Aint I a Women?

"Ain't I a Woman?"

"Well children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter." This is the opening statement of one of the most memorable women's rights speeches. Sojourner Truth argues women's rights which was as much an issue in the past as it is in present day. She uses her African American poor female slave identity to address the humanity of a woman, which was impacted by her strong religious faith. She just simply asked, "Ain't I a woman?"

In the year 1851, women were not thought of as intelligent dignified people who could support themselves. To gain the status that women have today, women had to fight and speak out, which is what Sojourner Truth did. She deliberately pointed out one single man sitting in the audience at the women's convention and told every woman there how men look at them, by using him as an example. Women needed help getting into things or walking and they deserved to look the best and have the best of everything, white women that is. Sojourner was not treated this way, she had worked the fields most of her life, but "ain't she a woman?" She could eat as much as a man, if she even had it, but "ain't she a woman?" Sojourner was whipped, had 13 children which were all sold off into slavery, but yet, "ain't she a woman?" Why would a woman who was stronger than a man and who had been through more hardships than many of the people at the Women's Convention not be treated like a woman was in 1851? It was simple, she was black.

When the question "Ain't I a woman?" was asked, the automatic answer today is yes, and by women in 1851 was yes, but to white men in 1851, it might have been no. The view of humanity is viewed by humanity itself. Sojourners humanity was a direct reflection of what she had faced. Sojourner was black, a black slave, she was not thought of as being human. A person who was brought up in a wealthy environment would naturally have a different view from a person brought up in poverty. A person who was brought up in a white environment would see life differently than a person brought up in a black environment or as a slave. "There are certain things African American people as a whole can only learn from African American women, because they have sacrificed and suffered the most and have balanced these things the best " (Freeman 15). Yet, she kept on preaching and by the end of her speech, even though she was still asking in question form, she was telling everyone that she was a woman. She was a woman and therefore she was human. She deserved everything that a white woman deserved. When she went through all of her hard times, Jesus was the only one that heard her, and that kept her faith very strong.

Sojourner points out another man and said "Then that little man in the black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, cause Christ wasn't a woman!" She agreed that Christ was a man, but where did that man come from? She asked twice where he came from; he came from a woman and God. "Man had nothing to do with Him. " Mary became impregnated with