How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)
Quote #1
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! (4-5)
Sojourner Truth repudiates the general male point of view. Women aren't weak…and Truth is a case in point. But she's also mentioning the fact that Black women aren't considered as feeble and delicate as white women: this is a case of racism heaped on top of sexism.
Quote #2
And ain't I a woman? (6, 10, 12, 14)
Truth's basically challenging the audience to look at her as a woman, to look at what she's both capable of and has been through, and then tell her that she doesn't deserve any rights.
Quote #3
Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! (19)
Can't you just hear the complete exasperation in this line? This was a fav point for suffrage opponents…and it's insanely illogical.
Quote #4
Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. (21-23)
Truth is challenging the status quo of Christian-influenced society norms. It was enormously unthinkable in the mid-1800s to put woman before man, especially in relation to God's plan. And yet, Sojourner did anyway, making her audience think about how legitimating discrimination based on the Bible might not actually have logic backing it up.
Quote #5
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! (24)
The men better be running in fear of what the female of the species can accomplish, even after centuries of being punished for Eve's apple-snacking. The cadre of determined suffragists could easily be as infamous as Eve, as long as they banded together and stood firm on what they wanted.