Ain't I a Woman? Theme of Women and Femininity

Shocker: a speech made during a conference on women's rights is going to have women as a theme.

Sojourner challenged the long-cherished and idealized view of women as something to be protected and coddled. (White) women were considered child-like creatures that had no intellectual capacity for handling the right to vote. Black women were treated so differently as to not even be considered women, which denied them even more of their identity than slavery already had.

"Ain't I a Woman" was intended as a kick in the pants to the chauvinists and hypocrites who neglected to include Black women in discussion of abolition and to the white women who neglected to think beyond their own race when trying to gain the vote.

1. Why was Sojourner actually mentioning Black woman as part of the general cry for suffrage considered so outspoken at the time?
2. How did her acknowledgement of being a female slave make her argument stronger?
3. Why would "Ain't I a Woman?" become a rallying cry for women's rights?
4. How do you think the more prim and proper of the audience reacted to her challenging their cherished beliefs in the inferiority of the woman?

Truth's most important statement is about equality between women and men.

Truth's most important statement is about white women's racism towards Black women during the suffrage movement.