fRobert has 11 post(s)

In the third chapter of Woman, Race & Class by Angela Davis, she places focus on a woman named Sojourner Truth. Davis starts off with how Sojourner Truth became a symbol for black women in their fight against both racism and sexism. Truth is stated to have saved the Akron women’s meeting because she was the only one that answered the arguments made by male supremacists.  Truth’s aggressive and assertive action in her speech “Ain’t I a woman” when she showed her arm to the audience and revealed the muscle she had gained after working in the fields without the aid of a man. Truth showed that women aren’t weak and didn’t need a man’s help with her recollections of her time as a slave in response to any arguments against women’s suffrage, as well as using logic against male supremacists.   Davis says that Truth had gained the attention of the white women who were there through by doing what they could not because of their timid attitude. One person affected by her speech was Frances Dana Gage who basically saw Truth as their convention’s savior through her actions. While there were those who opposed to having Truth be their speaker those views slowly turned after her speech. Truth was a sign that the race and class of a woman didn’t matter.  Truth inspirited those in the women’s movement to not fall under the weight of the opposition. Her actions showed even white women that simply because she was black that didn’t make any different in the fact they were women in their struggle. Truth was a powerful voice in the fight for equality and would often give her two cents; she was a force that not only fought for her rights as a black woman but as an inspiration to her fellow sister regardless if their race or class.