Take a moment to think about everyday society right now. Black and white children play together on the playground, an African-American and a woman have both run for president, and if you flip on the radio, there are women publicly speaking of their political opinions! While America is still walking the road to total peace and equality, the past 242 years have called for a lot of change. Some of the most significant changes in our country were happening in the central 1800’s--- the Civil War era. The Civil War was caused by the division of the United States into two sides that disputed the necessity of slavery. Toward the end of this time period, African-Americans had just received the right to vote, which consequently opened women’s eyes to
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Because her speech was given at the Women’s Rights Convention, it is commonly and mistakenly assumed that Truth had a supportive female audience. In reality, she was speaking to a predominantly white crowd, made up mostly of men! Truth’s speech has proven most memorable among others due to her clever methods of backing up women’s intellectualism using Biblical references. For example, she makes the point that many men believe they are superior since Jesus was a man, but these very men are forgetting that their Christ came from a woman (Truth, Sojourner.). Considering most of her audiences were primarily made up of Christians, her use of tying in points with the Bible was very well received. One witness of Sojourner’s speech even claimed that every sentence was followed by a “deafening applause” (Truth, Sojourner.). Overall, “Ain’t I a Woman” was a success to begin with, and the effect of the civil war on this lecture surpasses that of any other speech by …show more content…
Sojourner persevered through a challenging childhood, but despite her hardships, proved herself an ambitious thinker with indomitable goals. She was advantageously born in a time when advocating impartiality was a big deal, and although these were problems happening decades ago, America is still mopping up a mess that finally was addressed during Sojourner’s time. It may be impossible for any one nation to achieve complete peace, but this very well could be the generation that ends bigotry and prejudice. Now that women can vote and hold office, it is up to the outspoken and audacious to take action and use the advantages women during the Civil War would have wished for. An inspirational quote from Sojourner reads, “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
Because her speech was given at the Women’s Rights Convention, it is commonly and mistakenly assumed that Truth had a supportive female audience. In reality, she was speaking to a predominantly white crowd, made up mostly of men! Truth’s speech has proven most memorable among others due to her clever methods of backing up women’s intellectualism using Biblical references. For example, she makes the point that many men believe they are superior since Jesus was a man, but these very men are forgetting that their Christ came from a woman (Truth, Sojourner.). Considering most of her audiences were primarily made up of Christians, her use of tying in points with the Bible was very well received. One witness of Sojourner’s speech even claimed that every sentence was followed by a “deafening applause” (Truth, Sojourner.). Overall, “Ain’t I a Woman” was a success to begin with, and the effect of the civil war on this lecture surpasses that of any other speech by …show more content…
Sojourner persevered through a challenging childhood, but despite her hardships, proved herself an ambitious thinker with indomitable goals. She was advantageously born in a time when advocating impartiality was a big deal, and although these were problems happening decades ago, America is still mopping up a mess that finally was addressed during Sojourner’s time. It may be impossible for any one nation to achieve complete peace, but this very well could be the generation that ends bigotry and prejudice. Now that women can vote and hold office, it is up to the outspoken and audacious to take action and use the advantages women during the Civil War would have wished for. An inspirational quote from Sojourner reads, “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