“Ain’t I a Woman?”
Sojourner Truth
Background
 Sojourner Truth was born in 1797 in Ulster County, New York. She was one
of twelve children. Her given name was Isabella Baumfree. She was a former
slave, minister and a woman’s rights activist; she was nationally known
advocate for equality and justice. She escaped to freedom in 1826.
 Her most commonly known speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” was delivered in
1851 at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. She was
fundamentally speaking on discrimination within gender.
 Truth gave birth to five known children; she was never married. Sojourner
Truth’s cause of death is unknown; it may be from ago, the ulcers on her
legs, or from a disease she had.
Audio Snippet of the Sermon
Video of Myself Giving the Speech
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrksYZZ_8jM
SOAPSTONE
 Subject: The subject in SOAPSTONE stands for the main idea. Principally
Sojourner Truth is speaking on presumptuous stereotypes within the female
population and she’s backing up the inaccurate concept with her personal
experiences.
 Occasion: The occasion in SOAPSTONE stands for the issues and ideas the
speaker is speaking on. Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” sermon
wherein she was speaking as a Woman’s Rights Activist in May, 1851.
 Audience: The audience in SOAPSTONE stands for who the text is directed
to. Distinctively Truth sermons the male population and associated
townspeople.
SOAPSTONE cont.
 Purpose: The purpose in SOAPSTONE is simply why the author is writing, or
why the speaker is speaking. The brief homily justifies a woman’s worth in
the world; Truth vindicates the fact that we are important just as much as
men are.
 Speaker: The speaker in SOAPSTONE is the voice who’s speaking. Sojourner
Truth, Woman’s Rights Activist, minister, and a domestic servant who is a
very significant and well known African-American today.
 Tone: The tone in SOAPSTONE is the feeling used by the author or speaker.
The tone is very powerful, encouraging, and inspiring
Analysis
 “Then that little 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.”
 These brief sentences that came out of Truth’s mouth bestow the readers
and the audience with the precise piece of evidence that supports the
detail that women are important. This sentence demonstrates the inner
subject of the homily itself. It displays recognition that women are just as,
if not more important than men.
Additional Analysis
“I could work as much and eat as
much as a man-when I could get itand bear the lash as well! And ain’t
I a woman?”
Sojourner Truth is saying that people
often underestimate and undervalue the
abilities of a female.
“And ain’t I a woman?”
She lists majority of her life experiences
along with what she’s used to in order to
draw attention and arouse emotion within
her audience. It’s more so like an “I did the
same thing he did, and ain’t I a woman?”
kind of thing.
The Principle/Premise
 “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!”
----Truth is accentuating the
actuality that we are women and we
are beyond superior. Like the old
saying goes “I can do bad all by
myself.”
Ethos
 “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages,
and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever
helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!
And ain't I a woman?”
 Ethos is all about credibility and I felt as though ethos was displayed in this
line of the speech. She’s putting her personal experiences into what she’s
saying, using repetitive language and using biblical references. Had she not
been a former slave, she wouldn’t be able to refer back to those
experiences.
Pathos
 “I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and
when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me!”
 This line definitely arouses emotion. Truth is saying that she could rely on no
mortal and that Jesus was the only one by her side at all times. She puts
hapless events that happened to her within this line to bring out emotion in
order to get it back from the audience.
Logos
 “Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had
nothing to do with Him.”
 To me, logos is just another word for common sense. This line that came out
of her mouth displays common sense because it’s true! Everyone knows the
story of Mary and Joseph and the baby in the manger! Everyone knows the
story of perfect little Jesus.
Rhetorical Devices- Repetition and Rhetorical Question
 “And ain’t I a woman?”

This line undeniably has significant meaning to the
whole speech. It’s the TITLE of the speech! She
says this after every experience, opinion, and
reference that she shouts in the speech. It
obviously has substantial meaning if she’s using it
repeatedly. With this line, she is demanding
attention from the males, exclaiming that women
are no different and we deserve the same rights.
 “Where did your Christ come from?”
 As I said previously, everyone knows
the story of baby Jesus. We all know
where he came from.
Vivid Language and Strong Words
 “Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and
gathered into barns, and no man could head me!”
 The object of vivid language is to bring your concept or idea alive by
painting pictures with your words, or as we know it, imagery. Sojourner
Truth did this by using personal experiences to get the audience to
understand where she’s coming from.
Conclusion/ To Follow
 From researching this speech, I learned that rhetorical devices and pathos
both definitely have an impact on the speaker’s speech. It definitely draws
the audience to what he or she is saying. To me, Sojourner Truth was an
extraordinary woman and she was very persistent when it came to rights.
Her great use of repetition and references to her past most certainly helped
the audience comprehend what she was trying to get across. The speech is
significant in history and Truth opened people’s eyes with every line that
came out of her mouth. After she escaped from freedom, she became a
minister. Truth was well known because of her persistence and
determination to get her ideas across. There isn’t anything about the speech
that I disliked.