Sojourner Truth Quotes

Sojourner Truth Quotes Sojourner Truth was born a slave and became a popular spokesperson for abolition, womens rights, and temperance. A history-maker from the start - she was the first black woman to win a court case against a white man when she won custody of her son after running away - she became one of the eras best known figures. Her famous Aint I a Woman? speech is known in several variants, because Sojourner Truth herself did not write it down; all copies of the speech come from secondhand sources at best. It was delivered at the Womens Convention in Akron, Ohio on May 29, 1851, and was first published in the Anti-Slavery Bugle on June 21, 1851. Truths public life and remarks contained many quotations that have endured throughout time. Selected Sojourner Truth Quotations And aint I a woman?There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to get it going again. Equal Rights Convention, New York, 1867It is the mind that makes the body.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.Truth burns up error.Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.Religion without humanity is poor human stuff. Two Versions, One Speech Truths most famous speech, Aint I A Woman, was passed down through history in a decidedly different version than the one she originally delivered. During the American Civil War, her remarks regained popularity and was republished in 1863 by Frances Dana Barker Gage. This version was translated into a stereotypical dialect of slaves from the South, whereas Truth herself was raised in New York and spoke Dutch as a first language. Gage also embellished Truths original remarks, exaggerating claims (for instance, claiming that Truth had had thirteen children when the real Truth had five). Gages version includes a framing device depicting a hostile crowd won over by Truths almost miraculous speech. It also contrasts the regular English spoken by bystanders with the heavy dialect of Gages version of Truth: 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 thunders, she asked And ant I a woman? Look at me! 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 ant I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear de lash a well! And ant I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen em mos all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mothers grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ant I a woman?  Ã‚   In contrast, the original transcription, written down by Marius Robinson (who attended the convention where Truth spoke), depicts Truth as speaking standard American English, without markers of an accent or dialect. The same passage reads: I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a womans rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman have a pint, and a man a quart – why cant she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, – for we cant take more than our pintll hold. The poor men seems to be all in confusion, and dont know what to do. Why children, if you have womans rights, give it to her and you will feel better. You will have your own rights, and they wont be so much trouble. I cant read, but I can hear. I have heard the Bible and have learned that Eve caused man to sin. Well, if woman upset the world, do gi ve her a chance to set it right side up again. Sources History of Woman Suffrage, ed.  Elizabeth Cady Stanton,  Susan B. Anthony, and  Matilda Joslyn Gage, 2nd ed., Rochester, NY: 1889.Mabee, Carleton, and Susan Mabee Newhouse.  Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend. NYU Press, 1995.