“Ain’t I a Woman?”, December 1851
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The article, ” Ain’t I a woman” authored by Sojourner Truth was delivered in the year 1851 at the Women’s Convention, Akron, Ohio discusses oppression of the people and mostly women in the South and the ones of the North. The women were being mistreated by the white people, but the situation would be fixed sooner or later. The author believes all women have rights, and they need to be carried in carriages and should also be lifted over the ditches and to have the best of places such as god farms and homes to live in. Sojourner talks of herself as a woman who has seen it all when it comes to slavery. She gave birth to a dozen children, and all of them were sold to the slave traders. Truth states of men who state that women have no rights, but that is not the truth as all of the people come from Christ and deserve to have rights. Sojourner supports women in that God created women, and the first woman was just as strong enough to bring success into the world by all herself. The paper discusses the suffrage of women during the slave trade of 1797-1883.
The search for freedom for most of the women in the South and for those in the North did not come easy. Parents gave birth to their children, and later on, traders who dealt with slaves came and bought them. Sojourner was not spared as she was born out of slavery in 1797 as he worked for a slave trader in New York working. The truth was mistreated during those times and was even forced into marriage to a person she did not love. She went on to bore him five children, and in 1827, she ran away from the home of the slave trade as he had refused to honor his promise to release her.
Times were so difficult for all people who were born during that age of time as they all had to endure the mistreatments of the traders. In 1838, Philadelphia was plagued by violence that put the people of color in many dilemmas. The white people feared that they could get into competition for the jobs with the slaves that had been freed. People started forming anti-slavery parties and meetings that agitated the traders. Women were not given the same privileges as all the other people, yet they were themselves used as slaves. In 1840, the American Ant-slavery Society was split because the members could not agree on whether the women could have the right to get involved in the decision making of the parties. Women held their own meeting at Seneca Falls in New York to deliberate their way forward. In attendance to the meeting were women who were all activists and defenders of women’s rights, including Elizabeth Stanton. The meeting resolved that all women should be empowered to hold similar rights as men in the meetings as they were also able to give their thought and ideas about the issue of slavery.
It was during that meeting when all people deliberated to meet at the Women Conventions meeting in Akron in 1851. The women gave their views on different issues, including themselves, been slaves, and had no children as most of them had been bought by the slave traders. During that time, Sojourner read her speech that did not have a title to the people present. Its primary goal was to ensure that women had equal rights as men. The rights were not conferred immediately but in a gradual process. To date, women are enjoying the rights that were fought for by Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Canton.
Bibliography
Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I A Woman? (1851) . Retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/articles/sojourner-truth.htm#:~:text=At%20the%20185