Sojourner Truth’s brief speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” is a classic piece of early feminist rhetoric. In the speech, Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), an African-American abolitionist and feminist, highlights the hypocrisy of male chauvinism that she experienced. She contends that women are deserving of equal rights as men and that religion cannot be used as a defense for unequal treatment. In this seminar, we will consider the speech in its time and its context. Students will also be encouraged to consider how its arguments are used, and repurposed, in today’s political speech.
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