Read the excerpt from "Ain't I a Woman?" a speech given by Sojourner Truth, a formerly enslaved person, in 1851. Then that littl
e man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them. The tone of this speech most expresses a feeling of gratitude. triumph. acceptance. frustration.
The speech <em>Ain't I A Women by Sojourner Truth</em> or Isabella Baumfree, an anti-slavery speaker who would become famous for her many speeches on the issue of black racist discrimination by the whites. She expresses the issue of how men were regarded to be the superior being from their womenfolk.
The given lines from the speech reveal her frustration at what the menfolk think a woman is supposed to be. Right at the heels of her statement that men claim <em>"women need to be helped" </em>in their lives, she went right on to state that she as a black woman is further subjected to fewer rights. She stated that <em>"that little man in black there, he says women can't have as many rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman!"</em>. And she replied that Christ came from a woman, thus signifying the importance of women in society. The tone of the given speech is that of frustration which she used to address her point forward.
The paragraph that reflects a sighful moment is "Instead, I would sit by myself under a big pine tree in the courtyard, watching the other kids laugh and joke with their cliques at lunch." but she was too shy to join them. The climax is reflected in "For me, it wasn't until eighth grade that I found out how courageous I could be."
