Sojourner Truth
• Born 1797, New York
Isabelle Baumfree,
a slave.
• Freedom: a New York law
-- all slaves over 28 yrs.
were freed
• Inspired by God, changed
her name to Sojourner
Truth.
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Sojourner Truth
• joined the Anti-Slavery
Society
• became an abolitionist
lecturer and a speaker
for women's rights,
both black and white
• died in 1883
Sojourner
To sojourn:
to stay for a short period
of time
A sojourner: is someone who . . .
Sojourner Truth means . . .
The meeting she
addressed:
•Ohio 1851
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•White, male ministers
opposed women’s
rights.
•Believed men were
superior to women.
•Believed the Bible told
them so.
Women’s Rights
•
•
•
•
•
1840 first women’s rights convention in US
1851 Sojourner Truth gives Ain’t I a Woman speech
1861-1865 US Civil War between the N & S
1867 US Congress defines citizens as "male"
1870 African American males given voting rights
• 1920 Women given right to vote, 19th Amendment,
69 YEARS after Sojourner Truth’s speech
• 1963 Employers must pay a woman the same as
what a man would receive for the same job.
Equal Pay Act, comes 112 YEARS after Sojourner
Truth’s speech
Read to Get the Gist: “Ain’t I a
Woman?”
Read this speech silently. Be thinking about the
answers to the following questions:
– What is the speech about? What is the issue?
– Who is the speaker?
– What do we know about her? How do we know?
Read to Get the Gist: “Ain’t I a
Woman?”
When you have finished reading, turn to a
partner and discuss the comprehension
questions for three minutes. Be sure to
cite evidence from the text to support
your answers.
Discuss Comprehension
Questions
• What is the speech about? What is the issue?
• Who is the speaker?
• What do we know about her? How do we know?
• What questions do you have about the speech,
the context, Sojourner Truth, etc.?
Reread for Significance
• Reread “Ain’t I a Woman” to individually identify what
you think are the three most significant sentences or
phrases that reveal Sojourner Truth’s argument.
• Make a two-column note chart in your Reader's/Writer's
Notebooks to record the sentences/phrases you select.
Write the sentences/phrases in the left column of their
chart. Then, across from each, do a Quick Write to
explain what the sentences/phrase reveals about Truth’s
argument.
• When you are finished, share your significant sentences
with two other people.
Share Significant
Sentences/ Phrases with
Whole Group
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That man says women need to be helped into
carriages and lifted over ditches . . .
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I could have
ploughed and
planted and
gathered into
barns and no
man could head
me!
I could work as
much . . . as a
man.
I have borne 13 children, and seen them most all
sold off to slavery . . .
Historical Background
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson
and slave owner frankly stated that
he considered "a woman who QuickTime™ and a
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brings a child every two years
asto see this picture.
are needed
more profitable than the best man
on the farm. . .”
Former slave and writer Frederick Douglas said, “My
mother was . . . colored, and quite dark. My father was a
white man. The opinion was . . . that my master was my
father.
“The master is frequently compelled to sell this class
of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his
white wife. . .”
and yours
holds a
quart
If my cup
won’t hold
but a pint,
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Wouldn’t you be
mean not to let
me have my halfmeasure FULL?*
*Does she think women’s
brains only are 1/2 of men’s?
“Where did your
Christ come from?
From God and a
woman!
Man had nothing
to do with HIM.”
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a re n e e d e d t o s e e th i s p i c tu re .
“. . .the first
woman . . . was
strong enough to
turn the world
upside down . . .
these women
ought to be able
to turn it back . . .”
And now they is asking to do it, the men
better let them.
Suffragettes 1850
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Suffragettes 1920
Share Significant
Sentences/ Phrases with
Whole Group
StepBack: Reflect on
Sojourner Truth’s Argument
Now that you’ve heard a range of
sentences/phrases and explanations
all related to Sojourner Truth’s
argument, how do you now
understand her argument?
StepBack: Reflect on
Sentences/Phrases
Take a moment to answer the following questions in your
Reader's/Writer's Notebooks:
• What did you do to choose your sentences and
phrases?
• What did you do to explain your sentences?
• What made the two-column note charts that were
shared at the overhead effective?
Interpreting Sojourner Truth’s
Speech
You’ve read “Ain’t I a Woman”
a couple of times, once
to get the gist and another time to identify significant
sentences/phrases that reveal Sojourner Truth’s
argument. Now I would like you to consider how
Sojourner Truth would have delivered her argument
on that day back in 1851.
Your task is to deliver “Ain’t I a Woman” to a small group
of your colleagues. Your will have ten minutes to
plan and practice delivering this speech.
Interpreting Sojourner Truth’s Speech
Study the speech to determine how you will deliver it. Consider
Sojourner Truth’s argument, audience, and purpose, and then
ask yourself:
–
–
–
–
What emotions did she want to convey?
How did she want her audience to respond?
What words or phrases would she have emphasized?
Where do you think she would have raised or lowered
her voice?
There is no one right way to deliver this speech; however, think
through why you are delivering it this way and be prepared to
justify your delivery using evidence from the text.
Deliver Speech in Groups
Get into groups of three. Take turns delivering “Ain’t I a Woman”
to each other. After each delivery, the speaker should talk about
why s/he decided to deliver the way s/he did.
Listeners should be paying attention to how the speaker chose to
deliver this speech and the effect on them, the audience.
Questions to guide listening
• On what words did the speaker choose to put emphasis?
• When did the speaker raise or lower his/her voice?
• What emotions did the speaker try to convey? What effect did
the delivery have on them, the audience?
StepBack: Reflect on Differences in
Delivery
Take about 5-7 minutes to answer
the following in your
Reader's/Writer's Notebooks:
• What did you consider in thinking about how to deliver your speech?
• How did you deliver the speech and why did you make these
decisions?
• How was your delivery the same or different than that of others in
your group? What did you learn about the text from that?
• What more do you know now or think about the speech or Sojourner
Truth?
Be prepared to share your responses to the above questions with the
whole group.
Reread Again, WriteAbout, and
Engage in an Inquiry-based
Discussion
Reread the text to answer the following question in
your Reader's/Writer's Notebook:
Truth keeps repeating the title phrase, "Ain't I a
Woman." What does she means by ain't I a
woman? Why do you think she keeps repeating
the question?
After you have written on the question, turn to a
partner and take about five minutes to discuss your
responses. This partner talk is preparation for a
whole group discussion on the same question.
StepBack: Reflect on Inquiry-based
Discussion
Take a minute to write on the following in your
Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook:
– What did you learn by engaging in this inquirybased discussion?
– What more did you learn about this text,
persuasion, or yourself as a reader?
Reread Again Differently:
Truth’s Argument and Methods
Do a Quick Write to answer the
following question in your
Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook:
How is Sojourner Truth’s speech
persuasive? Cite specific words or lines
that you find persuasive.
Methods to Persuade
When people speak to persuade, not only do they think
about what they’re going to say, but they also think about
how they’re going to say. They consider their argument
and audience, and try to figure out how to build and
support their arguments in ways that are persuasive for
their audiences. The strategies they use are their
methods.
Methods to Persuade
Methods may include such things as: the use
and placement of reasons, assertions, &
rebuttals to counterarguments; the use of
analogies, metaphors, case studies,
quotations, facts, etc. to support reasons and
opinions; loaded words; repetition of key
phrases; appeals to logic, emotions, or ethics;
rhetorical questions; etc.
The speaker’s purpose for using certain
methods might be to establish credibility, grab
the reader’s attention, appeal to the reader’s
sense of sympathy or pride, cause the reader
Share in Trios: Examine Truth’s
Argument and Methods
How is Sojourner Truth’s speech persuasive? Share
specific lines or phrases that you find persuasive.
For each line/phrase discuss the following:
– What is Truth saying or doing that is persuasive?
What method is she using to persuade?
– How does that method work? What effect does it
have on you, the listener?
– What effect do you think Truth was hoping for from
her audience, especially the male ministers who
disagreed with her?
Methods to Persuade
Whole Group Discussion:
– What are some methods Truth uses to persuade?
– How does each method work? What effect does it
have on the listener?
– What effect do you think Truth was hoping for from
her audience, especially the male ministers who
disagreed with her?
Method: Structure Linked to
Purpose and Audience
• How does Truth structure her argument? What does
she do in each paragraph to advance her argument?
• Considering her audience and the context of this
speech, why do you think Truth orders the rebuttals
to counterarguments the way she does?
• What is her method for organizing her argument?
Retrospective Work: Inspiring
Change Through Words
Take a few minutes to write on the following question in
your Reader's/Writer's Notebook before we engage in a
whole group discussion on the same questions:
– How does Truth inspire change through words?
– What would Truth’s opinion be of the Frederick
Douglass quote you read on the first day of this
unit? Explain.
Co-construct the Characteristics of
Effective Persuasive Speeches
What did you learn from reading, rereading,
listening to, and discussing “Ain’t I a Woman”
about the characteristics of effective persuasive
speeches?
Inspiring Change: Issues to Speak
Out About
• At your table, brainstorm issues that affect a
group of people, possibly people in your
community (school, neighborhood, city, state,
etc.), which you could speak out about in
order to inspire change in your colleagues’
beliefs or actions. These issues will be what
you choose from as topics for the two
speeches you will plan and deliver as part of
this unit.
Inspiring Change: Issues to Speak
Out About (cont.)
• The first speech you will plan and deliver in 20 minutes
with a partner; the second speech you will plan and
deliver on your own after doing some research. With
that in mind, brainstorm two different types of topics: (1)
those that can be argued using your own experience as
evidence, and (2) those that require print/media
research.
• Write your topics on pieces of chart paper, marking
those that you think can be argued with your own
experience and those that require print/media research.