A 'N' T I A Woman Analysis

African American Studies Final Paper The first reading I chose was “A’n’t I a woman” by Soujourner Truth. Soujourner Truth was originally named Isabella Baumfree at birth. Truth was born into slavery on November 26, 1883 in New York where she was later freed by the New York State Emancipation Act of 1827. This was written ten years before the Civil war and at this point, African Americans began fighting for their freedom. “A’n’t I a Woman?” was first heard during a famous speech given at a women’s rights convention held in Akron, Ohio. In this year, African Americans were still owned as slaves throughout much of the country. Truth worked closely with famous abolitionists like Frederick Douglass. Other black feminist’s cited things from Truth as an example to further their movements When Truth wrote this in 1851, slavery was still extremely popular in the United States. To me, A’n’t I a Woman” is an extremely powerful speech. Although it
Working seven days a week and twelve hours a day took a toll on Ward. Completing physically challenging chores was typical as was earning minimum wage, at forty-five dollars a month. Maids were treated like dirt during this time period. Although there is about a forty-year gap, Naomi Ward’s story reminds me of the book and movie “The Help.”
Going back to the first half of this section, “Women of the Cotton Fields” by Elaine Ellis was about African American women that were required to find whatever work possible during the Great Depression to help their families. Ellis fought hard to find a job that would keep her family alive, even if it meant dreadful conditions and minimum pay.
Ellis worked with both white and African American women in the cotton fields of the “great Cotton Kingdom”. Women were forced to reproduce large numbers of children. Women and children were the cheapest source of labor. Even during pregnancy, women were forced to work through their