Analysis Of Abolitionist And Feminist Sojourner Truth

As abolitionist and feminist Sojourner Truth rose to speak at a Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, she persisted through malicious greetings such as: “Go it, darkey!” and “Don’t let her speak!” (qtd. in Truth 363-364). However, once she concluded her 1851 speech, the Address to the Women’s Rights Convention, the former slave received a standing ovation from the ambitious crowd. Born into slavery in 1797, Truth was threatened with the long, brutal life filled with excessive work and sexual abuse that so many other African American women had experienced. However, when New York freed their slaves in 1827, Truth was given the opportunity to travel across the country in order to “demonstrate the powerful intersection of abolitionism and feminism”
Truth proceeds by briefly describing her struggles as a woman who survived slavery. She characterized the hardships she faced throughout her life of a slave, but also how her experiences allowed her to be a deserving citizen of the United States who should not be stripped from any right granted to the white male. Additionally, Truth addresses a man who claimed that a lack of “intellect” should cause both women and African Americans to be denied their suffrage. To this man, Truth explains it's irrelevance and gains a cheer are widespread approval from the crowd. After letting the audience calm, she continues by taking the audience back to biblical times. Truth asserts the fact that both humanity and the birth of Jesus Christ would not have been possible without the significant role of women. Concluding her speech, Truth was able to leave the convention with a newfound, deserving respect from many
“Whar did your Christ come from?” Truth asked repeatedly. After receiving such a loud and supporting applause from the once crude crowd, she answered, “From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him” (364). Furthermore, Truth asserted the argument that since the first woman that God created was so strong she could mold humanity all alone, then modern women can come together in order to gain their deserving rights. Making her speech during the Second Great Awakening, Truth discussing religion at a time of reform was a dramatic way of gaining support for the Women’s Rights Movement (Tindall and Shi 386). Additionally, this second wave of religious revival allowed the opportunity for an increase in women employment. Many American women were able to gain the respect of society by becoming evangelists as well as being considered equals during large public rituals (Tindall and Shi 390). This inspirational section of Truth’s speech further emphasized the significance of women not only in the religious field, but in politics as