Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman?”
Speech given in 1851 at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.
"Look at me. Look at my arm. I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me - and ar'n't I a woman?
I could work as much and eat as much as a man, (when I could get it,) and bear de lash as well - and ar'n't I a woman?
I have borne thriteen chillen, and seen 'em mos' all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard - and ar'm't I a woman?
...Den dat little man in black dar, he say woman con't have as much right as man 'cause Christ wa'n't a woman. Whar did your Christ com from?...From God and a woman.
Man had noting to do with him....'Bleeged to ye for hearin' on men, and now old Sojourner ha'n't got nothin' more to say."
- Sojourner Truth (Isabella Van Wagner), 1863
Uncovering Allusion: From Sojourner Truth to Talib Kweli – Poetry Deconstruction No. 1
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