Last year in history class I did a project on the speech, "Ain't I A Woman?" given by Sojourner Truth. When I saw that it was an option for one of the diversity readings, I was quite excited. In my opinion, it was a simple speech that succeeded in serving its purpose. Truth delivered this speech at Akron, Ohio's Women's Rights Convention in 1851. Aside from the Seneca Falls Convention, the 1851 Women's Rights Convention is remembered as one of the first pushes towards women's suffrage. Truth was expected to convince her audience that women's rights are a necessity in society, and she did just that.
Truth almost immediately refutes the claim of men that, "...women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere." "Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!," Truth writes,
Truth almost immediately refutes the claim of men that, "...women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere." "Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!," Truth writes,
"And ain't I a woman?"
By use of repetition, Truth engraved the words, "And ain't I a woman?" into the minds of her audience. Her use of colloquial language allows her audience to not only understand her message, but to decipher it. The level of education in the 1850s was not too impressive, and so Truth needed to be sure she was communicating accurately with her audience. As said earlier, Truth's speech was simple, but it did develop and argue her point, and for this reason, it was considered successful.
Truth, Sojourner. Womens Rights Convention of 1851. Ohio, Akron. 29 May 1851. Speech.
Truth, Sojourner. Womens Rights Convention of 1851. Ohio, Akron. 29 May 1851. Speech.
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