Sojourner Truth

1. Sojourner Truth

2. Sojourner Truth c. 1797 – November 26, 1883) was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. During the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army; after the war, Truth tried unsuccessfully to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves.

3. "Ain't I a Woman?" is the name given to a speech, delivered extemporaneously, by Sojourner Truth. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well known anti-slavery speaker. Her speech was delivered at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio, on May 29, 1851, and was not originally known by any title. It was briefly reported in two contemporary newspapers, and a transcript of the speech was published in the Anti-Slavery Bugle on June 21, 1853. The speech received wider publicity in 1863 during the American Civil War when Frances Dana Barker Gage published a different version, one which became known as Ain't I a Woman? because of its oft-repeated question. This later version was the one recorded in most history books. Ain't I Woman?

4. Literary Techniques “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 our Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.” Repetition Allusion Colloquialism