The speech I chose to read was given by someone I had never heard of before, Sojourner Truth. She was born into slavery as Isabella Van Wagener around 1797, and changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843. (Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2009) In 1851, Sojourner gave her speech, Ain’t I A Woman, at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, OH. Sojourner talked about things men said they had to do for women; open doors, helping in and out of carriages, and assisting over mud puddles. Her response was always, “and ain’t I a woman?” (Gage, 1863) The majority of the speech was about being a woman of color, not necessarily just a woman. However, towards the end of her speech, Sojourner said, “If de fust woman God ever made was strong enough to turn de world upside down all alone, dese women togedder ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!” (Gage, 1863) This statement covered all women. …show more content…
During the time period, women typically did not speak in public, especially in front of men. After reading this speech, I feel that I have learned a lot about Sojourner Truth. She was born into the hard life of slavery, enduring things I cannot imagine, like seeing her children sold off. Instead of letting her hard life destroy her, Sojourner became a strong woman not afraid to speak her