{"id":18722,"date":"2023-07-12T11:10:54","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T11:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/?p=18722"},"modified":"2023-07-13T14:22:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T14:22:44","slug":"sojourner-truth-equal-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/sojourner-truth-equal-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Ain\u2019t I a Woman?\u201d Sojourner Truth Delivers Her \u201cTruth\u201d About Equal Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>TLDR: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sojourner Truth asked white men in power why they didn\u2019t think she, or other women, deserved equal rights in their country. She made reasoned arguments, using biblical and historical frameworks to convince her hearers it was in the country\u2019s best interest to give women and people of color equal rights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So What? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truth\u2019s \u201cAin\u2019t I a Woman?\u201d speech has become a watershed moment for equal rights in America, and it\u2019s still considered pivotal today. Here\u2019s what great communicators can learn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"Sojourner Truth - Ain&#039;t I A Woman?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V090_BhJw3Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sojourner Truth was born <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Isabella Baumfree, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/lifestyle\/this-day-history-may-29-1851-sojourner-truth-delivers-aint-i-woman-speech\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a slave on a New York estate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the early 1800s.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In her younger years, she suffered a typical life of slavery at the time which included back-breaking work, mistreatment, and forced marriage to another slave that produced five children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truth escaped slavery when her master refused to abide by the New York Anti-Slavery Law of 1827. Over time, she became a Christian preacher and a civil and women\u2019s rights activist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As part of her civil rights work, Truth was invited to speak at the 1851 Ohio Women\u2019s Rights Convention. This historic speech, known as the \u201cAin\u2019t I a Woman?\u201d speech, embodied the truths of Sojourner Truth\u2019s day and her life. Ironically, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesojournertruthproject.com\/compare-the-speeches\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">some published versions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> don\u2019t contain that phrase.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truth stood out as a black woman vocal about equal rights. She was willing to do and say things no one else would, and this speech was no exception. Simply put, Truth plainly asked why men in power withhold equal rights from herself\u2013and by extension, from women and black people generally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some of the truth-telling techniques she used to make her iconic speech so powerful.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hammer Compelling Points<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truth supports her message by making points with which people can\u2019t disagree without arguing against their own beliefs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She starts out by saying (in the first published version) that she\u2019s worked as hard and is as strong as any man. Following that, she claims that women\u2019s rights don\u2019t take away from men\u2019s rights, stating:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As for intellect, all I can say is,<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if women have a pint and man a quart &#8211; why can\u2019t she have her little pint full? <\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, for we can\u2019t take more than our pint\u2019ll hold.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She also said that if men would give women their \u201cpint full\u201d of rights, they would not have to endure protests any more, and they\u2019d have peace from women\u2019s entreaties.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her comments are a bit tongue-in-cheek, but they point to the fear many men had about giving women equal rights.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Build on Existing Beliefs<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truth used a technique of building on people\u2019s existing beliefs about both religion and about men and women in society at the time. She did this to get them to come around to her points more easily, because they already believed most of what she told them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, she cited the commonly held belief that Eve, the first woman, got\u00a0 humankind kicked out of the Garden of Eden. She argued, however, that if one woman was strong enough to get humanity in such trouble, then all of womankind could fix the problem Eve created.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She then debunked the common argument that women couldn\u2019t be equal because Christ was a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">man<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, not a woman.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAnd how came Jesus into the world?\u201d she asked. \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through God who created him and woman who bore him. Man, where is your part?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By using such examples, Truth showed her listeners that she understood them as a deeply spiritual person, but she also asked people to think differently about their existing beliefs. This technique got others\u2019 attention and made them think beyond their usual reasoning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-18724 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/3.jpeg-min.jpg\" alt=\"Sojourner Truth drawing\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/3.jpeg-min.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/3.jpeg-min-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/3.jpeg-min-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/3.jpeg-min-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/3.jpeg-min-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be Yourself<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truth knew being herself was a powerful way to communicate. She didn\u2019t try to speak like a white, educated person of the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, she drew on her experience as a hard-working former slave, who like many women of her time, had several roles as a laborer, a mother, and a female member of society. These roles were in conflict with some of the rhetoric against women\u2019s rights at the time, which assumed women were weaker than men, both physically and mentally\/emotionally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Working hard and being strong was part of womanhood for Truth and countless others in her world at the time, and she knew that this would help her message about women\u2019s equality resonate with her listeners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether she used the rhetorical question, \u201cAint I a Woman?,\u201d as one speech transcript says, or she <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">didn\u2019t <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">use those words, her speech emerged from who she was, her background, and her hopes and dreams for herself and her people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Skirt Societal Norms<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Truth refused to conform to the norms of her day. She wouldn\u2019t be a quiet, polite, or submissive woman because society used those characteristics against women to maintain the status quo. Instead, she became a preacher and stood up to speak bluntly when it wasn\u2019t considered appropriate for a woman or person of color to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s a time to be polite and follow societal norms. However, people often use those norms to deny basic freedoms to groups of people. In these cases, bluntness is often required to break people out of their complacency and get them to understand when change is necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you need help crafting a compelling message that brings about important change, Media Shower has what it takes to break through and find ways to powerfully communicate your ideals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read more about our vision in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/media-manifesto\/?__mscta=2857_96790_162\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Media Manifesto A new vision for media companies.<\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/media-manifesto\/?__mscta=2857_96790_162\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-18725 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/4.png\" alt=\"download the ebook image\" width=\"680\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/4.png 680w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/4-300x106.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how Sojourner Truth advocated for women\u2019s and black civil rights during a time when no other woman of color had spoken out in such a way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":18723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[459],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18722"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18746,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18722\/revisions\/18746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}