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In the speech, Sojourner Truth discusses her culture and how it dealt with slavery. She argues that people tended to ostracize slaves because they were different from them and feared what may happen if the slave was free. They did not empathize or love these “strangers” as other human beings; instead, she claims they treated them like animals who didn’t have feelings. This attitude led to violence against slaves being considered a normal occurrence in society and punishment for such acts seemed unjustified by those who had committed them. To combat this mindset, Truth advises moving past fear into empathy which will allow us all to become friends and build a society that is more unified.
To understand this quote, it’s important to know the context of Sojourner Truth’s speech at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio on September 18th, 1851. This was one month after she had escaped slavery from Robert Wilson’s house which he owned with his wife Eliza Ann who also participated in hiding her as well. She delivered this powerful message just nine days before Brown v Board of Education made segregation illegal. In her speech, Truth discusses how people did not empathize or love slaves because they were different from them and feared what may happen if the slave was free. They treated these “strangers” like animals who didn’t have feelings instead of human beings so it was impossible to sympathize with them.
Truth states, “And yet some of you want to be bothered with what your great-grandmother told about Slavery days when she had just been born.” Truth is referencing how the people at this convention were mainly abolitionists who wanted change and not those who believed in slavery or didn’t care about it enough to do anything but they are still questioning her background and history instead of listening to her message. She then goes on saying that she loved these strangers as much as their grandmothers did because she knew all too well what it felt like for someone else’s racism towards a person whom they never met before. The only way one can understand another culture’s attitude towards something such as slavery if by experiencing it themselves.
When Sojourner Truth refers to her culture’s attitude towards slavery, she is giving e of you want to be bothered with what your great-grandmother told about Slavery days when she had just been born.” -Truth is referencing how the people at this convention were mainly abolitionists who wanted change and not those who believed in slavery or didn’t care about it enough to do anything but they are still questioning her background and history instead of listening to her message. She then goes on saying that she loved these strangers as much as their grandmothers did because she knew all too well what it felt like for someone else’s racism towards a person whom they never met before. The only way one can understand another culture well enough is if they are willing to be bothered with it.
It’s a common misconception that the abolitionists were only white people, but truth was not about to allow them to pretend as though her culture didn’t exist and she used this moment in history for what felt like the first time ever: speaking up against slavery herself by telling those who want change or don’t care anything at all about Slavery Day when she had just been born.” -Truth is referencing how the people at this convention were mainly abolitionists who wanted change and not those who believed in slavery or didn’t care about it enough to do anything but they are still questioning her background and history instead of listening to her message. She then goes on saying that she loved these people and wanted them to listen but they were all too busy telling her what she should be doing instead of listening which is why she felt like this was the first time that anyone ever listened.
Key Points:
She is telling the audience that she was born a slave and this was her first time ever speaking up about it. This might be because of how people were always criticizing what she should do instead of listening to her voice.
There are lots of abolitionists at this convention who want change but they all seem too busy questioning Truth’s background which makes her feel like nobody has listened to her before now.
The topic being discussed in these paragraphs is Sojourner Truth talking about Slavery Day, meaning that those around during slavery and even after still didn’t listen or care enough for long term changes so we’ll never know if anyone changed their minds when hearing truth speak out against slavery herself. We will never know if she made any difference in the world.
Sojourner Truth’s speech was so powerful that it has been recorded and spread all over the country, but her words are still not being heard by some people because they would rather debate how to describe slavery or who caused it than take action against what is happening today.
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Sojourner Truth’s speech was so powerful that it has been recorded and spread all over the country, but her words are still not being heard by some people because they would rather debate how to describe slavery or who caused it than take action against what is happening today.
Truth had many struggles in life, even though she fought for the rights of others: as an enslaved woman; as a single mother when society did not believe in single parents; and as someone who spoke out about injustice despite death threats and other challenges. But we can learn from Sojourner Truth–we can be more like her–and make changes happen with our voices! As long as there is a single person who needs to be heard and someone willing to listen, change can happen.
The speech would not have been as powerful if Truth had just told her story without challenging the moral character of the audience members–she could have easily given up on them and instead focused only on those people she knew would believe her words. But that would mean ignoring all those other women and men in bondage who needed encouragement from another voice speaking out against slavery!
Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman” speech is worth remembering today because it reminds us why we need feminism: for every woman whose story will never be told; for everyone fighting gender discrimination or living with sexual harassment; for religious freedom in this country which means freedom for all religions; and because we deserve to be treated equally. Ain’t I A Woman? by Sojourner Truth Delivered 1867, in Washington D.C., at the Women’s Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) – read by Anne Bancroft on PBS television show “Fireside Theater” I speak what is in my heart—what has been there a long time: I am an old woman now, but it was not always so with me—and when God sends someone into the world who can tell us how to make life better, that person should say something about woman’s wrongs as well as man’s
