Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?
Speech delivered extemporaneously on May 29, 1851 at the Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio
First version:1
I want to say a few words about this matter. I am for woman's rights. I have as much muscle as
any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and
chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes
being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as
strong as any man that is now.
As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman have a pint, and a man a quart – why can't she have
her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, –
for we can't take more than our pint'll hold. The poor men seems to be all in confusion, and don't
know what to do. Why children, if you have woman's rights, give it to her and you will feel
better. You will have your own rights, and they won't be so much trouble.
I can't read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin.
Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again. The Lady has
spoken about Jesus, how he never spurned woman from him, and she was right. When Lazarus
died, Mary and Martha came to him with faith and love and besought him to raise their brother.
And Jesus wept and Lazarus came forth. And how came Jesus into the world? Through God who
created him and the woman who bore him. Man, where was your part?
But the women are coming up blessed be God and a few of the men are coming up with them.
But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, he is surely
between a hawk and a buzzard.
Second version:2
Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that
'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white
men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?
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 mudpuddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have
ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman?
I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well!
And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and
when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?
Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience
whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes'
Transcribed from Marius Robinson’s account of the speech which appeared in the Anti-Slavery Bugle
newspaper on June 21, 1851
2 As recalled by Frances Gage who chaired the Akron, Ohio meeting and published this account in her
book, History of Women’s Suffrage in 1863.
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rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let
me have my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause
Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from?
From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
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.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.
"Women As Leaders"
by Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey (1925)
Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey (1896-1973) was a forceful advocate of women's
rights and was one of the foremost political leaders, archivists, and interpreters of the
Garvey movement. As Marcus Garvey's second wife, she frequently represented her
husband at public meetings and events. She was a regular columnist in the Universal
Negro Improvement Association's (UNIA) newspaper, The Negro World. She was a
key participant in the famous Fifth Pan-African Congress held in Manchester,
England, in 1945. Her 1963 book Garvey and Garveyism was partially responsible
for reviving interest in the UNIA and the Garvey movement.
The exigencies of this present age require that women take their places beside their
men. White women are rallying all their forces and uniting regardless of national
boundaries to save their race from destruction, and preserve its ideals for posterity. . . .
White men have begun to realize that as women are the backbone of the home, so can
they, by their economic experience and their aptitude for details, participate
effectively in guiding the destiny of nation and race.
No line of endeavor remains closed for long to the modern woman. She agitates for
equal opportunities and gets them; she makes good on the job and gains the respect of
men who heretofore opposed her. She prefers to be a bread- winner than a half-starved
wife at home. She is not afraid of hard work, and by being independent she gets more
out of the present-day husband than her grand-mother did in the good old days.
The women of the East, both yellow and black, are slowly but surely imitating the
women of the Western world, and as the white women are bolstering up a decaying
white civilization, even so women of the darker races are sallying forth to help their
men establish a civilization according to their own standards, and to strive for world
leadership.
Women of all climes and races have as great a part to play in the development of their
particular group as the men. Some readers may not agree with us on this issue, but do
they not mould the minds of their children the future men and women? Even before
birth a mother can so direct her thoughts and conduct as to bring into the world either
a genius or an idiot. Imagine the early years of contact between mother and child,
when she directs his form of speech, and is responsible for his conduct and
deportment. Many a man has risen from the depths of poverty and obscurity and made
his mark in life because of the advices and councils of a good mother whose influence
guided his footsteps throughout his life.
Women therefore are extending this holy influence outside the realms of the home,
softening the ills of the world by their gracious and kindly contact.
Some men may argue that the home will be broken up and women will become coarse
and lose their gentle appeal. We do not think so, because everything can be done with
moderation. . . . The doll-baby type of woman is a thing of the past, and the wideawake woman is forging ahead prepared for all emergencies and ready to answer any
call, even if it be to face the cannons on the battlefield.
New York has a woman Secretary of State. Two States have already had women
Governors, and we would not be surprised if within the next ten years a woman graces
the White House in Washington, D.C. Women are also filling diplomatic positions,
and from time immemorial women have been used as spies to get information for their
country.
White women have greater opportunities to display their ability because of the
standing of both races, and due to the fact that black men are less appreciative of their
women than white men. The former will more readily sing the praises of white
women than their own; yet who is more deserving of admiration than the black
woman, she who has borne the rigors of slavery, the deprivations consequent on a
pauperized race, and the indignities heaped upon a weak and defenseless people? Yet
she has suffered all with fortitude, and stands ever ready to help in the onward march
to freedom and power.
Be not discouraged black women of the world, but push forward, regardless of the
lack of appreciation shown you. A race must be saved, a country must be redeemed,
and unless you strengthen the leadership of vacillating Negro men, we will remain
marking time until the Yellow race gains leadership of the world, and we be forced to
subservience under them, or extermination.
We are tired of hearing Negro men say, "There is a better day coming," while they do
nothing to usher in the day. We are becoming so impatient that we are getting in the
front ranks, and serve notice on the world that we will brush aside the halting,
cowardly Negro men, and with prayer on our lips and arms prepared for any fray, we
will press on and on until victory is over.
Africa must be for Africans, and Negroes everywhere must be independent, God
being our guide. Mr. Black man, watch your step! Ethiopia's queens will reign again,
and her Amazons protect her shores and people. Strengthen your shaking knees, and
move forward, or we will displace you and lead on to victory and to glory.
Source: "Women as Leaders," from The Negro World (October 25, 1925)
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