I, Ryan Finch, have yet to seen any woman of my day stand up to men of such great power in my country, let alone a Negro. If I were a woman I do not think I would have the courage to face and go head to head with these men of power. This lady Sojourner Truth has such charisma it is no surprise that she has got to where she is today. She has such power and influence in her voice which only continued to increase as the speech went on. This woman’s words have the ring of truth to the point where it embarrassed the men she pointed out during the speech. It boggles the mind how one of such poor background is able to rise to point of such high respect amongst her peers of not just a woman but as a speaker and a fighter for freedom and equality.
Lady Sojourner Truth not only supported her own individual sex as a woman but supported her own race with cold reality of how she was treated in public by men. It is simply outstanding that she was able to win over the audience with just cold hard facts on her own experience of not just being a woman but a Negro woman. One must realize that not only has she suffered through being a woman, a sex which is considered weak opposed to us men in our time, but as once a slave, a female slave who has had to go through the pain of watching her family, her children, be sold off one by one to other slave owners.
The audience was simply in pure awe by this woman’s boldness, courage, and risk this woman took to preach her own thoughts and beliefs to those in power. I have never seen so much and so many different expressions on people’s faces while listening to a speech. People were moved and some women were even crying out in the audience. I almost couldn’t hold myself back from yelling out my own praise to this fine spiritual woman.
Lady Sojourner Truth is not just fighting for her own people but for her entire sex as well. One would understand if she only focused on helping her own people, but she does more than just that. Sojourner Truth fights for our country to improve it both mentally and spiritually. I was enlightened, put in awe, and spiritually moved by this woman’s speech. As a man who has seen many speeches this one has got to be one of the finer one’s which was brought up in such a short amount of time. One must hope that this woman continues her on her quest for freedom and equality as a race and gender. I say to you Lady Sojourner Truth that not only are you a woman but a true American in the finest truest definition of the word.
I read this speech last semester for my history 107 class. Don't you think it is amazing that someone that had so much to lose, but in all reality she had so much to gain than she could ever lose. It is amazing to me how she was not just fighting for her own race and gender with white men, but white women. White women were not any better than white men back in the slave days, some times they were far worse because of the white men sleeping with the slaves and would get jealous and take it out on the poor slave girl.
ReplyDeleteEven though she was not well educated unlike the other people's speeches that we read, she was able to move a crowd. How many of people try to write a speech that changes the mind of people, but someone who just wanted an opportunity was able to come up with a speech that has lasted through the times and will always last because no matter what time period we are in there is always something that can relate to us now.
I think her name fits her completely. When I say her first name out loud, I do not know if I am saying it correctly or not, but it reminds me of soldier and her last name is Truth. To me her name is "Soldier of Truth" and that is exactly what she did she fought for the truth and made people turn their heads and recognize her as an equal.
Sojourner Truth has been a powerful figure in history because of her courage and compassion. I like you blog because it points out that she was fearless. Being a black woman in the eighteen hundreds gave Sojourner Truth a lot of reasons to be submissive, but her message was so important that she felt obligated to give it. She was one of the first People that preached human rights for women or minorities. Sojourner Truth's speech on equality was almost a hundred years before Martin Luther King Jr. Was born. Can you imagine the threats she received on her life?
ReplyDeleteI am happy that you understand her stand for change was not only a fight for women or minorities, but a fight for the spirituality and morality of the entire country. We cannot call ourselves "The land of the free and the home of the brave" if the majority of the population(people of other ethnicity and women) were being discriminated against. We have came a long way since then, but we are not completely finished with race and gender based discrimination. We still see incidents of high school students hanging nooses in trees, a total sign of disrespect for black people. What made this situation disturbing to me is these were kids. This leads me to believe that people put on a show of equality in public, but at home, they teach their children to discriminate against people that are not like them. This is how you recycle hate that has been used for centuries.
Sojourner Truth reminds me of Rosa Parks, two women who are tired of being treated for who they are, the world needed/needs more people like these two. Truth was seriously unafraid wasn't she? I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it must have been to speak out against the people persecuting her and stand up to them. Being able to rallying her fellow women to realize that no man has the right to control what they do. Not only is she fighting against the injustices against her for being black, she speaks about the injustices of white women compared to herself.
ReplyDeleteStrong and fearless doesn't even begin to describe her, she fights so hard just to be treated fairly, just so her people can live in peace, and she does it without caring who sees. She should be an inspiration to everyone who feels injustice in their life, rise up to it, stare it straight in the face, and slap it. Demand the respect you deserve, let Sojourner's bravery trigger the fight for your own destiny. True American is right, fighting for what she believes in with no fear, no regrets, I seriously hope we don't forget her and that we continue to learn from her actions.
I love this speech. You can just feel her emotion and outrage in every word she spoke. It's amazing that even reading it over a hundred years later, her pain and distress over the misfortunes she has suffered still bleeds out.
ReplyDeleteI love how she breaks apart what men of the time thought being a man was. She shows her physical and mental strength to them; women do not have to be weak, lesser beings, that is just what men make them in society.
I wish more women (and any other suppressed people) could have her courage and fearlessness. Maybe then, true equality could come forth in society.
I would have loved to witness this with my own eyes. I feel an emotional reaction to it now I could not imagine how it would make me feel if I was there during this time. I only wish that I had her boldness and courage. I do not know if I would be willing to take the risk that she did. She communicated so much power and confidence in her speech that not only her audience of women felt it, but the men felt it also. I could feel it and I was not even there. I too do not understand how she had such strength to get in front of these people and stand up for herself, especially in such times. I agree with your last sentence, she is probably the truest American. If only I could be half the woman she was.
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