views in 1830, two years before this speech was delivered. Walker was an extremely impactful individual. While Walker was viewed as an extremist by many, several different aspects of his ideology continuously reappear within the work of other great abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du Bois. Walker’s most popular work was titled the Appeal, in which he describes radical measures for slaves to be freed and calls for a violent rising. Within the chaos of the proposal, there are moments of value that stress the importance of self-responsibility. David Walker wrote, “Our sufferings will come to an end, in spite of all the Americans this side of eternity. Then we will want all the learning and talents, and perhaps more, to govern ourselves.” As a self-taught individual, Stewart stresses the need for her black constituents to “cultivate {their} own minds and morals” and to “turn {their} attention to industry” , which can be derived from the message of Walker’s
Appeal. The loss of her husband and David Walker in such a short span of time may have played a role in kick starting Stewart’s speaking career. . The intense grief of losing two close friends caused Stewart to head to the church to essentially become a “born-again” Christian. Once her reawakening occurred, Stewart’s goal was to spread awareness of the message that she received, even if it meant public speaking. She was the first American woman to speak in front of a mixed crowd, consisting of both men and women, white and black members. In a time where women couldn’t even show their ankles, Maria W. Stewart got on stage and spoke in front of hundreds of people at once. While her first audience was initially just made up of females, she advanced her rhetoric to where she spoke in front of a “promiscuous” (mixed) crowd, comprised of both male and female audience members. There were many different moral and religious standards that prevented women from speaking, but Stewart managed to break ground as a female abolitionist, as well as one of the earliest outspoken feminists.
“The lord shall raise-up coloured historians in succeeding generations, to present the crimes of this nation to the then gazing world.” David Walker was born in the confines of white America, but his vision expanded far beyond those limits. His view reached deep into the future of black people. From 1829 until his death in 1830, David Walker was the most controversial, and most admired black person in America. Walker believed in all manner of social relations in that self-reliance was most preferable rather than dependence on others. He felt that it is essential to self-determination. Walker argued that freedom was the highest human right ordained by God, in that African people should raise their voice in defense of their own interest and assume responsibility for speaking on behalf of their freedom. Hence, David Walker’s Appeal was born in 1829 (Turner 3).
In David Walker’s Appeal, David Walker is completely fed up with the treatment of Black men and women in America at the hands of White people. He is tired of the constant dehumanization, brutality, and utter lack of acknowledgment of all of the contributions Black people made to the building of this country. Walker was extremely skillful in his delivery of his Appeal. He used concrete history and the fact that he had “travelled over a considerable portion of these United States, and having, in the course of my travels, taken the most accurate observations of things as they exist” (Walker) to build his credibility. He used the very things that White Americans held so dear to their hearts to point out the sheer hypocrisy in their actions and way of thinking, mainly the Bible and their political documents.
The compelling accounts of Boston King and David George certainly allow the reader to attain a higher degree of respect and sorrow for the slaves of the south during the time of the American Revolution. There is no question that these two slaves, in addition to countless others, suffered much more than any man should ever have to. The daily fear that amounted to chaos in their minds day in and day out are enough to send shivers down ones spine. The risks these men took for their family to acquire freedom certainly should not go unnoticed. One can read and immediately see many distinct similarities in these two accounts of dangerous decisions made by these men to overcome their slavery, but these similarities are, as mentioned, easily spotted.
Both Mary Wollstonecraft and Sor Juana de la Cruz are writers of the Enlightenment period, but they each approach women’s rights in a different way. While De la Druz was a Catholic nun from Mexico ad preferred to study and be alone, Wollstonecraft asserted women’s rights for all through publications directed at the masses. During the Enlightenment, people began to question old authoritative models like the Church. Our texts states, “thinkers believed inreason as a dependable guide. Both sides insisted that one should not take any assertion of truth on faith, blindly following the authority of others; instead, one should think skeptically about causes and effects, subjecting all truth-claims to logic andrational inquiry” (Puchner 92). Indeed,
In the 17th century, many Puritans emigrated to the New World, where they tried to create a brand new society. They moved to New World because they were being persecuted in England for their religious beliefs, and they were escaping to America. The women were immigrating to America to be the wives of the settlers this demonstrates that women were expected to live in the household for the rest of their lives. Women in Puritan society fulfilled a number of different roles. History has identified many women who have had different experiences when voicing their beliefs and making a step out of their echelon within society’s social sphere. Among these women are Anne Hutchinson, and Mary Rowlandson. And in this essay I will
After suffering the overwhelming ferociousness and inhumanity of being a slave for over two decades, a black man by the name of Fredrick Douglass fled from enslavement and began to make a concerted effort to advance himself as a human being. Combating many obstacles and resisting numerous temptations, Douglass worked assiduously to develop into a knowledgeable gentleman rather than the involuntary alternative of being an unenlightened slave. In doing so, Douglass successfully emerged as one of the Civil War era’s most prominent antislavery orators. From his first major public speech at the age of 23, Douglass became widely renowned as a premier spokesperson for Black slaves and the movement for the abolition of slavery. In one of Douglass’ most distinguished speeches, “The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro,” he uses the intermittent occasion of speaking on behalf of African Americans to a multitude of White Americans to outline arguments against slavery.
Both Frederick Douglas and David Walker wrote against slavery. Frederick Douglas used his personal account as an enslaved man to share the evils of slavery and get his voice heard. His work is written like a novel with his commentary on the situations and his beliefs as the story continues. While the slave narrative was a large piece in the abolitionist movement, David Walker chooses a different approach than others. He wrote an Appeal, much like a legal document in which he argued his personal viewpoints against the institution of slavery but with a great deal of imagery. Although both works are abolitionist literature, the content and type of work are different from one another. The works have similarities and differences and also serve to
Hinks, Pete P. To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance. 1997
Deborah Gray White’s Ar’n’t I a Woman? details the grueling experiences of the African American female slaves on Southern plantations. White resented the fact that African American women were nearly invisible throughout historical text, because many historians failed to see them as important contributors to America’s social, economic, or political development (3). Despite limited historical sources, she was determined to establish the African American woman as an intricate part of American history, and thus, White first published her novel in 1985. However, the novel has since been revised to include newly revealed sources that have been worked into the novel. Ar’n’t I a Woman? presents African American females’ struggle with race and gender through the years of slavery and Reconstruction. The novel also depicts the courage behind the female slave resistance to the sexual, racial, and psychological subjugation they faced at the hands of slave masters and their wives. The study argues that “slave women were not submissive, subordinate, or prudish and that they were not expected to be (22).” Essentially, White declares the unique and complex nature of the prejudices endured by African American females, and contends that the oppression of their community were unlike those of the black male or white female communities.
In this essay, we will examine three documents to prove that they do indeed support the assertion that women’s social status in the United States during the antebellum period and beyond was as “domestic household slaves” to their husband and children. The documents we will be examining are: “From Antislavery to Women 's Rights” by Angelina Grimke in 1838, “A Fourierist Newspaper Criticizes the Nuclear Family” in 1844, and “Woman in the Nineteenth Century” by Margaret Fuller in 1845.
On July 5th of 1852, the Ladies Antislavery Society of Rochester requested that emancipated slave, Fredrick Douglass, speak for their celebration of the United States’ national independence. Douglass accepted this request and presented a powerful speech that explained and argued his true beliefs and feelings concerning this event. He considered their decision to request him as a speaker on that day to be a mockery of his past and of the ongoing status of blacks as slaves in America at the time. Nevertheless, Douglass skillfully constructed his speech utilizing various methods that forced his audience to take him seriously and think twice about the issue of slavery in America. His passion about the subject, his ability to captivate his audience, and his persuasive skills combine to form a clearly effective speech that continues to be studied to this day. Douglass warmed up his audience by commending the moral and patriotic excellence of their forefathers. He then delivered the argument of his speech which cleverly criticized the hypocrisy of the institution of slavery and those who tolerated or supported it. Yet, to conclude his speech, Douglass asserts that there is still hope for the young nation so as not to leave the audience completely discouraged. The way in which Douglass constructed and delivered this speech had a lasting impact and left his audience with an effectively argued point to consider.
In 1836, Angelina wrote her Appeal to the Christian Women of the South imploring white southern women to embrace the antislavery cause. She wrote, “I know you do not make the laws, but I also know that you are the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters of those who do; and if you really suppose you can do nothing to overthrow slavery, you are greatly mistaken.” After the Appeal was published, Angelina’s mother was told that if her daughter came back home, she would be put in prison. Sarah did not do as well with pubic speaking as Angelina, but she made up for it in her writings. In July of 1837, Sarah’s “Letters on the Equality of the Sexes” appeared in the New England Spectator, with its simple but powerful demand: “All I ask our brethren is, that they will take their feet from our necks, and permit us to stand upright on that ground which God designed us to occupy.” With the sisters great writing regarding women’s rights, it could be said that these women also started the proto-feminist revolution, as
Maria W. Stewart was viewed by her followers as a positive influence for her strong voice in the abolitionist movement. She declared that “It is not the color of the skin that makes the man, but it is the principle formed within the soul”. Those who attended her lectures followed her
On June 6, 2015, Elinor Burkett wrote a piece about how the transgender movement is affecting feminist movements in “What Makes a Woman?”. The article specifically targeted Caitlyn Jenner in response to the interview by Diane Sawyer, “I’m a Woman”. In the interview, Caitlyn Jenner speaks of her newfound womanhood and how she sees herself as a woman both in body and mind. Elinor Burkett, though, disagrees. In “What Makes a Woman?”, the author declares transgenderism does not equate feminism making a claim of definition on what feminism is. Elinor Burkett makes a strong claim with the use of an ethos argument, kairos and exigency, different types of supports and fallacies, and rhetoric in the article.
To find out whether or not Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is an example of feminist rhetoric or not, one must simply define what is meant by the term feminist. This is difficult to do when one puts into consideration that this book was written over one hundred and forty years ago, and that feminism has gone through many different stages since that time. In order to do this correctly, one must first define feminism within the historical context of the 1850's, when Uncle Tom's Cabin was published instead of the definition of feminism in today’s times.