There were a lot of women who were significant figures in the fight for women's rights. One of them was Isabelle Baumfree, also known as Sojourner Truth. She advocated that the women's movement "devote attention to the plight of the poor and working class women, and repudiate the idea that women were too delicate to engage in work outside the home." Her 1851 speech "Aint I a Woman" at the American Women's Rights Convention demonstrated her power and conviction to fight for women's rights. In this speech, she talked about her years of hard labor and also demonstrated her ability to successfully ward off hecklers who were questioning her femininity. One of her retorts from that famous speech:"Den dat little man in black dar, 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 that little man."Truth's role in the struggle for women's rights was important as it planted the seeds into what it is today, which in comparison is light years ahead of what it was, when women were merely treated as property, with no rights and relegated to child bearing and household chores. Her contributions strengthened the movement and provided the foundation for the fight that lies ahead. One of her greatest triumphs was desegregating the street cars in Washington DC.
The Women's rights movement was truly about equality and change rather than just keeping the peace so to speak. As a father of a young girl, I am appreciative of the road people like Sojourner Truth has paved to give my daughter more than a fighter's punch to make it good in the future. And for this alone, I am forever grateful.
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009.
Truth, Sojourner. "'A'n't I a Woman?' Speech." In Andrews, James, and David Zarefsky, eds. American Voices: Significant Speeches in American History, 1640-1945. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://0-www.fofweb.com.alice.dvc.edu/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=E06410&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 24, 2011).
Amalgated Transit Union Local 689. The Battle to Desegregate the DC Transit
System . youtube.com. www.atulocal689.org, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.Photo from wikipedia.org
