LAD #17: Ain't I a Woman?

Summary: 

• At the Akron, Ohio Women's Convention, Sojourner Truth gave her iconic "Ain't I a Woman" speech. In it, she highlights two major injustices of her day--racism and sexism and the prejudices that go along with them. Truth mentions how men help women across ditches and out of carriages, but no one ever helped Sojourner, so these conventionalist racists don't deem her to be a true "lady." Already they regard her race as inferior; the fact that she is also a woman worsened the issue. Sojourner goes on to say that she is just as strong as a man--she could farm and work hard all while bearing thirteen children and enduring the grief when they were sold into slavery. In that sense she makes the argument that she is even stronger than a man is. She disproves the idea that women are less intelligent than men, and says that intelligence should not even be a factor, as respect should be universal and unconditional.