LAD #18: Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" Speech

Summarize:

Sojourner Truth acknowledges how white men believe that women are more fragile and, essentially, are the weaker sex. However, Sojourner remembers her time as a slave, where she had to accomplish the same tasks as the male slaves, and harder tasks than many white men. She asks the audience, "ain't I a woman" because she has never been treated like free women are, but she does not lament this fact. Her experiences have not made her miss out on the rights white women benefit from, because she was able to find strength in her hardships and now has the opportunity to fight for both African Americans and women. Women, whom she acknowledges their power over the state of the world and how they are able to alter its problems.

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Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" Speech
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Ida B. Wells "This Awful Slaughter" Speech
Similar to the "Ain't I a Woman" speech by Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells connects the fight for African American rights to the woman's rights movement. She attacks the white practice of lynching. Specifically, the justification of lynching African Americans because they supposedly hurt woman. Wells discredits this belief and the common act of using the "weaker" woman as a reason to attack others.

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