Ain't I a Woman?

In “Ain't I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth, we see her advocating for equal rights of men and women, and more specifically the rights of African American women. Through this, she speaks of the inequalities that women and African Americans are facing during the time period in which this is written. There are a few passages in the reading which I feel are very critical to the overall analysis of this speech. To begin, “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?” (Truth, 1851) With this, we are see that Truth is arguing for equal rights of women no matter their skin color, as their skin color makes them no less of a woman. While men say that women need assistance and provide that assistance to women, they do not do that for women of color. Instead, from this I gather they are looked down upon and treated as an inferior women. However, at the end of the day these women are no less just because of their skin color. If we consider how to define a woman, the color of her skin does not play any type of role in the definition so therefore when viewing a women we should not consider her skin color a factor but rather by the defining characteristics. By saying “ain't I a woman?”, Truth is wanting to call out all the men that help out women, and point out the racial disparities in the logic behind this. Men are pointing out that women do need assistance, however, do not follow through with this when a women of color is the one in need. This was such a bold move for Truth, but one that needed to be made to show people that it is not okay to view a women of color as lesser than a caucasian women. At the end of the day, a women is a women and they should be treated the same way regardless of the color of their skin. 

The next passage I wanted to examine is: “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 they is asking to do it, the men better let them.” (Truth, 1851) Truth is encouraging all the women to go out and face the world together and more importantly face their battles. Instead of just sitting around and allowing discrimination to happen, they should take a more proactive approach. At the end of the day, if it was not for women the world would not be what it is today because they do play such a crucial role in society. With this push, hopefully women would be able to realize that they do have what it takes to go out and “change the world” and achieve the rights and equality they deserve. No matter what ethnicity, religion, etc. if women were to come together they could be the change they want to see.