Women's Rights Activist Analysis

1182 Words5 Pages
There is one thing that is certain about the human condition that it is only temporary. We are all guaranteed to die at some point, so it is important to make the most of the time that we have here. A woman who clearly embraced this concept, Isabella Baumfree, led a life that was packed with accomplishments of all sorts. As a mother, Abolitionist, Minister, Ex-Slave, and Woman's Rights Activist, Isabelle certainly was able to make her mark on history in the time that she had here. Born a slave, it would be many years before Isabella would walk to freedom, begin her life of activism and eventually become the woman we know today as Sojourner Truth. Sojourner traveled the country speaking out against slavery that was still widespread in the south,…show more content…
Truth then went on to lecture in antislavery and women’s rights movements. It was during her time with the women’s rights movement that Truth delivered her Aint I a Women speech in Akron, Ohio, on May 1851. In this speech, Truth not only addresses the struggle of women, but also the duality of the black women in that they have to combat not only racism, but sexism as well. She begins by talking about how men perceive women as frail saying “Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages and lifted ober ditches and to hab de best place everywhar.” (68). But then she goes on to say that she has never received such treatment from a man and isn’t she a woman as well? Her statements highlight a common mindset that was extremely prevent at the time; that black women were not considered women in the same sense that white women were. Black women were forced to endure the same hard labor that black men were, but still received fewer rights. Truth then goes on to speak about the religious reasoning behind why women shouldn’t have as many rights saying “Dat little man in black dar, he say women can’t have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman”( Marable and Mullings, 2009, 68). This belief that because God was a male figure making women inferior, dates back before Christ and most likely arose because…show more content…
It is fitting that the women who chose to take these words as her name did in fact embody the spirit behind the words. In her short stay here on earth, she was able to impart many truths upon the people she spoke with and in doing, so she was able to further the causes that she supported. Her life was a constant search for belonging and a home. Her life beginning as a slave, being separated from her family early on, then being isolated from her children and community after obtaining freedom, was a lonely one. Sojourner’s quest for a home may not have come to fruition during her life but in death, history found a place for her among the other

More about Women's Rights Activist Analysis

Open Document