Truly magnificent speach~
snip
It was on the second day of this meeting that Sojourner Truth gave her renowned “Ain’t I a Woman” speech. Truth was a former slave who fought not only for women’s rights, but for equality for all people. Her speech was first mentioned in the June 6, 1851 issue of the New-York Daily Tribune which reported that she “delighted her audience with some of the shrewdest remarks made during the session” (Image 7, col. 2). In the June 21, 1851 issue of the Salem Anti-Slavery Bugle, editor Marius R. Robinson, who attended the convention and served as its recording secretary, wrote that her speech was “one of the most unique and interesting….It is impossible to transfer to paper, or convey any adequate idea of the effect it produced upon the audience”
http://ohiohistory.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/aint-i-a-woman-sojourner-truths-famous-speech-in-the-newspapers/
The speech as recalled by Gage
"Wall, chilern, whar dar is so much racket dar must be somethin' out o' kilter. I tink dat 'twixt de niggers of de Souf and de womin at de Norf, all talkin' 'bout rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all dis here talkin' 'bout?"
"Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place!" And raising herself to her full height, and her voice to a pitch like rolling thunder, she asked. 'And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power). I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear de lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen 'em mos' 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?"
"Den dey talks 'bout dis ting in de head; what dis dey call it?" ("Intellect," whispered someone near.) "Dat's it, honey. What's dat got to do wid womin's rights or nigger's rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" And she pointed her significant finger, and sent a keen glance at the minister who had made the argument. The cheering was long and loud.
"Den dat little man in back 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 out-stretched 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."
more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain't_I_a_Woman%3F
Beautiful, freshwest, thank you!
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