Ain't I a Woman?

When I first read this story I was really pulled into it by all the description she was using. She was complaining how white women get all this stuff and "Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm" (Truth 370). This quote really brought me into this story because it talks about how she is standing up for herself. She will not let anyone roll over her like she is some sort of animal. She said that she had "borne thirteen children, and seen them most all off to slavery" and she was mad at how white girls are "better" than black girls. In my opinion there was no difference between white and black people and it never should of happened the way it happened. Overall the story that I read gave me inspiration to see a black woman speak out against slavery. Another point I would like to add is that she spoke of how low the women are back then. Here is a quote "Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men" (Truth 370). The black woman is stating that men thought they were better than everyone else back then. To this day still there are men out there who think they are better than women and I think it is wrong. Luckily though it is not as bad as it was back then, like the black woman stated.

I read a criticism that read that Ralph Waldo Emerson had given a women's rights lecture in Boston in 1855 (Wayne). This was a big thing for a Transcendentalist to do back in the old days. Anyway, this relates to Truth's story because they are both speaking out against slavery and how bad it is. This would still have an effect on society today as a whole because women's rights are still a problem in today's society. They are much better than they were back then though.

Bibliography

Wayne, Tiffany K. "'Address at the Woman's Rights Convention'." Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 12 Feb. 2012.

Truth, Sojourner. "And Ain‘t I a Woman?." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 368-370. Print.