And Ain't a Woman - Analysis

Sojourner Truth was a very well known prowoman spokes person from the mid nineteenth century. She was invited to speak at the Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1851 (Truth 369). She chose not to prepare her speech ahead of time, and she was a strong voice for women everywhere.

Her speech began by saying that between the slaves in the South and the women in the North, the white man, who is responsible for creating the laws concerning civil rights, will soon be "in a fix" (Truth 370). She was saying that soon, the government would have to make decisions about the rights of both women and slaves (Truth 370). Sojourner's main point was that people treated the slaves very differently than free people, including women. She repeated through out her speech the phrase "and ain't I a woman?" (Truth 370). She made a valid point, saying that even though she is a woman, she is not treated the same as other women because she is a slave. She also brought religion into her speech, saying that God must have come from a woman in the beginning, so women should be equal to men.

One of Ralph Waldo Emerson's accomplishments in his life was his speech that he gave at a women's rights convention in Boston on September 20, 1855 (Wayne). While he believed that group efforts usually hindered progress with reforms and thought that it should begin on a personal level (Wayne), he did speak at the convention. Emerson was also known for writing his essay Self-Reliance. The title implies that people need to rely on themselves more often. In Truth's speech, she claimed that "women need to be helped into carriages" (Truth 370). She wanted to push for women to rely on themselves, much like the philosophy of Emerson. He never specifically spoke out against the unfair treatment of women, but he was encouraged to speak about his philosophies on the "feminine genius" as well as the woman's "right to individuality" (Wayne).

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. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= ETRA002&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 15, 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.