LAD #17: Ain't Sojourner Truth a Woman?

Summary: The speech begins with Sojourner addressing the recent "racket" about women's rights and the abolitionist movement. Discussion has begun to the point where white men are probably becoming angry. She explains that although there is a supposed culture of "gentlemen" in America, she has never received any special treatment, and ain't she a woman? This culture hides behind "gentlemanliness" in order to justify the oppression of women and continue attacking them. "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?" says Truth. What does intellect matter when men use it to justify their oppression while women receive lesser rights to educate themselves as men would? Sometimes men justify the status of women by citing the fact that christ was a man, but this connection from point A to point B is clearly a fallacy. She then tells the crowd that the brave women of her generation can flip the world in favor of women, unlike those before them. Sojourner Truth thanks the crowd for hearing her.