Ain’t* I a Woman?’ Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)
[Sojourner Truth (born Isabella (Belle) Baumfree 1797-1883) was born into slavery in upstate New York. ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ is Truth’s most famous speech, delivered in 1851 at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.]
Several ministers* attended the second day of the Woman's Rights Convention and were not shy in voicing their opinion of man's superiority over women. One claimed ‘superior intellect’, one spoke of the ‘manhood of Christ’, and still another referred to the ‘sin of our first mother.* Suddenly, Sojourner Truth rose from her seat in the corner of the church. Sojourner walked to the podium and slowly took off her sunbonnet. Her six-foot frame towered over the audience. She began to speak in her deep resonant voice: …‘That man over there says 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! And ain't I a woman?’
Sojourner raised herself to her full height. ‘Look at me! Look at my arm.’ She bared her right arm and flexed her powerful muscles. ‘I have plowed, I have planted, and I have gathered into barns. And no man could head me. And ain't I a woman?’
‘I could work as much and eat as much as man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain't I a woman?’ The women in the audience began to cheer wildly.
‘She pointed to another minister. ‘He talks about this thing in the head. What's that they call it?’ ‘Intellect’, whispered a woman nearby.‘That's it honey. What’s intellect got to do with women's rights or black folks’ rights?
‘That little man in black there! He says women can't have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn't a woman.’ She stood with outstretched arms and eyes of fire. ‘Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from?’ she thundered again. ‘From God and a Woman! Man had nothing to do with him!’The entire church now roared with deafening applause.
‘If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right-side up again. And now that they are asking to do it the men better let them.‘Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.’
Rewrite the passage as a dialogue between Sojourner Truth and a male minister.
Answers
Answer:
Ain’t* I a Woman?’ Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)
[Sojourner Truth (born Isabella (Belle) Baumfree 1797-1883) was born into slavery in upstate New York. ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ is Truth’s most famous speech, delivered in 1851 at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.]
Several ministers* attended the second day of the Woman's Rights Convention and were not shy in voicing their opinion of man's superiority over women. One claimed ‘superior intellect’, one spoke of the ‘manhood of Christ’, and still another referred to the ‘sin of our first mother.* Suddenly, Sojourner Truth rose from her seat in the corner of the church. Sojourner walked to the podium and slowly took off her sunbonnet. Her six-foot frame towered over the audience. She began to speak in her deep resonant voice: …‘That man over there says 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! And ain't I a woman?’
Sojourner raised herself to her full height. ‘Look at me! Look at my arm.’ She bared her right arm and flexed her powerful muscles. ‘I have plowed, I have planted, and I have gathered into barns. And no man could head me. And ain't I a woman?’
‘I could work as much and eat as much as man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain't I a woman?’ The women in the audience began to cheer wildly.
‘She pointed to another minister. ‘He talks about this thing in the head. What's that they call it?’ ‘Intellect’, whispered a woman nearby.‘That's it honey. What’s intellect got to do with women's rights or black folks’ rights?
‘That little man in black there! He says women can't have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn't a woman.’ She stood with outstretched arms and eyes of fire. ‘Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from?’ she thundered again. ‘From God and a Woman! Man had nothing to do with him!’The entire church now roared with deafening applause.
‘If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right-side up again. And now that they are asking to do it the men better let them.‘Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.’
Answer:
Male Minister 1: Women are physically weaker than women and are needed to be helped in carriages. This shows that they are weaker than men.
Sojourner Truth: The man over there says that women needed 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! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man when I could get it, and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain't I a woman?
Male minister 2: In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with man's superiority over women. It is proven that men are "superior intellect" over women. It is not wrong of treating women as inferior.
Sojourner Truth: Minister 1 talks about this thing in the head. It was about intellect. What’s intellect got to do with women's rights or black folks’ rights?
Male Minister 3: Men are always dominant and superior to women. It can be shown from the example of Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus was a male and expressed his manhood more gently and respectfully.
Sojourner Truth: That little man in black there says that women can't have as many rights as men, because 'Christ wasn't a woman.’ If that is the case then, ‘Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from?’. ‘From God and a Woman! A Man had nothing to do with him!’
Male Minister 4: "Sin of our first mother" has brought evil by eating the forbidden fruit. It was solely due to a woman.
Sojourner Truth: If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right-side up again. And now that they are asking to do it the men better let them. ‘Obliged to you for hearing me, and now I ain't got nothing more to say.’
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