Sojourner Truth And Maria Stewart: Radical Feminism

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Throughout the 19th and 20th century there were many African American civil rights leaders who have pushed our nation to where we are today. These leaders have been pastors, professors, and slaves such as Martin Luther King, W.E.B Dubois, Malcom X and many more. Although there are many important leaders in our nation, we have lacked the roles of strong black women in leadership positions such as presidents, governors and even owners and CEOs. Not only were black women mostly in the background during majority of past events including the Civil Rights movement but, all women are constantly looked down upon as leaders in society today. Among the few black women whose voices were heard throughout history, two of them are Sojourner Truth and Maria …show more content…

She is what you would call a radical Christian feminist. She won’t take no for an answer and definitely does not have a problem with fighting for what she believes in. Stewart was raised in what’s known to be the first African Baptist church. She’s self-educated through the Bible and throughout her years at the first African Baptist church she became born again. The writer’s religious beliefs became more personal to her and she felt stronger about them as she grew in age. One of her main goals was to differentiate between true Christians and fake Christians. I believe a true Christian is one who is a firm believer in Christ and puts God’s word before anything else. For example if you consider yourself a true Christian you wouldn’t hold someone to a lower standard than you, because God says, ‘’He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”(John 8:7) Which means the only person who is allowed to put themselves above someone is God. Although many slave owners and master were Christians, they still put blacks beneath them, and believed they were above slaves which doesn’t correlate with God’s word. Throughout her lectures and speeches she used the Bible and the U.S. Constitution to support her arguments. The author used a lot of information from the Old and New Testaments. One famous lecture that she prepared was the “Religion and the Pure Principals of Morality, The Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build.’’ After …show more content…

After she became free, she changed her name from Isabella Van Wagner to Sojourner Truth. She wanted to travel around the nation speaking truth to the people, which is what her name defines. One thing I love about Sojourner, is the fact that she changed her name after she was free. She took advantage of no longer being owned, and the name she chose is so powerful. I began to wonder how she chose a name so powerful even though she couldn’t read or write. I am a believer that God does everything for a reason and he directly gave her the task to travel and connect with the people, and that the name just came with part of God’s plan. Truth and Stewart had a lot of similarities in what they believed in and what they fought for. The speaker was also a radical Christian Feminist who advocated for everyone to be given total freedom and the rights to all Civil Rights. She was a women’s rights advocate as well. Similar to Stewart, she also used a lot of political and religious information throughout her literary work. Truth was well known for her speech “Aren’t I a Woman” delivered at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in 1851. In this speech Truth voiced her thoughts on how she feels women are equal to men, and why we should treat them as such. Truth says, ‘’I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am strong

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