The Abolitionist Movement transformed the role of women in American History. Prior to the abolitionist movement, women were viewed as invisible icons in society. A typical woman would only be responsible for motherhood duties, cleaning, and preparing food. While many women agreed with this, others did not. The desire to be heard and treated equally was something numerous women shared. Astonishing women like, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Grimke sisters became prominent leaders in the abolitionist movement and made a pathway in history by initiating speeches, participating in female politics and supporting their personal opinions of women’s rights through religious doctrines. Sojourner Truth, an African American woman and former slave, fights a double war within winning her rights. The fact that Truth is an African American female put an addition strain on her journey. Truth traveled thousands of miles giving speeches against slavery and for women’s rights. In 1851, Truth gave her famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman” at the Women’s Convention. In her speech, she attacked the idea of women and blacks being inferior. Truth used her personal experiences to describe the discrimination she faced as a black, ex-slave woman. Truth’s main objective through her speech was to show how she is equal to any man. She declared, “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!” Truth connects women’s rights and abolition by defining a woman as a man’s equal by including examples of her experiences. Truth concludes her speech, “If the first woman God ever made... ... middle of paper ... ...rights through religious doctrines helped to get their philosophy understood by the people. Women fought against sexism and racists but still remained confidant and ended up pursuing their dreams of being free. Bibliography Grimke, Sojourner. On Women’s Rights. in Interpreting the American Past, ed. Luke Stowell Norfolk: Old Dominion University, 2013 Stanton, Elizabeth Cady. Declaration of Sentiments of the Seneca Falls Convention. in Interpreting the American Past, ed. Luke Stowell Norfolk: Old Dominion University, 2013 Teachushistory.org. "Sarah Grimké Argues for Women's Rights | Teach US History." 2013. http://www.teachushistory.org/second-great-awakening-age-reform/resources/sarah-grimke-argues-womens-rights (accessed 21 Nov 2013). Truth, Sojourner. Ain’t I a Woman. in Interpreting the American Past, ed. Luke Stowell Norfolk: Old Dominion University, 2013
Bender, David L. The Women's Rights Movement, Opposing Viewpoints: Greenhaven Press, Inc., San Diego 1996
Her book includes brief documentaries of Grimke Sisters, Maria Stewart, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth; all became important symbols of the continuity between the antislavery and women's rights movements. Beginning in the 1830s, white and black women in the North became active in trying to end slavery. These Women were inspired in many cases by the religious revivals sweeping the nation. While women in the movement at first focused their efforts upon emancipation, the intense criticsm that greeted their activities gradually pushed some of them toward an advocacy of women's rights as well. They discovered that they first had to defend their right to speak at all in a society in which women were expected to restrict their activities to a purely domestic sphere.
Individuals like Sojourner Truth did not receive fair treatment like the white women. In the speech, “ Ain't I a Woman ?” Sojourner Truth states, “ Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles ,or give me any best place! And ain't I a Woman?” Black women were not treated like white women, instead they were treated more like animals. Every individual should be entitled to freedom and human rights equally. Sojourner Truth speech brought awareness to others by informing them that equality did not play a role within women's rights. Both black and white women are humans, therefore their skin color should not matter and they both deserved to be treated fairly. Sojourner Truth struggled for change to inform the listeners to be mindful of the type of treatment these African American women
Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
Gaughen, Shasta. Introduction To Women's Rights: Contemporary Issues Companion. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Hennessey, Kathleen.
Cokie Roberts’ Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation examines women's role in the establishment and development of the United States of America. Throughout the book, Roberts attempts to prove that women have natural characteristics in which they use to their advantage to build a foundation for the future of all women. She examines the lives of some of the most important women in U.S. history, such as Abigail Smith Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Sarah Livingston Jay, Martha Washington and Mary White Morris. Roberts researched all of the women who “had the ears of the Founding Fathers,”. She believes that since these women lived in such a strange and wonderful time period that they must have strange and wonderful stories to tell. The book
Sojourner Truth was a brave and headstrong woman who went through more than her fair share of hardships. From escaping slavery to seeing her own sons sold back into the life that she worked so hard to leave behind. It is all these experiences that makes her speech so powerful. In the beginning of her speech she talks about the notion that women are fragile and need to be taken care of, she counters this idea with the fact that as a slave nobody took care of her, nobody helped her, she had to work just as hard as the men and endured the same violent
The speech was written because of its power and influence on the movement and the language and strategies she utilized played a huge role in it. Sojourner used her experiences as an enslaved woman and mother to build a connection with her audience. Black men in the audience could relate to her struggles as a slave and white women as a mother. Sojourner had showed her audience that a person can experience multiple systems of oppression and their presence should not be erased. Sojourner also repeatedly asked “and ain’t I a woman?” after her every rebuttal of sexist and racist stereotypes of women, which arguably was directed to the white women in the audience. The women’s rights movement solely focused on the experiences of white women under male dominance. By highlighting her experiences as a black woman and following it with asking “and ain’t I a woman?” Sojourner is calling out white feminists on their shortcomings. The movement would not be for women’s rights when it only advocates for the rights of white
In Sojourner Truth’s speech, “Ain’t I A Woman,” she speaks of women and African Americans deserving to have equal rights to men. The speech was delivered in 1851 at a convention in Akron, Ohio. Truth’s goal during the speech was to make people doubt what they previously believed. For them to join her outlook about equal rights.
Angelina Grimke and Sojourner Truth were both prominent American civil rights activists of the 19th century who focused on the abolition of slavery and women’s rights issues, respectively. While both of these women challenged the societal beliefs of the United States at the time regarding these civil rights issues, the rhetorical strategies used by each of these women to not only illustrate their respective arguments but also to raise social awareness of these issues was approached in very different fashions. Angelina Grimke promoted the use of white middle-class women’s positions in the household to try to influence the decision makers, or men, around them. On the other hand, Sojourner Truth, a former slave turned women’s rights activist,
Isabella Van Wagener one of the most effective women’s rights leaders is an example as she was born into slavery, but she was later freed and took the name of “Sojourner Truth”. Do you know why she took this name? She believed that God wanted her to travel across the land and nation to preach abolition. She believed that God wanted her to fight in the battlefield of slavery and took part as a mesmerizing speaker whose words could rarely be written down for they spread through words of mouth. One quote from the speech she said at Akron’s Women’s Rights Convention in 1851 inspired me to join this war and fight for my own rights, “I have as much muscle as any man and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than
The 19th century was a time of great social change in the United States as reflected by the abolitionist movement and the women’s suffrage movement. Two very influential women leaders were Angelina Grimke and Sojourner Truth. Grimke was born a Southern, upper class white woman. She moved to the North as a young woman, grew involved in abolitionism and women’s rights, and became known for her writing, particularly “Letters to Catherine Beecher”. Sojourner Truth was born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree; she escaped to freedom, changed her name, and became an active speaker on behalf of both the abolition and women’s rights movements. Truth’s most famous speech is “Ain’t I a Woman?”. While both Grimke and Truth use a personal, conversational tone to communicate their ideas, Grimke relies primarily on logical arguments and Truth makes a more emotional appeal through the use of literary strategies and speech.
Being a member of today’s society is extremely difficult, and it certainly wasn’t any simpler in 1851. Sojourner Truth delivers a powerful speech titled: “Ain’t I A Woman” at a women’s convention in Akron, Ohio. In her speech, she states very rational and important facts on sexism, racism and inequality all together.
For instance, in her essay, 'Ain't I a Woman?' Sojourner Truth delivers a powerful message and addresses the issues of women in the society. She argues that women should have equal rights, because they can do the same things as men. For example, she says,?That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place anywhere. Nobody helps me into no carriages, or over no mud puddles, or gives me any best place?
Trecker, J. L. (1971). Women in US history high school textbooks. Social Education, 35(3), 249–260.