Aint I a Woman! 1851

Sojourner Truth

Women Suffrage and Abolition Movements were linked, but the link became uncomfortable: some wanted to disengage the two. The issues were hotly debated. Sojourner TruthHere an historical figure, ex-slave, and the first black to win a lawsuit in the US, reminiscent of Abigail and Deborah, quickly eviscerated sophistry of the religious elite.

And she pointed her significant finger, and sent a keen glance at the minister who had made the argument. The cheering was long and loud.

“Then that little man in black thar, he say women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wan’t a woman! Whar did your Christ come from?”

Rolling thunder couldn’t have stilled that crowd, as did those deep, wonderful tones, as she stood there with outstretched arms and eyes of fire. Raising her voice still louder, she repeated,

“Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him.”

Oh, what a rebuke that was to the little man.

Turning again to another objector, she took up the defense of Mother Eve, I cannot follow her through it all. It was pointed and witty, and solemn; eliciting at almost every sentence deafening applause; and she ended by asserting, “If the fust woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women togedder [and she glanced her eye over the platform] 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 ’em.” Long continued cheering greeted this. “Obliged to ye for hearin’ on me, and now ole Sojourner han’t got nothin’ more to say.”


Courtesy of www.sojournertruth.org

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